OEC awarded with Gold Seal of the GHG Protocol Program

Global recognition achieved for the eighth year attests to the company’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gases

The construction company OECand its subsidiaries in Brazil have just been certified, for the eighth time in a row, with the highest level of the GHG Protocol Program – a tool companies and governments use in orderto understand, quantify and manage Greenhouse Gas emissions(GHG).Among the 111 companies that received the Gold Seal, OECwas the only one in the heavy construction sector, reinforcing its commitment to climate and sustainability guidelines.

Two examples of good practices evaluated by the GHG Protocol were the actions aimed at the reuse of effluents and the reuse and recycling of solid waste. In this period, the inventory showed a 44% reduction in emissions linked to the final disposal of waste in landfills or effluent treatment plants. The company conducts an inventory of its GHG emitting sources at all construction sites and has been externally verifying its reports since 2010, having become a reference in its field in the low carbon debates.

“2022 will be even more challenging,” says Cauê Borges Maia, responsible for producing the inventory at OEC. “We aim to improve our actions, increasing performance and identifying possible improvements”, he adds. Besides him, more than 30 professionals work in all countries where the company operates and are engaged in the preparation of the inventory. “We have set goals in all of the construction sites so that we can improve our indexes and further reduce GHG emissions”, he explains.

Climate Agenda

Besides the maximum GHG Protocol certification, OEC maintains other climate initiatives. It is, for example, a signatory of the Open Letter to Brazil on Climate Change, a commitment in which companies from different areas of the productive sector presented the government with proposals for reducing emissions. It also continues to be engaged in initiatives of the Climate Forum, work group coordinated by the Ethos Institute (Brazil) that tracks the private sector’s contribution to reducing negative impacts on climate change.

The mitigation of the productive sector’s impacts and the promotion of actions for its adaptation to climate change have special relevance for the civil construction sector and are related to the environmental balance and the quality of life of people around the large infrastructure projects. OEC has defined strategies for reducing its emissions according to the reality and potential of each project. The reduction in gross emissions and the intensity of emissions measured by OEC reflect the characteristics of the portfolio of works and demonstrate the efforts made to optimize internal processes, especially the consumption of fossil fuels.

The complete list of companies evaluated by the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program can be found at www.registropublicodeemissoes.com.br.

ESG Actions

OEC has evolved markedly in ESG actions. Some actions implemented in recent years and that exemplify this statement are the conclusion of the independent monitoring carried out by representatives appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Brazilian Prosecution Office, which culminated with the achievement of ISO 37001 international anti-bribery certification earlier this year.

In the field of sustainability, in addition to emissions management, the company conducted 1,2 million hours of training last year and achieved 79% of solid waste reuse in its construction sites.

During the pandemic, the company carried out emergency actions of a social nature aiming to minimize the impact on the communities surrounding its construction sites and offices. In Brazil, it has donated 500 basic food staplesand seven ventilators, besides making manpower and equipment available for urban actions; in Angola, it has distributed water, 40 thousand liters of 70% alcohol, as well as labor and materials; in Panama, it has carried out urban cleaning, adapted clinics, and distributed 10,000 masks; in the Dominican Republic, it has donated two ambulances; and in Peru it has carried out the renovation of a field hospital for patients affected by Covid. In addition, internally, it has implemented the Active Search program that monitors and provides medical follow-up for all its employees.

The GHG Protocol

The Brazilian Program of the GHG Protocol stimulates the corporate culture in favor of the elaboration and publication of the GHG Emissions Inventory. The program’s main goal is to promote, through engagement and technical and institutional capacity building, a voluntary corporate culture for the identification, calculation, and preparation of GHG or Greenhouse Gasemissions inventories (GHG)gaseous substances naturally present in the atmosphere that absorb part of the infrared radiation emitted by the sun and reflected by the earth’s surface,  making it difficult for this radiation to escape (heat) into space.

The GHG Protocol establishes standardized, comprehensive global frameworks for measuring and managing gas emissions in public and private sector operations, value chains, and mitigation actions. Based on a 20-year partnership between the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the GHG Protocol works with governments, industry associations, NGOs, companies, and other organizations.