ENGIE was recognized as the best company in Latin America  in the Environment category with the Latin Trade Index/Americas Sustainability Award 2021 presented by the Inter-american Development Bank (IDB) in partnership with Latin Trade, a business magazine  with circulation in the region for the past 27 years. The online award ceremony will be held on April15 jointly with the bank’s General Assembly, the CEOs of the winning companies and the president of the bank itself to be present.

The award is in recognition of good corporate management which companies promote in the efficient  and responsible use of economic, environmental, and social resources to maintain good equilibrium between the private sector and society. “It is an honor to inform that our Editorial Board has elected ENGIE as the winner of the 2021 Award in the Environment category. Latin Trade congratulates the Company for being among the companies which are paving the way to a new, more sustainable Latin America”, said the executive editor of the publication, Santiago Gutiérrez.

The candidates to the Latin Trade IndexAmericas are chosen from the Thomson Reuters database, a universe of more than 6,000 companies. An initial screening is undertaken based on more than 400 indicators, proportions and analyses in the Environment, Social and Governance areas.

“For more than 20 years, respect for the environment and the definition of strategies which make for the preservation of the Brazilian biodiversity have been our guide in all our projects. We believe that as well as generating clean energy, we have a genuine commitment to long-term sustainability. The award to ENGIE as the best company in Latin America in the Environment category is one more important recognition of the work we have been undertaking and improving together with an active public in the areas surrounding our construction sites and  operations”, declares Eduardo Sattamini, Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE Brasil Energia.

One of the most important initiatives in the Environmental  area – and subject to special mention in the choice of ENGIE for the award  – was the Biodiversity Matrix Project. The objective of this initiative is the development of a corporate program for management of risks, impacts and opportunities for the conservation of the Brazilian biodiversity in the area covered  by ENGIE’s entire generator complex. The projects for planting of seedlings also received special mention from Latin Trade. Over more than 20 years of operations in Brazil, the Company has donated or planted more than 5.5 million seedlings of native species.

The publication also made special mention of the Headwaters Conservation Program with the aim of protecting headwater springs and ensuring the supply and quality of water to  current and future generations in the local communities covered by the project. Since 2010, the project has been responsible for restoring and protecting more than 2000 springs in Brazilian states (PR, SC, RS, MT, MA, GO, TO, BA and MG), the initiative also incorporating environmental education.

Yet another initiative cited by the publication is ichthyofauna management in the Company’s reservoirs as a critical element in corporate environmental management, promoting for example, the conservation of the biodiversity in the Uruguay and Iguaçu rivers in the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná, respectively. In these rivers, we contribute to the conservation of five species of fish, endemic to the Iguaçu and a further three to the Uruguay, in addition to promoting the involvement of the local populace in conservation of the biodiversity. The initiative included the release of more than 510 thousand fish fry in the reservoirs backing the hydroelectric plants along the Uruguay and Iguaçu river basins.

Also worthy of mention is that the Company has environmental objectives and goals monitored through the Integrated Management System, in particular involving ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification covering approximately 80% of the energy generated in 2020. The certifications vouch for the standard of quality in the management of operational, environmental as well as occupational aspects.

In 2020, ENGIE Brasil Energia invested approximately R$ 21 million in socio-environmental actions in order to maintain the environmental licenses of its plants in operation. Such investments reflect directly in ensuring the protection and conservation  of natural resources in the regions in which the Company operates as well as contributing to meeting the SDGs -Sustainable Development Goals.