Reference documents

EDF supports projects under two major themes:

• The environment and energy
• Corporate social responsibility

Environmental and energy: our partnerships contribute to the preservation of nature (protecting natural environments and species) and to combating climate change (reducing carbon footprint), together with supporting the sciences, innovation and new technologies.

In corporate social responsibility: our partnerships promote diversity and proximity (access to energy and eco-efficiency, access to employment and vocational integration, tackling social exclusion, etc.) as well as health and medical research (medical and neuroscience research, etc.)

Our partnerships are promoted by the Group’s companies and foundations:

• The EDF Foundation
• The European Foundation for Tomorrow’s Energies
• The Agir Pour l'Empoi Found
• The RTE Foundation
• The Edison Foundation

The principle of social responsibility is at the very heart of the EDF Foundation. Created in 1987, it uses corporate patronage to extend the Group's commitment where it is most needed in France and overseas, and works in three areas: social responsibility, science and the environment. It relies on its ability to mobilise employees whom it calls upon to sponsor the projects it supports.

Each year, the EDF Foundation's Association Awards (Trophées des Associations) honour 30 associations that work with young people under the age of 26 in the fields of social responsibility, culture and the environment. The Foundation distributes €300,000 to assist small and medium-sized associations that support innovative and creative initiatives for young people, particularly those in vulnerable situations.

The fourth Association Awards take place on 18 March 2013:

• More information on the Trophies website (French version)

• As part of the Nam Theun dam construction project in Laos, EDF worked alongside the Pasteur Institute to provide medical support and healthcare for displaced communities.
• EDF has concluded a partnership with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to support the establishment and updating of the Red List of threatened species.
• In Liverpool (United Kingdom), EDF and EDF Energy employees working on a voluntary basis contributed, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, to the construction of high energy-efficiency homes for vulnerable people.
• EDF manages projects in cooperation with NGOs, international organizations and local associations. Partnerships with, notably, Électriciens Sans Frontières and Droit à l’énergie, aim to provide vulnerable populations with access to energy.
• With the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe), EDF tests and promotes new ways of transferring expertise and experience between the Northern and Southern hemispheres, and notably between African rural electrification agencies.
• With the World Energy Foundation , EDF carries out electrification projects in Laos, Burkina-Faso, Senegal and Madagascar.

For innovation, as in other areas, moving forward together means capitalizing on everyone's strengths. Our R&D strategy is grounded in co-developments (with industrial partners and research institutions). Joint laboratories enable leading-edge expertise to be pooled and experience and best practices shared. One-third of our R&D budget is dedicated to research into environmental protection.