Community Engagement

We engage with the community to gain understanding and acceptance of our actions and projects among all the groups affected. This is essential to our long-term success. We are committed to strengthening communities and promoting economic development in the regions in which we operate.

A reliable electricity and gas supply can be provided only by building and operating power stations and transmission grids. Popular support for such industrial projects is dwindling steadily, however, and this can lead to long delays in the implementation of important infrastructure projects. It is therefore vital that we gain the confidence of the people affected and persuade them of the benefits of our actions.

Progress

Our contacts and cooperative ventures at local and regional level continued to intensify throughout 2010. Our corporate volunteering programme RWE Companius has now been extended to almost every part of the Group, and we are present as a sponsor in all our sales regions. The impact of these activities on our reputation will be felt only in the medium or long term, although a reputational survey conducted in 2010 put RWE in first place ahead of our direct competitors.

Objectives in Community Engagement