Impact on the natural environment

The GPW Group mitigates environmental impact

Pursuant to the CSR strategy, the GPW Group has established an environmental policy designed to reduce the Companies’ environmental impact and raise environmental awareness of Group employees.

As the companies operate in the financial industry, the main areas of the environmental policy include:

• waste management and recycling;
• paper consumption;
• water consumption;
• energy consumption;  
• fuel consumption and CO2 emissions;
• employee education through internal communications.

Furthermore, in view of its activity and role on the Polish capital and commodity market, the GPW Group may indirectly impact the environment by promoting good behaviour of issuers and investors, for instance through promotion of and education in responsible investing and through the products and services it offers, such as the WIG-ESG index and the registers operated by TGE.

In 2020, GPW and the GPW Group were not subject to any fines or sanctions for breach of environmental laws and regulations.

In 2020, GPW pursued educational initiatives promoting ESG factors in investment decisions, described in other sections of this report.

Waste management and recycling

According to its Waste Management Procedure, GPW delivers solid waste for treatment by recycling or disposal. The Company segregates waste. Decommissioned computer hardware and other devices, such as phones, printers, office equipment, etc., are sold to the Company’s employees at auctions.

No auctions were held in 2020 due to the pandemic. However, 159 non-IT units were recycled.

Commodity, energy, fuel consumption

In 2020, the Exchange continued communications targeting employees and visitors to promote environmental behaviour with regard to consumption of commodities such as water and paper. GPW continuously monitors consumption of commodities.

In 2020, due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, GPW Group employees worked largely from home (online) starting in March 2020. As a result, the consumption of commodities, energy, and fuels in 2020 dropped significantly year on year.

GPW continuously monitors consumption of commodities.

Water and paper consumption

Energy consumption

Centrum Giełdowe has in place advanced environmental solutions which reduce energy consumption. Offices are equipped only with lamps whose energy consumption is lower than that of traditional light bulbs and halogen lamps. The operation of lifts is optimised and the underground car park is heated with air pumped out of offices. GPW’s head office is equipped with a Building Management System (BMS) which controls systems within the building and consequently optimises the consumption of heat, power, water, air (ventilators), and ice water for air-conditioning. BMS supports programming of lighting in offices and corridors, which is automatically switched off at 8 p.m. throughout the building. In 2020, CG installed new evacuation lighting using energy-efficient LED technology.

Power and heat consumption

*data for space owned individually by GPW
**2019 CO2 emissions converted under the KOBIZE guidelines of December 2019, “Wskaźniki emisyjności CO2, SO2, NOx, CO i pyłu całkowitego dla energii elektrycznej na podstawie informacji zawartych w Krajowej bazie o emisjach gazów cieplarnianych i innych substancji za 2018 rok”, emissions ratio in [kg/MWh] for end consumers of electricity: CO2 – 765 kg/MWh
***2020 CO2 emissions converted under the KOBIZE guidelines of December 2020, “Wskaźniki emisyjności CO2, SO2, NOx, CO i pyłu całkowitego dla energii elektrycznej na podstawie informacji zawartych w Krajowej bazie o emisjach gazów cieplarnianych i innych substancji za 2019 rok”, emissions ratio in [kg/MWh] for end consumers of electricity: CO2 – 719 kg/MWh
****2020 CO2 emissions from heat generation converted and 2019 comparative data restated under the report “Energetyka cieplna w liczbach – 2019”, Urząd Regulacji Energetyki, Warsaw, September 2020, emissions ratio in [kg/MWh] for end consumers of heat: CO2 – 347.40 kg/MWh

Regarding electricity consumption, according to information published by the electricity supplier (PGE Obrót S.A., source: https://pge-obrot.pl/O-Spolce/Struktura-paliw), 3.78% of energy supplied in 2019 was generated from renewable energy sources.

According to 2020 data published by PGE Obrót S.A., 10.11% of electricity was generated from renewable energy sources, including 2.88% from biomass, 4.66% from wind energy, 0.83% from solar energy, and 1.74% from hydro-energy.

Fuel consumption

GPW’s car fleet only includes vehicles which conform to applicable emission standards. All of GPW’s company cars in operation are EURO-6 compliant. The Exchange uses one hybrid-drive vehicle. According to legal requirements, GPW pays environmental fees (for business cars).

Fuel consumption - direct CO2 emissions

*based on the following assumptions: 1 l gasoline=10kWh, 1 l diesel = 11kWh, 1kWh = 0.0036 GJ
*CO2 emissions converted with the calculation tool provided by GHG Protocol - GHG Emissions from Transport or Mobile Sources. 2019 data were restated under the  current methodology for the sake of comparability with 2020.

The GPW Group's green products and services

GPW Group companies offer products and services which indirectly support environmental efforts and impact the attitudes of participants of the markets operated by the Group companies. WIG-ESG is such a product on the financial market, replacing the RESPECT Index.

GPW has for many years promoted highest ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) standards among listed companies. Previously GPW published the RESPECT Index, which served an educational function throughout 10 years in operation. Since 3 September 2019, GPW publishes a new index: WIG-ESG, which covers companies participating in WIG20 and mWIG40. Similar to other indices, the weights of participating companies depend on their free float adjusted based on an ESG ranking and an assessment of compliance with the Code of Best Practice for GPW-Listed Companies 2016. GPW published both WIG-ESG and the RESPECT Index until the end of 2019. Only WIG-ESG is published as of 1 January 2020.

In its core business, Towarowa Giełda Energii maintains a Register of Certificates of Origin since 2005, which is a part of the support scheme for RES electricity producers. Certificates of origin certify that a quantity of power was generated from a licensed renewable energy source. Certificates of origin include certificates of origin of agricultural biogas and certificates of energy efficiency (“white certificates”).

Since November 2014, TGE operates a Register of Guarantees of Origin. Guarantees of origin of energy are an element of the EU’s environmental policy and disclose the type of source and fuel used to generate power.

As power itself cannot be labelled, a system has been put in place where documents (guarantees) are generated together with power and expire when delivered to the end consumer. Guarantees of origin of energy from renewable energy sources (RES) are an additional important incentive for the growth of the sector. TGE’s Register of Guarantees of Origin is addressed to producers of energy from renewable energy sources, traders, brokers, and all interested parties who need certification of the origin of electricity from renewable energy sources.

In October 2019, the TGE Register of Guarantees of Origin was extended to include guarantees of origin of cogeneration.