Integrated Report 2019 | PGE Capital Group

Social commitment

PGE Group is actively involved in social activities. In 2014, we adopted the CCI procedure, which identifies the main areas of PGE Group’s community involvement. PGE Group’s Code of Ethics is an important document addressing this area, with the following rule: „We care about relations with local communities”. Two corporate foundations are the pillars of our organization’s social involvement: the PGE Foundation and the PGE Energia Ciepła Foundation.

The mission of the PGE Energia Ciepła Foundation is to support positive social initiatives, creating an inclusive society in which everyone can find their place and take part in all aspects of social, economic, and cultural life.

In 2019, one of the most important tasks of the PGE Energia Ciepła Foundation was continuation of the “Commemorative Plaques Project”, started on the 80th anniversary of WWII. The project is realized in cooperation with the Institute of National Remembrance, under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Professor Piotr Gliński and Ministry of National Defense.

The project meets three goals: :

  • displaying and paying due honor to memorial sites – plaques and monuments – describing heroic and dramatic events of World War II,
  • reaching foreign tourists with information about historical facts,
  • and finally popularizing and increasing the recognition of memorial sites.

These goals are achieved by placing new plaques next to the existing plaques designed by Karol Tchorek, certified by historical research, in Polish and English, accompanied by a QR code.

As part of the project, all memorial sites were inventoried: photographic documentation was made, each plaque was queried, and the content was translated into English. The plaques with QR codes were situated next to plaques designed by Karol Tchorek. As part of the “Commemorative Plaques Project”, the City of Memory educational program was carried out for 60 Masovian high schools, attended by nearly 3,000 students. Packages with educational materials have been prepared: a mini-textbook, a class scenario, an educational film, and a 10-board, large format exhibition. In addition, at the beginning of October, a concert “City of Remembrance” was organized at the Polish Army Museum. The concert was intended to commemorate the civilian victims of Warsaw who died between 1939 and 1945. Young musicians, including Bartas Szymoniak, Piotr Karpienia, and the band Luxtorpeda performed on the stage. Additionally, a 20-board exhibition “Civilian Victims of Warsaw During the German Occupation between 1939 and 1945” was prepared, showing German terror in Warsaw during World War II, from executions in Wawer, the Sękocin Forest, and in the village of Palmiry, to the mass murders committed during the Warsaw Uprising. The exhibition could be seen at the Polish Army Museum, as well as at the Central Railway Station Hall.

The PGE Energia Ciepła Foundation is active in the area of sport and promotion of active lifestyle. In 2019, to meet the needs of people aged 55+, the Foundation organized the Polish National Senior Sports Olympiad – YOU WIN. This sport and recreational event was dedicated to seniors who wanted to develop their physical shape. Over 200 seniors from 7 cities of the region took part in the competition. In addition to sports competition, the Foundation provided the participants with the opportunity to take advantage of free tests and rehabilitation treatments.

Additionally, the PGE Energia Ciepła Foundation organized the 16th Rybnik Photography Festival during which several hundred photos were presented at 20 individual and collective exhibitions. The festival was visited by over 900 people from all over Poland.

The PGE Energia Ciepła Foundation was also the main organizer of the 16th Duel with Words – an educational and artistic competition, propagating the culture of the Polish language and literature, addressed to high school students.

With help of other institutions and associations, the PGE Energia Ciepła Foundation organizes events for people with disabilities who need specialized rehabilitation programs. The foundation provides the local community with access to a rehabilitation and recreation complex, including a swimming pool and other sports facilities.

The goal of the PGE Foundation is to ensure the transparency of activities, organize and strengthen social involvement of the PGE Group ,and build engagement among all groups of stakeholders. The Foundation conducts public and socially useful activities, maintaining national tradition, nurturing the sense Polishness, and developing national civic and cultural awareness, but we also propagate activities supporting the development of local communities. The Foundation supports health protection and promotion of healthy lifestyle, development of science, and education.

What is more, we contribute to promotion of culture, art, and we protect cultural heritage and traditions. On top of that, the Foundation supports pro- jects related to ecology and animal protection. Last but not least, the PGE Foundation gets strongly involved in charity work.

In 2019, the PGE Foundation prepared the second edition of the “Heroes of Our Future” program for the veterans of the Warsaw Uprising, thanks to which 395 Insurgents received one-off financial support. Once again, the Foundation carried out the “Parcel for a Veteran” program, dedicated to Warsaw insurgents, soldiers of the Polish Underground State, and former prisoners of German concentration camps. Between 2018 and 2019, the PGE Foundation donated 1 000 parcels.

Additionally, the PGE Foundation supports hospitals. It co-financed renovation and building of many hospital rooms and purchase of specialized medical equipment. The Foundation also supports local communities. In 2019, it cooperated with several dozen Country House- wife Circles, local Associations, and Volunteer Fire Brigades, transferring funds for equipment, including life-saving equipment. Thanks to the PGE Foundation, playgrounds were built, teaching aids went to schools, and books to libraries.

Expand Collapse

PGE Energia Ciepła supports socially sensitive customers.

Accordingly, the company created a program “We Share the Heat”. Its beneficiaries include NGOs, foundations and associations that help people in hardship and families in need, referred by social assistance centers. The program “We Share the Heat” by PGE Energia Ciepła was one of two PGE programs distinguished in the ranking 30×30, organized by the Forum of Responsible Business. The ranking included 60 best social projects created by businesses in the past 30 years.

PGE Energia Ciepła Grants to cover bills for hot running water and network heat in 2019 exceeded 300 thousand zlotys.

We approach the problem of integration of disabled people very seriously. For the fourth time, we have sponsored the organization of the Integration Meetings in Radomsko.

The event serves to integrate disabled people from all over Poland during performances, meetings, and concerts. We also support the activity of the Society for the Care of the Blind in Laski, where the blind and short-sighted people learn how to live independently, gain their education, and prepare for occupational training or university studies in order to efficiently function in society.

The Program to Support Development of Site Municipalities (in Polish: Program Wsparcia Rozwoju Gmin Lokalizacyjnych) strengthens partner relations with the local community and the authorities of three site municipalities: Gniewino, Choczewo and Krokowa, as well as the Puck and Wejherowo poviats. The program consists of financing or co-financing initiatives from residents and local governments as regards educational and information activities concerning nuclear power, activities related to the job market and support in professional development, cooperation on implementation of municipal infrastructural projects, charitable initiatives and sponsorship projects. Between 2015 and 2019, the PSDSM Program enabled us to spend about 9 million zlotys on those projects.

The PGE’s employee volunteering program „We Help” (Pomagamy)

Local community support is also pursued through the PGE’s employee volunteering program „We Help”. The needs are best identified by our employees, who themselves live in local communities. They come up with their own projects, which bring about positive social changes in a meaningful and lasting manner with the PGE’s support. They reach different groups: children, teenagers, disabled people, single mothers, and the poorest people.

In 2014, the Foundation implemented employee volunteering in the entire PGE Capital Group. In six editions of the program, over 850 PGE volunteers – employees of the PGE Group companies – implemented 267 volunteer projects throughout the country.

PGE Group 2019 2018 2017 2016
Number of employees involved in PGE’s employee volunteering program “We Help” 210 327 276 180
Number of volunteering hours 9,391 15,024 12,500 13,000
Number of projects submitted 47 60 50 40
Number of applications submitted 72 122 106 109
Total amount of PGE’s support [PLN] 272,081 350,000 300,000 200,000

PGE 2019 2018 2017 2016
Number of employees involved in PGE’s employee volunteering program “We Help” 380 505,5 1,077 347
Number of volunteering hours 4 5 5 3
Number of projects submitted 6 7 9 8
Number of applications submitted 23,700 25,000 25,000 15,000
Total amount of PGE’s support [PLN] 380 505,5 1,077 347

Education

The company initiates original educational programs, shaping good habits among the youngest users of electricity. PGE commissioned a theater performance entitled How Were Pstryk and Bzik Enlightened, addressed to children between 5 and 9 years old. The theater, thanks to the support of the PGE Foundation, visits schools, preschools, community day care centers, hospitals, libraries and other facilities throughout Poland. In 2019, the performance was seen by over 20,000 children from 179 schools and preschools, as well as during picnics and other educational events. Thanks to the PGE Foundation, a mural was created on the walls of the children’s health center Centrum Zdrowia Dziecka in Warsaw: it presents the characters from the fairy tale – Pstryk and Bzik – in cheerful and friendly colors.

The PGE Group carries out educational projects in the field of safe and economical use of electricity.

Statistics show that a large proportion of those injured as a result of electric shock are children and young people, which is why the PGE Group also conducts an educational campaign called “Safe Energy”. Educational meetings for children are held in the branches of PGE Dystrybucja. Company’s employees visit preschools and schools to talk about safety when using electrical devices and proper behavior during energy failures.

In 2019, about a thousand children took part in the educational campaign.

PGE GiEK is the title sponsor of the interactive PGE Giganty Mocy Museum. The facility was built as a result of cooperation between President of Bełchatów the Bełchatów Mine and Power Plant. The main purpose of the museum is to present information on brown coal, primarily about its extraction and conversion into electricity and heat. At present, the exhibition is one of the greatest tourist attractions in the Łódź region. So far, nearly 23 000 people have attended the exhibition, and its interactive version was seen by over 16 000 visitors.

Power plants and combined heat and power plants belonging to the PGE Group are often the key industrial assets in the cities where they are located. In order for the local community to learn about their specificity, PGE GiEK (Mining and Conventional Energy), PGE Energia Ciepła (Heat Energy), and PGE Energia Odnawialna (Renewable Energy) organize open days in their facilities every year. During these events, facilities belonging to PGE GiEK and PGE EC alone hosted 9.3 thousand visitors. Additional 9.6 thousand people saw the brown coal mine and conventional power plants, taking advantage of the tour offer for organized groups.

In the Podkarpacie region, the Museum of Energy has been opened for 6 years. Every year, during organized educational events, the facility is visited by both children and adults, while employees of PGE Dystrybucja show them around exhibitions and conduct interactive shows and games for them. In 2019, the museum was visited by 1.4 thousand people.

Sponsoring of sport

The PGE Narodowy beats attendance records. Football matches, motoring events, exhibitions, and concerts take place here. Polish and world pop stars appear, including The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Depeche Mode, Metallica, Ed Sheeran, Bon Jovi, Pink, Bajm, Mrozu, Kombi, Ewa Farna, and many others. This is where the concert commemorating the centennial of Poland’s independence took place. The arena has also become home to many annual shows and events, such as the Dancing PGE Narodowy, the Polish Book Fair, the Science Picnic and others, for example the Polish-American Military Picnic or the Picnic on the occasion of the National Sport Day.

The PGE Group is the title sponsor of the most modern multi-functional arena in Poland – PGE Narodowy, where the Polish national football team plays its matches.


The largest arena in Poland can host up to 58 500 fans during sports events, while almost 73 000 spectators during concerts and other events. The PGE Narodowy has 4 600 seats of a higher standard and 69 VIP boxes with places for 800 people.

58,500
fans during sports events
73,000
spectators during concerts and other events
4,600
seats of a higher standard
69
VIP boxes with places for 800 people

The PGE Group sponsors individual athletes and teams of various sports, including volleyball, basketball, football and handball.

Since 2015, PGE – as the title sponsor – has been sponsoring the best speedway league in the world: the PGE Ekstraliga. In the 2019 season, 64 PGE Ekstraliga races were watched by a record number of spectators – nearly 700 000 fans visited speedway stadiums.

Since 2007, PGE has been sponsoring the men’s volleyball team, PGE SKRA Bełchatów.

This is the most distinguished Polish volleyball club, with nine Polish championships on their account, seven national cups, and four Super Cups. Moreover, the Bełchatów team has a great reputation in Europe and in the world. The club won the silver medal in the world championship twice and a bronze medal once. PGE SKRA Bełchatów stood four times on the podium of the elite Champions League – once it was second and three times third.

Additionally, PGE Skra Bełchatów is the most popular and medially attractive volleyball team in Poland. In every hall, during their games, the stands are filled to the last place. In the last five years, the Champions League had the highest attendance ever, which made the players of the team role models.

Since 2017, PGE has been supporting the 1st league football club, PGE FKS Stal Mielec, which in 2020 earned promotion to Ekstraklasa.

PGE also sponsors other individual athletes:

  • Since 2012, PGE has been supporting Zofia Noceti-Klepacka, a windsurfing multimedalist, who won the Bronze Medal at the London Olympics in 2012. In 2019, the Noceti-Klepacka won the Polish Championship in the RS:X class.

Sport clubs and individual athletes sponsored by PGE implement activities in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR), including:

  • meetings with children and young people in schools, kindergartens and hospitals,
  • conducting PE lessons in schools,
  • invitations to joint trainings,
  • participation in charity campaigns,
  • participation in environmental campaigns,
  • transferring prizes to charity auctions,
  • providing children and young people with disabilities with seats in the audience during sporting events.

Thanks to such activities, the PGE brand is recognizable in schools, preschools, orphanages, hospitals and community day care centers as well as by people with disabilities.

Expand Collapse

The PGE Group supports and promotes amateur sports, especially by propagating sport among children and teenagers. In 2019, PGE sponsored football academies, including PGE FKS Stal Mielec, Widzew Łódź, Avia Świd- nik, and FC Lesznowola as well as many local initiatives spreading sports education among young people. In 2019, nearly 7 000 children and teenagers from all over Poland, including those with disabilities, participated in amateur sport support programs.

Thanks to the PGE’s involvement, the second event combining patriotic education and children’s sport took place in 2019 – a tournament unlike any other, i.e. finishing of the Polish league from the year 1939. The 2nd Independence Tournament for the PGE Cup was a copy of the unfinished and unresolved Polish Football Championships interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. The same teams that played in the then-league competed on the pitch of Polonia Warszawa: Ruch Chorzów, Garbarnia Kra- ków, Cracovia, Wisła Kraków, AKS Chorzów, Pogoń Lwów, Warta Poznań, and Polonia Warszawa. Nearly 400 players took part in the tournament.

PGE Energia Ciepła, in cooperation with the Polish Figure Skating Federation and Ministry of Sport and Tourism, has been implementing the “Let’s Go Skating” program since September 2018. The program is addressed to children and teenagers – primary school students. Thanks to the program, young people can benefit from free classes conducted by professional trainers working in clubs and being members of the Polish Figure Skating Federation (PZŁF). Classes on ice take place several times a week and are supported by motor training and exercises in dance and ballet. “Let’s Go Skating” program operates in 14 Polish cities, including Warsaw, Lublin, Gdańsk, Krakow, and Łódz. Moreover, PGE Energia Ciepła is a partner of the Winterly Narodowy  – a zone of winter attractions at the PGE Narodowy. As a sponsor of the family ice rink and a titular partner of “Mornings for Children” – lessons with instructors and animators – PGE Energia Ciepła also sponsored the second edition of the program “Let’s Go Skating”, which was attended by over 500 children from 25 clubs and over 40 training groups, in 14 cities in Poland.

Culture patronage

For the second time, PGE supported a nationwide campaign, commemorating the participants of the Warsaw Uprising. The campaign “Hero-on – turn on history!” promotes patriotic attitudes and national identity, and also creates a community that remembers Polish history and its heroes. Caring for Polish national heritage and historical memory, PGE has been a partner of the Warsaw Uprising Museum since 2016. The museum is housed in a former streetcar power plant, a monument of industrial architecture from the beginning of the 20th century. The museum exhibition is designed in a unique way, and it influences the audience with the image, light, and sound. The interior design and the use of multimedia effects closely recreate details of the uprising for the viewer. The main elements of the exhibition are large format photos, monitors, and computers. The route outlines the chronology of events and leads through individual, thematic rooms. Visitors move around in the scenery so common in Warsaw seventy years ago, walking on granite cobblestones among the debris of the destroyed Polish Capital.

PGE sponsors cultural events, nationwide and regional, as well as local.

The PGE Group supported the production of the film Kurier, whose world premiere took place on March 11, 2019, at the Grand Theater in Warsaw. President of Poland, Andrzej Duda took part in the event.

The film directed by Władysław Pasikowski, with an international cast, is inspired by the true story of a “courier from Warsaw” – Jan Nowak-Jeziorański. The lonely mission of the courier was to decide the fate of the Polish underground and the future of Poland.

The PGE Group is a patron of philharmonics throughout Poland.

Since 2012, PGE has been distinguished by the honorary title of the Patron of the Year at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. It supports concerts and makes a huge contribution to musical education of the youngest generation. As for PGE Energia Ciepła, it supports the Polish Baltic Philharmonic in Gdańsk, the Kraków Philharmonic, the Zielona Góra Philharmonic, the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, and the Toruń Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2016, PGE has been the patron of an international festival La Folle Journee – Crazy Music Days – which is successfully carried out simultaneously in France, Spain, Japan, and Poland. The festival has already gained a recognizable position in on the musical map of the world and is very popular.

The idea of Crazy Music Days is to overcome prejudices against classical music by encouraging and facilitating participation in concerts, while maintaining the presentation of music at the highest possible level.

Short concerts taking place from morning to evening in several rooms at the same time, low ticket prices, and a unique atmosphere make Crazy Music Days a meeting with music accessible for everyone. Around 35,000 listeners and participants of educational campaigns took part in all the events of the last year’s edition of the festival. In three days, about 1,000 artists performed in 55 con- certs. The organizer of the Crazy Music Days in Poland is the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra and co-organizers include the Grand Theater – National Opera, Art Education Center, the Music Gardens Foundation and C.R.E.A.

PGE is also a patron of the Mozart Festival in Warsaw. During the Festival, for four weeks, the audience can admire the oeuvre of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart presented in forty events, including new stagings of operas, concerts, and shows for children. The Mozart Festival has been one of the most important and largest ventures of the Warsaw Chamber Opera for the last 30 years.

PGE sponsors the Music Festival in Łańcut. The festival’s reputation is testified by excellent artists who visited Łańcut, including Adam Harasiewicz, Rafał Blechacz, Joseph Malovany, Mischa Maisky, Shlomo Minz, Andreas Scholl, the legendary tenor – Jose Carreras, Kate Liu, and Julian Rachlin. The festival is very popular, and each year it attracts thousands of listeners.

PGE is also involved in projects addressed to mass audiences, such as the Polish National Song Festival in Opole and the New Year’s Eve concert “New Year’s Eve with the National TV Program Two” in Zakopane, which once again achieved the highest viewership among New Year’s Eve television events. The greatest Polish entertainers as well as foreign stars appeared in Zakopane. The Krupowa Plain attracted over 70 000 people, and television broadcasts gathered over 5 million viewers in front of TV sets, reaching 8 million Poles at the peak of viewership.

In 2019, the 56th National Polish Song Festival in Opole was watched by 2.24 million viewers. It is about 260 thousand viewers more than in 2018. The concert “From Opole to Opole” enjoyed the greatest popularity.

Expand Collapse

Social commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic

The year 2020 brought unexpected situations and restrictions related to the global SARS-COV-2 coronavirus pandemic.

In this difficult time for Poles, the PGE Group took measures to support the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. In connection with the coronavirus epidemic, PGE donated a total of PLN 5 million to 17 hospitals throughout Poland indicated by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the Ministry of State Assets to fight the coronavirus. The PGE Group also delegated nearly 100 employees to support the NFZ (National Health Fund) hotline. The group was also involved in helping Seniors and Warsaw Insurgents, whom it donated, among others disinfectants and meals. PGE also joined the nationwide social campaigns # stayathome and #MAPdlaPolaków (Ministry of State Assets for Poles).


Employees of the PGE Capital Group, of whom there are nearly 42 000, have now also decided to help the Polish economy by promoting and recommending domestic goods and services to each other. The PGE Capital Group decided to support this initiative and give it a national dimension by organizing a social campaign under the slogan „Polish – I’m buying it!”. The aim of the campaign is to encourage Poles to choose native products and service providers, as well as to support cultural institutions.

All these activities were appreciated – PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna once again became the Leader of Social Responsibility, taking first place in the Ranking of Responsible Companies in the category: fuels, energy and mining. The group was also ranked fifth in the general classification of the 14th edition of the ranking, which examines the quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) management.

The social commitment of employees, their sensitivity and responsibility are key to the operations of the PGE Group. For the third time, PGE became the Social Responsibility Leader, taking the first place in the Ranking of Responsible Companies in the category of fuel, energy and mining. We are pleased with the fifth position in the general classification of the Ranking in which the quality of corporate social responsibility management is examined.

Wojciech Dąbrowski
president of the management board of PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna

Search results: