Press releases pg. 2

CEZ Group has improved its ESG rating with CDP, one of the world's leading organisations focused on assessing public administration and companies from a sustainability perspective. In the key area of tackling climate change, CEZ has scored a B, an improvement of two ranks since 2021. CDP rates companies in terms of climate change, water security and preventing deforestation for around 750 investors from around the world.

CEZ Group has joined the approximately 1,000 companies around the world that will assess the impact of their business on the environment, landscape, ecosystems, and biodiversity in accordance with the recommendations and assessment criteria of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). At the end of last year, the TNFD released a methodology for companies to financially assess not only their impacts on nature, but also the financial benefits of functional ecosystems for their business. Some investors and financial institutions already require companies to quantify their impacts, and such reporting is also included in the European legislation on sustainability (the CSRD). A list of all the initial supporters who have pledged reporting in accordance with the TNFD, as CEZ has done, was published at the current meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The investor group engaging with CEZ Group in the framework of Climate Action 100+ (Generali Investments, Robeco) have welcomed the announcement that the Science Based Target Initiative has validated overall net-zero, near-term and long-term science-based emission reduction targets of the CEZ Group as being aligned with a “1.5°C” Paris Agreement goal.

CEZ Group's plans to achieve net-zero by 2040 have been validated by the globally recognised SBTi expert initiative. CEZ already received confirmation last year of its near-term climate goals set out in the Vision 2030 - Clean Energy for Tomorrow strategy. They now become the first Czech company with a confirmation that their long-term plan is sufficiently ambitious and in line with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C. International verification of decarbonisation targets is increasingly being requested by banks, insurance companies and investment funds. This year, CEZ expects the emission intensity to decrease by 7% in comparison with last year.