Monitoring and management of the main environmental risks, opportunities, and impacts

In a context of significant changes in the regulatory, economic and industrial sectors, caused by the transition towards a decarbonised economic model, there is growing pressure from investors, public bodies and society for organisations to report transparently on how they manage risks and opportunities arising from climate change in the short, medium, and long term.

Within this transitional framework, in 2017, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) established the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) to develop climate-related disclosures that “could promote more informed decisions on investment, credit and insurance underwriting” and, in turn, “would allow stakeholders to better understand the concentrations of carbon-related assets in the financial sector and the exposures of the financial system to climate-related risks”. The TCFD frames climate-related information in the business context under four pillars (governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and objectives) and recommends disclosure in each pillar.

With its firm commitment to climate change and to making GHG emissions one of the focal points in decision-making, Cellnex takes account of the risks and opportunities presented by climate change, incorporating them into the organisation's vision and objectives for the coming years. As such, using four core elements, as recommended by the TCFD, Cellnex shows how it takes account of climate-related risks and opportunities, as well as strategies to mitigate risks and mainstream opportunities.

Cellnex has been a TCFD supporter since 2021, reaffirming its commitment to Climate Change transparency and disclosure.

Contribution to Climate Change mitigation and adaptation

Climate change mitigation is based on preventing or reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, partly through the use of new technologies and renewable energies, such as replacing older equipment with more efficient models. Cellnex undertakes actions focused on mitigating climate change, such as through emission reduction initiatives (science-based targets, energy efficiency, sustainable mobility, carbon management along the value chain, etc.). Moreover, Cellnex has demonstrated its commitment to a carbon-neutral business model by setting out the Cellnex Net-zero Strategy.

In addition, it is essential to adapt to climate change to ensure the long-term resilience and conservation of Cellnex assets. To that end, in 2022 and 2023 Cellnex developed a Climate Change Adaptation Plan (CCAP). The Plan's main objective is to prevent or reduce present and future damage from climate change.

With sites across Europe, Cellnex must address climate variability on a regionalised basis, so there is a particular need for a Plan that takes an integrated approach to the potential consequences of climate variability, both globally and regionally, and the vulnerability of asset types to climate conditions based on their geolocation. For this reason, the CCAP makes it possible to:

• Understand the current and projected effects of climate change on the various telecommunications assets.
• Identify the potential impacts of climate change on a regional basis.
• Identify and take advantage of positive effects and opportunities arising from climate change.
• Establish priorities and concerted efforts in adaptation measures and actions, adapted to the types of asset and regional climate conditions.
• Optimise the allocation of available resources in a context of climate change and adaptation.

The project is in two separate parts:

• Physical climate risk analysis: This analysis includes identifying risks and assessing vulnerability, exposure and impact to obtain a physical climate risk classification.
• Proposal and prioritisation of adaptation measures: The adaptation proposals attempt to propose activities to help reduce the vulnerability, exposure or impact of the different climate variables on the various assets of the company.

Two periods were analysed under a RCP 8.5 scenario: 2011-2040 and 2041-2070. In the period 2011-2040 only 2.19% of assets are subject to critical or high physical climate risk. The distribution of risks follows a normalised distribution that places the largest set of assets at low risk (49.23%). In the period 2041-2070 the percentage of assets at high or critical risk rises to 10.56%.

The variables analysed included temperature, precipitation, wind, storm surge, sea level rise, flooding, fire, and landslide. It is noteworthy that temperature is the climate variable that predominantly impacts all assets across both horizons. Furthermore, in 2024, an update to the plan will be conducted.

Cellnex recognised by CDP for its transparency and commitment in tackling climate change

For the fifth year in a row, Cellnex has been recognised for its transparency and commitment in tackling climate change, securing a place on the prestigious "A List" of CDP, the non-profit administrator of a global disclosure system allowing investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their impact on the environment. In 2023 Cellnex excelled in “opportunity and risk disclosure, business strategy, financial planning and scenario analysis, such as by setting ambitious and meaningful targets.” The company provided these data as part of CDP’s climate change questionnaire in 2023.

TCFD: Analysis of climate-related risks and opportunities

Governance

Climate risk and opportunity analysis at Cellnex Telecom forms part of the risk management process, following a bottom-up methodology, from every user in every business unit to senior management. To this end, it has a Global Risk Management Policy, establishing a framework that implements, evaluates and improves risk management throughout Cellnex Telecom's processes and activities. Cellnex's governance of climate-related risks and opportunities and the risk management lifecycle ensures the overall and appropriate management of risks in the organisation; through the various levels of monitoring and validation, providing meaningful reporting to the Board of Directors.

Strategy

The climate risk analysis takes into account the time horizon analysis (short/medium/long term), the financial magnitude and management costs and the analysis of climate scenarios:

Physical scenarios: An RCP scenario is analysed, cumulatively measuring human emissions from all GHG sources to 2100. It is more relevant to take the worst case scenario into consideration, so the RCP 8.5 scenario was selected to analyse the climate projections. RCP 8.5 shows a Business-as- Usual (BaU) scenario, in which GHG emissions would continue to increase at the current rate. This is a worst-case scenario of higher GHG emissions in the atmosphere and further global warming.

Transition scenarios: Analyse trends in politics, energy and economy related to climate change, to determine the possible risks that they may have an organisation, using NGFS publications.

• Net-zero 2050: In this orderly scenario, ambitious climate policies are promptly implemented.
• Delayed transition: In this disorderly scenario, new climate policies are postponed until 2030, resulting in varying levels of action across countries and regions based on existing policies.
• Current policies: This scenario, named "Hot house world," assumes the preservation of only currently implemented policies.

As regards the resilience of the strategy, the results of the analysis allow us to anticipate potential impacts and to inform and influence our strategy and business objectives. Thanks to the risk management that has been in place for years and this latest update in terms of policy, management and governance, Cellnex Telecom has further increased its resilience and will have the necessary tools to deal with potential future climate risks.

Climate risk and opportunity management

Accordingly, in 2023 Cellnex worked on updating the management and evaluation of risks and opportunities arising from climate change. For this assessment, the risks and opportunities are prioritised as high, medium and low, taking account of two aspects: impact and probability. As a result of this process, in 2023 Cellnex identified and evaluated seven climate risks and six climate opportunities. Those with the highest priority are outlined below:

The most appropriate risk management is determined on the basis of an assessment of inherent risk and residual risk, taking account of the strategy, policies, procedures, and rules established to cover the risks. This assessment involves identifying responsible individuals, defining roles within the organisational structure, and utilising available information to monitor activity development within specified parameters (such as performance, information and communication, etc.).

With this information on the table, a risk response or action plan is created, management undertakes to establish actions to attempt to reduce the level of risk until it is controlled and the second line of defence comes into play to validate the effectiveness of the action plan.

Metrics & targets

The targets set by Cellnex Telecom show its stakeholders that it is committed to reducing environmental impact while cutting carbon price exposure. The commitment through the Science-based Targets and the longer term net-zero target involve a combination of approaches including reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, migrating energy procurement in favour of renewable and clean energy, and engaging with the supply chain. Cellnex will continue to measure and disclose its performance in relation to these objectives. Below is an overview of the most relevant climate-related metrics and targets:

• GHG emissions scopes 1, 2 and 3
• GHG intensity
• Science-based target follow-up
• Net-zero
• Scope 1 Compensation
• Energy consumption
• Share of renewable electricity
• Suppliers

Further information is available in the 2023 Environment and Climate Change Report.