The corporate policies of Edp in Brazil are extensions of our code of ethics to the extent that they detail our modus operandi in matters of great importance.
Policy for Combating the Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents
The aim of this policy is to curb the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in our productive chain and to contribute toward the combating of pedophilia and child pornography.
Besides continuously monitoring the ethical conduct of suppliers to ensure their alignment with this commitment, Edp in Brazil also supports entities that work with education and research on sexual violence in the country by means of the social investment programs of Instituto EDP, and seeks to subsidize the qualified discussion of the topic by disseminating relevant information. We believe that only with the breaking of taboos involved in this important issue, and a better understanding of its causes and consequences, will measures to combat this crime become truly effective.
Policy against Discrimination and Harassment (Sexual and Moral)
Discrimination is defined as the act of segregating by difference, whether of gender, race/color, sexual option, age, handicap, culture or religion. By moral harassment we understand every situation of exposure of collaborators to repetitive and prolonged humiliating and embarrassing situations during the work day and in the performance of their jobs. Sexual harassment we understand as the act of sexual coercion generally exercised by a hierarchical superior and characterized by repeated and undesired insinuation or sexual proposal by one of the parties.
Edp in Brazil guarantees the protection of its collaborators' moral integrity, guaranteeing that they have the right to work conditions that respect their individual dignity. We neither tolerate nor allow the practice of any kind of discrimination or harassment in any activity developed by Edp in Brasil itself or its suppliers.
Policy against Child and Slave Labor (Forced or Compulsory)
Child labor is every economic and/or survival activity, targeting profit or not, remunerated or not, performed by children and adolescents under 16 years of age, except in the capacity of apprentice among those 14 years of age or above. Slave labor, in turn, is all that obtained by force or in a compulsory manner, under threat of penalty, which the person did not offer to do voluntarily or whose form of remuneration is payment that covers previous debt.
Edp in Brasil will never employ child or slave labor, neither will it agree to such practices in any stage of its value chain. We only negotiate with suppliers that have the same policy and we have specific procedures for dealing with accusations concerning this matter, in order to ensure the punishment of those responsible.
Policy for Combating Corruption, Subornment and Bribery
This policy reaffirms our commitment to integrity and to the combating of all forms of corruption, subornment and bribery in our activities and value chain.
Edp in Brasil and its subsidiaries do not pay or receive bribes/gratuities, whereas they prohibit every practice of corruption are prohibited in the running of business, whether active or passive, resulting from acts or inaction, creation or maintenance of favoring activities or irregular situations. We do not use position, job or influence to gain access to privileged information, or to benefits of any sort (corporate gifts, presents, loans, etc.) that impair company business or practices of free competition.
The communication policy of Edp in Brazil is intended to make our activities transparent, ensuring the delivery of information in a clear, fast, precise and integrated manner, without distinctions, strengthening the participation of people in all the internal and external processes of the company and catering to the particularities of each one of our audiences:
To the shareholders, we ensure treatment equality and disclosure of relevant information (quantitative and qualitative, of an economic, financial, social and environmental nature) on a timely basis for decision making.
To the collaborators and partners, we provide integrated communication channels that enable an agile and transparent relationship with us, besides access to useful information, such as philosophy, management method, products and code of ethics of Edp in Brazil. In response, we expect them to know, comply with and enforce compliance with the existing rules and routines, reporting any non-conformity verified.
To the authorities, we guarantee an attitude of total cooperation and transparency, producing in a complete, correct and comprehensible manner all the reports and documents requested.
For clients, we maintain permanent communication channels, valuing respect for their rights, the confidentiality of their personal information, precision, courtesy and effectiveness.
We have the principle of investing in the community, in several ways and in different areas: education, generation of work and income, culture and leisure, local development.
In all our investments, we reinforce the exercise of citizenship and stimulate the benefited parties to decide on their own destinies, always respecting their culture, values and institutions. We also promote dialogue among our different initiatives, in order to enable the sharing of experiences and to potentialize the learning of the different players.
Integrated Environmental, Health and Occupational Safety Policy
Out of respect for the universal values of preservation of nature and of life, this policy establishes guidelines, parameters and commitments relating to the continuous improvement of environmental management, of occupational health and of workplace safety at Edp in Brasil.
Edp in Brasil considers the socioenvironmental component in all its activities, aiming to reduce its local and regional impacts and to manage existing risks.
In relation to our environmental commitment, we promote and support nature conservation initiatives, paying special attention to Brazilian biodiversity, which is the largest in the world and one of the greatest riches of our country - for this reason, it is the topic of a specific policy, presented below. In our investment decisions, we prioritize eco-efficient technologies and constantly strive to build up the awareness of our stakeholders, with an emphasis on our collaborators, in relation to the importance of the rational use of natural resources.
And as far as occupational health and safety are concerned, we take special care in ensuring the physical integrity of our collaborators, and in providing a health and safe workplace. Our various programs in this subject, which range from health campaigns to internal accident prevention committees, include both collaborators and suppliers.
Conscious of the sensitivity of natural ecosystems and of the pressures to which they are subject, Edp in Brasil uses its vast experience to minimize its impacts on biodiversity.
For this purpose, we evaluate the impacts on biodiversity of all our projects, in all their phases. Moreover, we regularly report our performance in terms of biodiversity, verified by independent entities, and make regular inquiries to the different stakeholders.
EDP in Brazil is comitted to keeping a continuous dialogue, open and transparent, with its different stakeholders, through the multiple communication channels available. This relationship with our stakeholders is key to strategic planning, since it reinforces corporate governance, enables the identification of opportunities, the seek of innovative solutions and the detection of flaws. In addition, it is an important tool of reporting our economic, social and environmental performance and also receiving feedback, enabling EDP in Brasil to re-evaluate continuously its processes.
We guarantee freedom of association to all our collaborators, holding open dialogue for collective bargainings. We recognize the legitimacy of union representation and support the activities of trade unions by means of:
Guarantee of union organization at the workplace and facilitation of the distribution of periodic informative material from the trade unions to the collaborators;
Performance of the Collective Agreement and holding of collective bargaining activities in the local sphere;
Receipt of manifestations and answers to questions from the union representatives;
Collection of funds from the workers for the unions with payroll deductions.
Edp in Brasil understands the appreciation of human diversity in all its aspects (race/color, culture, religion, gender, sexual option, age, etc.) as an opportunity to enrich the society in which we live with different ideas and views of the world and also to ensure equality among people, including them and integrating them in a fairer society.
We believe that the importance of diversity goes further than obeying the law and making sure that there is no type of discrimination in our work environment; it includes creating a culture where differences are valued and individual potentialities, reinforced.
Intangible assets are knowledge existing at Edp in Brazil and capable of creating competitive advantages for our organization that are hard to measure precisely and are understood as our greatest value. For this reason, identifying them and keeping them is a challenge to which we pay special attention.
The dimensions that we monitor constantly in pursuit of intangible assets are:
Our collaborators and their alignment with our culture and values, as well as their interaction with the other team members;
Our information technology systems, vital for the fast and effective production and management of information;
Our brand and reputation, which should reflect who we are and why we exist.
This policy formalizes EDP in Brazil's commitment concerning the non-adoption of anti-competitive practices in the development of its activities. For this reason, our employees are instructed not to take part in any discussion with other competitors related to products' price or selling conditions, clients' distribution, proposal to boycott a client or supplier in potential or any other activity that may restrict free competition.
Concerned about the sustainability of their businesses, the companies of Edp in Brazil seek to potentialize the positive impacts of their activities, as well as to identify and minimize negative impacts.
The sustainability policy aggregates all the abovementioned policies and voluntary commitments, as it seeks to balance the economic, social and environmental dimensions of our operations. The sustainability report of Edp in Brasil, level A+ of the G3 guidelines of GRI9, is one of our platforms of dialogue with society in the constant quest for increasingly transparent work and activity.
9GRI (Global Reporting Initiative): Created in 1997 after the meeting of environmentalists, social activists and representatives of socially responsible funds, GRI is a not-for-profit organization that gathers different stakeholders and develops a Structure of Sustainability Reports adopted by around 1,000 organizations worldwide. For further information, visit http://www.globalreporting.org/Home/LanguageBar/PortugueseLanguagePage.htm or www.globalreporting.org.
The aim of this policy is to curb the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in our productive chain and to contribute toward the combating of pedophilia and child pornography.
Discrimination is defined as the act of segregating by difference, whether of gender, race/color, sexual option, age, handicap, culture or religion. By moral harassment we understand every situation of exposure of collaborators to repetitive and prolonged humiliating and embarrassing situations during the work day and in the performance of their jobs. Sexual harassment we understand as the act of sexual coercion generally exercised by a hierarchical superior and characterized by repeated and undesired insinuation or sexual proposal by one of the parties.
Child labor is every economic and/or survival activity, targeting profit or not, remunerated or not, performed by children and adolescents under 16 years of age, except in the capacity of apprentice among those 14 years of age or above. Slave labor, in turn, is all that obtained by force or in a compulsory manner, under threat of penalty, which the person did not offer to do voluntarily or whose form of remuneration is payment that covers previous debt.
This policy reaffirms our commitment to integrity and to the combating of all forms of corruption, subornment and bribery in our activities and value chain.
The communication policy of Edp in Brazil is intended to make our activities transparent, ensuring the delivery of information in a clear, fast, precise and integrated manner, without distinctions, strengthening the participation of people in all the internal and external processes of the company and catering to the particularities of each one of our audiences:
We have the principle of investing in the community, in several ways and in different areas: education, generation of work and income, culture and leisure, local development.
Out of respect for the universal values of preservation of nature and of life, this policy establishes guidelines, parameters and commitments relating to the continuous improvement of environmental management, of occupational health and of workplace safety at Edp in Brasil.
Conscious of the sensitivity of natural ecosystems and of the pressures to which they are subject, Edp in Brasil uses its vast experience to minimize its impacts on biodiversity.
EDP in Brazil is comitted to keeping a continuous dialogue, open and transparent, with its different stakeholders, through the multiple communication channels available. This relationship with our stakeholders is key to strategic planning, since it reinforces corporate governance, enables the identification of opportunities, the seek of innovative solutions and the detection of flaws. In addition, it is an important tool of reporting our economic, social and environmental performance and also receiving feedback, enabling EDP in Brasil to re-evaluate continuously its processes.
We guarantee freedom of association to all our collaborators, holding open dialogue for collective bargainings. We recognize the legitimacy of union representation and support the activities of trade unions by means of:
Edp in Brasil understands the appreciation of human diversity in all its aspects (race/color, culture, religion, gender, sexual option, age, etc.) as an opportunity to enrich the society in which we live with different ideas and views of the world and also to ensure equality among people, including them and integrating them in a fairer society.
Intangible assets are knowledge existing at Edp in Brazil and capable of creating competitive advantages for our organization that are hard to measure precisely and are understood as our greatest value. For this reason, identifying them and keeping them is a challenge to which we pay special attention.
This policy formalizes EDP in Brazil's commitment concerning the non-adoption of anti-competitive practices in the development of its activities. For this reason, our employees are instructed not to take part in any discussion with other competitors related to products' price or selling conditions, clients' distribution, proposal to boycott a client or supplier in potential or any other activity that may restrict free competition.
Concerned about the sustainability of their businesses, the companies of Edp in Brazil seek to potentialize the positive impacts of their activities, as well as to identify and minimize negative impacts.