About this report

About ACWA Power

ACWA Power (TADAWUL:2082) is a Saudi-listed company and the world’s largest private water desalination company, the first mover into green hydrogen, and a leader in energy transition. Registered and established in 2004 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ACWA Power employs over 3,700 people and is currently present in 12 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. ACWA Power’s portfolio comprises 81 projects in operation, advanced development, or construction with an investment value of SAR 317.8 billion (USD 84.7 billion), and the capacity to generate 55 GW of power and produce 7.6 million m3/day of desalinated water per day, delivered on a bulk basis to address the needs of state utilities and industries on long term, offtaker contracts under utility services outsourcing and Public-Private-Partnership models.

ACWA Power’s Integrated Annual Report 2023

This Integrated Annual Report for 2023 encompasses financial and non‑financial information and combines our financial reporting, our sustainability reporting and the Board report, as well as our strategy, business model, risks and opportunities, to give our shareholders and other stakeholders a comprehensive record, in one report, of our activities, achievements and goals, throughout the reporting period from 1 January to 31 December, 2023.

All financial information in this report is reported in million of Saudi Riyals unless otherwise stated. As a result of calculations, rounding differences may occur.

This year’s theme – Energy transition takes ambition

Following the 2022 Integrated Annual Report theme, Energy transition takes ingenuity, this year we describe how ambition has been a driving and shaping force for ACWA Power over the last 20 years, how it has resulted in our leadership position on the global stage in what we do, and how it will drive us to achieve our ambitious next milestone, the tripling of our assets under management by 2030.

Total portfolio basis and ACWA Power equity basis

References in this report to ACWA Power’s projects are on a total portfolio basis rather than on ACWA Power’s equity share basis, unless stated otherwise.

Report boundaries

The report encompasses financial and non‑financial data of ACWA Power Company (‘the Company’), and its subsidiaries, which, together with the Company, are collectively referred to as the ‘Group’. The report consolidates data of the Group’s direct subsidiaries listed in the notes to the consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2023.

This fiscal year, our employee accounting parameters are restricted to permanent full‑time employees, with project employees omitted from the dataset, giving a total of 3,701 employees. Previously, we reported total full‑time employees for 2022 and 2021 as 4,062 and 3,920 respectively. We have restated the employee data for 2022 and 2021 to 3,199 and 2,860 in order to maintain consistency in our accounting methodology.

Auditors

KPMG, conducted the audit of our financial statements, prepared in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISAs), which are endorsed in the Kingdom. The Integrated Annual Report was considered consistent with the audited financial statements by the auditors.

KPMG Professional Services carried out a limited assurance for the selected quantitative indicators (greenhouse gas Scope 1 & 2 emissions on equity share basis, CO2 intensity, water withdrawal, discharge, and consumption, employee training completed and average training hours, total recordable incident & recordable incident rate, fatalities).

Sustainability reporting

We see our non‑financial reporting as a continuous process of improvement year‑on‑year and we are aware that, as a rapidly growing company, we need to develop the manner in which we capture and manage a comprehensive and consistent set of sustainability data from around our business.

We also review and consider the recommendations and frameworks provided by other globally respected organisations, including Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the Taskforce on Climate‑related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and the World Economic Forum (WEF).

ACWA Power follows United Nations Global Compact principles as the basis for its development. For this report, we have selected the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) which align most closely with ACWA Power’s activities.

Our ESG performance is measured and monitored continuously and assessed against our sustainability ambitions and material KPIs. We assign management responsibilities and KPIs to measure performance across our departments. Managers report results to the Management Committee and the Board of Directors (the Board), and this provides a basis for strategies to achieve targets and improve performance. We plan to conduct a new materiality assessment and refine our primary ESG KPIs in 2024.

New GHG emissions accounting methodology

As part of our continuous improvement, the GHG emissions data included in this report are based on a new methodology adopted in order to improve our GHG emissions reporting and disclosure. The new methodology enhances the accuracy of operational data flow and provides a more accurate representation of GHG emissions. As our baseline year for our emissions targets is 2020, we have restated the GHG emissions for previous years. The GHG emissions provided in this report are based on the enhanced new methodology.

Board report

This document includes the statutory Board report of ACWA Power Company for the year ended 31 December 2023. The report has been prepared in accordance with disclosure requirements as stipulated in the Corporate Governance Regulations (‘CGR’) issued by the Capital Markets Authority (‘CMA’) of the Kingdom. The report has been approved by the Board on 29 March 2024 and disclosed to the public subsequently. The Report may include disclosures sourced directly from certain internal Company documents, such as policies, charters etc., and undefined or capitalised terms will bear the meaning as defined in these internal Company documents.