CSR helps the company to generate distinctive capabilities by building a structure of cooperative relationships based on trust with employees, customers, suppliers, the communities where the company operates and society at large.

For Abengoa, stakeholder confidence is the key to successfully meeting the challenges the company faces in a society in flux and, therefore they must always be taken into account when making decisions. The value of a company today lies in its ability to meet the needs of its stakeholders.

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Abengoa is aware of the importance of generating a relationship based on trust with its stakeholders, and therefore, in addition to providing them with continuous, transparent and accurate information on the activities conducted, the company endeavors to encourage dialogue with each of its stakeholders through the different communication channels adapted to the particular characteristics of each stakeholder, while at the same time developing new channels as a response to what should be an enriching and dynamic process for both parties.

Dialogue, understood as a process of listening and communicating, is essential to succeed in integrating stakeholder expectations into company strategy.

Abengoa’s main stakeholders are its employees, customers, suppliers and investors (given that Abengoa is listed on the stock exchange), along with the communities where it operates and society at large. Abengoa’s commitment to each and every one is the product of ongoing, straightforward and direct dialogue, which the company has encouraged and nourished for years.

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To facilitate and foster a process characterized by a stable balance, Abengoa employs a wide range of channels for listening and communicating. These channels are aligned with the needs and expectations of each and every one of the stakeholders mentioned above.

The most important of these are shown in the table below:

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For Abengoa, the dialogue channels included in the table form the ideal instrument to ensure a mutual exchange of information with stakeholders. Many of the dialogue channels are directly managed by the departments and persons in charge of maintaining ongoing relations with the group in question. However, the ultimate aim is that the opinions, suggestions, considerations and complaints collected on a daily basis by Abengoa’s interlocutors are reflected in company strategy. This information is therefore analyzed and the conclusions are communicated throughout the company. Above all, the stable dialogue channels that Abengoa promotes with its stakeholders are intended to define a cross-cutting improvement model aligned with the expectations of each and every stakeholder and with the company’s vision and mission.

Through these dialogue channels and communication tools, the company becomes aware of stakeholders’ main concerns, enabling improvements to be made to potential system dysfunctions by the departments involved. Each department, depending on its connection with the affected stakeholders, establishes action plans to respond to the requests received.

In this way Abengoa maintains fluid communication with all of the stakeholders involved in each project and initiative so that all have a sense of belonging, on the basis of being informed in advance, which has a beneficial effect on everyone.

In addition, Abengoa participates in many scientific, technological and cultural events held in the areas, cities or regions where it conducts its business; bearing in mind that, in general terms, any activity that may be considered as lobbying is not handled directly by Abengoa, but rather through support for the different professional associations that exist in each of the sectors of Abengoa’s business groups. In the United States, for example, our company engages in lobbying through the following profesional associations: Cornerstone Goverment, Affairs, Renewable, Fuels Association of Nebraska Ethanol Producers and kansas Asociations of Ethanol Producers.

Photo taken by Daniel Romero Delrue, from Befesa, to the 1st Edition of the Abengoa Sustainability Photography Contest.

Securing the trust of stakeholders is key to meeting and overcoming the challenges facing the company in a society in constant flux