Drax Political Engagement Policy

Drax’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future. We recognise that to achieve this we will need to listen to, and work with, a wide range of stakeholders, including political stakeholders and policy makers.

Political and regulatory risk has been identified by the Drax Board as one of the nine principal risks that the business faces. The 2018 Corporate Governance Code also places an increased focus on the importance of the Board ensuring effective engagement with all our stakeholders. It is therefore essential that, as one part of its engagement processes, Drax engages with political stakeholders in order to understand their positions while ensuring we share our knowledge and expertise. This is to enable executives and the Board to reach informed, balanced and considered business decisions which are in the best interests of the Company and all our stakeholders.

In doing so we act with integrity and adhere to the following principles in all political engagement:

• Drax will act with political impartiality and will never operate in ways which are illegal, unethical or contrary to professional practice;
• Drax will not seek to influence the outcome of electoral campaigns or contribute funding to political campaigns;
• Drax’s engagement is informed by our business objectives and aligned with our purpose;
• The objective of engagement is to listen to stakeholder concerns and take them into account, thereby informing wider discussions and business decisions;
• The information Drax provides to stakeholders including politicians is always based on fact and documented sources;
• Drax engagement is subject to robust oversight from the Director of Corporate Affairs (a member of the Drax Executive Committee), guided by the principles outlined in this policy and will report on engagement to the Executive Committee and the Board;
• Drax is committed to transparency and openness. When engaging with politicians, we will make our position and interests clear and provide information on those engagements in our reporting;
• Drax is registered on the transparency registers of political systems, where they exist, including in Scotland and the European institutions; and
• Drax may sponsor or pay to participate in events arranged by political parties or politicians on a commercial basis, including at the party-political conferences, visit programmes and events in Parliament.