Jæren Energi AS – Eurus Energy Norway AS Transparency Act

 

1. Introduction

The Act relating to enterprises’ transparency and work on fundamental human rights and decent working conditions (the ‘Transparency Act’) entered into force on 1st July 2022. The Act imposes the following obligations on certain larger enterprises in order to promote social sustainability in the enterprises themselves and the enterprises’ supply chains:

  • An obligation to conduct due diligence assessments (cf. the Act § 4)
  • An obligation to publish an account of the due diligence (cf. the Act § 5)
  • An obligation to provide information to «any person» who requests it in writing (cf. the Act § 6)

The Transparency Act applies to Jæren Energi AS hereafter referred to as the ‘company’. The company has conducted due diligence assessments in accordance with the Transparency Act’s requirements. The following sections contain the company’s account of the due diligence assessments.

2. General description of the company’s structure, area of operations, guidelines and procedures for handling actual and potential adverse impacts on fundamental human rights and decent working conditions

2.1. The company’s structure and area of operations

The company is a project company established to develop the Høg-Jæren EnergiPark wind farm, near Stavanger, Norway. The company operates in the renewable energy sector of the energy industry. The wind farm benefits from a favourable geographic location close to the coastline and a high wind regime.

As per the articles of association of the company, the board shall consist of from 1 to 5 members. There are no employees in the company. The windfarm is operated by Eurus Energy Norway AS personnel, and two of these employees are hired out to Jæren Energi AS, as CEO and Deputy. The company is majority owned (66%) by Eurus Energy Europe B.V.  (‘Eurus Energy’), which in turn is owned by Toyota Tsusho Corporation. Eurus Energy develops, invests in and operates renewable energy projects worldwide, with a focus on onshore wind and photovoltaic projects.

2.2. Guidelines and procedures for handling actual and potential adverse impacts on fundamental human rights and decent working conditions

The company employs the “Eurus Energy Europe B.V. Quality, Health, Safety & Environment (QHSE) Policy” (the ‘QHSE Policy’), which extends the regulation in force and the rules adopted by Eurus Energy and the Eurus Group, intending to actively act in the quality, health, safety and environmental protection in its facilities and assets across Europe.

The QHSE Policy is based on two fundamental commitments:

(i) To ensure that quality, health, safety and environment are taken into account in all activities and make this a priority by:

  • Creating and ensuring the best possible health and safety environment by managing the risks following appropriate corrective actions;
  • Preventing any damage to property or environment as well as any accidents or injuries to our employees and third parties;
  • Ensuring all employees are qualified and receive appropriate training, information and supervision in order to perform their duties;
  • Encouraging all employees to take HSE as a personal responsibility and to actively promote the HSE culture within the company;
  • Complying with all legal requirements and related standards and regulations;
  • Continuously improving and monitoring our HSE performance by implementing an appropriate QHSE management system.

(ii) To assure the brand image and stakeholders’ satisfaction by:

  • Proactively assessing the Group HSE performance;
  • Taking into account stakeholders’ requirements.

This QHSE Policy covers the employees of the Eurus Group across Europe as well as all the contractors/subcontractors, and has to be implemented in all companies controlled by Eurus Energy Europe B.V. under management’s responsibility.

The company has a code of conduct based on Toyota Tsusho’s Code of Conduct, which is signed by all employees. The guidelines have been decided by management. The overall formal responsibility for conducting due diligence assessments (and supervising these) and overall compliance with the Transparency Act is placed with the Board of Directors. The CEO of the company is responsible for reviewing and evaluating the Transparency Act whereby due diligence assessments should be conducted annually for the entire supply chain and all business partners. Actual and potential negative consequences must be reported immediately to the CEO at the company.

In 2023, the company started a process of performing risk-based assessments of how human rights and labour rights are being affected within own our business and within our supply chain in line with the Transparency Act. The process which is based on the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct consisted of the following steps:

  1. Anchoring accountability in the company’s internal guidelines,
  2. Mapping operations, suppliers and business partners,
  3. Classifying suppliers and business partners based on assessed risk,
  4. Planning and initiated follow-up measures, and
  5. Preparing this report on the results of the work conducted.

The project assessed the risks associated with the company’s suppliers concerning actual and potential violations of human rights and decent working conditions in our value chain. Following the assessment, the company will implement follow-up measures according to the risk categorisations. Efforts with the due diligence assessments have started and work will continue with the assessments going forward.

An annual statement in accordance with the Transparency Act will be prepared every year. This will contain information about actions to be taken to prevent or reduce negative consequences. The company will carry out annual due diligence assessments to capture any changes to the enterprises’ risk assessments. Communications of adverse impacts with those affected and the general public are handled by the Eurus Energy Europe Stakeholder Manager.

If adverse impacts are found, there are no central procedures for remediation and compensation; this would need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. However, the Company (Jaeren Energi AS) takes issues related to such impacts to human rights and decent working conditions very seriously, and would not proceed with the engagement of any party in which a serious risk related to such human rights and working conditions exists.

The Company does not have a supplier code of conduct. However, when working together with other parties, codes of conduct are sent to the Company to ensure that the suppliers adhere to the principles described in such code. Clauses to ensure that the Transparency Act’s requirements are met are becoming of greater significance and it is becoming more standard to include in new contracts. However, for existing (especially older) contracts, these have not  always been included. The company monitors the situation in the suppliers’ and business partners’ businesses by carrying out annual due diligence assessments. The company does not control the supplier’s/business partner’s own compliance control.

The general public can contact the company for information requests by telephone on Monday to Friday during the hours of 07.00 am to 16.00 pm at the number 52 98 60 90 or 94 03 60 26 or by email at info@eurus-norway.com.

3. Actual adverse impacts and significant risks of adverse impacts that the company has identified through its due diligence

Any elevated risk in the company’s value chain would be associated with raw materials used in the company’s products. The complex value chain related to these materials makes it challenging to trace their origin. As a result, further investigations would be required. Seven of the company’s suppliers have been identified as possible elevated risk – two as high and five as medium – in connection with the following raw materials: Steel, copper, aluminum, PVC, rubber, plastic, ceramics, oil and chemicals, print cards, and capacitors.

However, overall, the risk among suppliers is relatively low based on the assessment of three reasons. First, the company is able to build and maintain close relations with most of its suppliers due to its low number of suppliers. Second, the company mainly buys workforce from its suppliers, which is assessed as a low risk. Third, this workforce is primarily sourced from Norwegian suppliers, which has a low territorial risk. Therefore, the overall risk is assessed as low. Based on the risk classification of companies, measures and follow-ups will be prioritized towards business areas and suppliers where the risk is considered the highest.

Through due diligence assessments, the company has not identified human rights violations or indecent working conditions in the value chain.

4. Measures the company has implemented or plans to implement to cease actual adverse impacts or mitigate significant risks of adverse impacts, and the results or expected results of these measures

The company is aware of the risks associated with its operations and the use of certain suppliers, and will continue to monitor suppliers and its operations accordingly.

4.1. Planned measures

The company has already started to send out supplier questionnaires, and analysis and planning of follow up on the responses received is taking place. Measures that the company plans to implement to mitigate or limit significant risks of negative consequences:

  1.  Follow-up meetings with suppliers
  2.  Supplier questionnaire related to human rights and decent working conditions
  3.  Contract clauses that grant the company the right to terminate in the event the counterparty is guilty of human rights violations and other unacceptable conditions.
  4.  Continuous monitoring and dialogue with suppliers