Recognition underlines the company’s transparent disclosure of audited greenhouse gas inventory

São Paulo, October 2022 – Aegea Saneamento, Brazil’s leading private sector sanitation company, has received the Gold Seal from the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program, the highest category among the  inventories submitted to the Program, which aims to bring transparency to greenhouse gas emissions. The certification is managed by FGVces, the Center for Sustainability Studies of the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), whose goal is to showcase the efforts and numbers from the corporate internal programs for better carbon management.

For Édison Carlos, president of Aegea Institute, the social and environmental intelligence center of Aegea, the certification is one sign of the company’s commitment to the ESG agenda, especially governance and sustainability. “Assessing the company’s progress on the ESG pillars is in the DNA of Aegea. In this case, diverse areas of the company came together to prepare the inventory and this effort resulted in a transparent and comprehensive report submitted to independent audit, which shows us ways to operate in a more sustainable manner,” he said.

The company joined the Program this year and, by preparing the 2021 inventory based on 2020 data and which was ratified by KPMG, a global audit and consulting firm, it better understood the sources of emission in the water and sewage processes, the use of electricity, mobile combustion, stationary combustion, fugitive emissions and change in land use, among others. Then, the 2022 inventory was prepared based on 2021 data, which too was validated by KPMG and audited by Bureau Veritas, accredited by INMETRO, the Brazilian standards authority. “All the standards required by the Program were achieved and the company received the Gold Seal,” said Édison.

“By preparing the inventory in accordance with the highest market standards, aligned with an international methodology, we can measure our impact and thus intensify our efforts on diverse fronts to reduce emissions by streamlining processes, deploying new technologies and launching actions to mitigate emissions, such as reforestation and water resilience, all of which positively contribute to combating climate change,” explained Édison.

The certification also reinforces Aegea’s commitment to operational efficiency, responsible investments and achievement of targets. The Public Emissions Registry can be accessed at https://registropublicodeemissoes.fgv.br/participantes/4003.

Commitment to the ESG agenda

Another example of Aegea’s commitment to ESG issues was the issue of Sustainability-Linked Bonds in April this year. The company was the first in the sanitation sector to issue bonds linked to ESG goals in Latin America and the pioneer in setting targets for racial diversity in leadership positions in Brazil. Aegea established the following targets, to be reached by 2030: reduce energy consumption by 15% (measured in kWh/m³) and increase the number of women and black people in leadership positions from 32% and 17% to 45% and 27%, respectively.

Brazilian GHG Protocol Program

The Brazilian GHG Protocol Program adapts the GHG Protocol method to the Brazilian scenario and develops tools to calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Program was designed in 2008 by FGVces and WRI (World Resources Institute) in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBSCD), the Ministry of Environment, the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) and 27 founding companies.

The Program’s goals include stimulating the inventory of GHG emissions in the corporate culture of Brazil to create a movement of combating climate change at organizations, and setting international quality standards for the accounting of emissions and publication of inventories.