EDP, a company that operates across all segments of the electricity industry, was acknowledged as the best Latin American company for Social Responsibility, winning the Latin Trade IndexAmericas Sustainability Award, organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) in partnership with Latin Trade, a business magazine with over 25 years’ history. The award ceremony took place this Thursday (11), in Washington, USA.

In addition to EDP, another four companies - Grupo Argos, PepsiCo Latam, Citigroup Latam and Mexichem - were acknowledged in the Environmental, Corporate Governance, Development and Multilatinas categories, respectively. The winners faced competition from over 7 thousand companies judged on approximately 400 criteria that calculate Environmental, Social Responsibility and Governance metrics. The companies were then scored in 178 comparative criteria.

“EDP is extremely proud to have its corporate governance practices recognized by Latin Trade. This demonstrates the balance we always strive for in order to provide the best possible interaction with our target audiences”, said Eduardo Masson, Finance Director at EDP, during the award ceremony at the Colombian Embassy in Washington.

According to the studies that led to the award, the selected companies made a variety of significant contributions to development in Latin America. The EDP Institute, a social initiative branch of EDP, celebrated its 10th anniversary reaching the milestone of helping improve the lives of 3 million people and investing R$ 100 million in over 300 projects focusing on culture and education.

Some of the most noteworthy initiatives include being the main sponsor for reconstruction of the Portuguese Language Museum, which was destroyed by fire in December 2015, and most recently sponsoring efforts to recover the Ipiranga Museum, which has been closed since 2013.

At the Company is also known for the  EDP in Schools initiative, which builds partnerships with City Education Departments to engage students and teachers in activities that help increase the quality of education. The project also provides schools kits to students. The initiative promotes, empowers and rewards creativeness among children and adolescents in the states of Amapá, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, São Paulo and Tocantins. 

“EDP’s award as the best Latin American company in the Social Responsibility category is recognition of our model, which blends corporate governance, inspiring causes and initiatives that promote social and cultural development within the communities where we operate”, said Luís Carlos Gouveia, director of the EDP Institute, which manages EDP’s social and cultural investments.   

Awards

In 2018, the Company won the Transparency Trophy, an award from the National Association of Finance, Administration and Accounting Executives (ANEFAC) presented to companies with the best accounting practices. 

At the company was also recognized by the EXAME Sustainability Guide as the Best Company in Brazil in the Community Relations category for initiatives that include deploying solar panels in indigenous and coastal communities and social projects developed by the EDP Institute in areas such as education, local development and income generation.

About EDP in Brazil

EDP has over 20 years’ experience and is one of the biggest private-sector companies operating across the entire value chain. The Company has over 10,000 direct and indirect staff and is involved in energy Generation, Distribution, Transmission, Sales and Services. The company has six hydro power plants and one thermal power station that serve around 3.4 million people in the states of São Paulo and Espírito Santo. The Company recently acquired a stake in CELESC, from Santa Catarina. In Brazil, the company is noted for its Innovation, Governance and Sustainability and has been included in the B3 Business Sustainability Index (BSI) for 13 consecutive years.