At AES people, how we accomplish our successes and deliver our products is as important as the services we provide.
Ethics, integrity and compliance are the foundation and principles that guide our company and our people. As a global power industry leader, we operate under a broad range of economic, political, social and cultural customs as well as different local, regional, and international laws and regulations. We believe it is our duty and responsibility to conduct business with the highest level of integrity in all situations. Consistent with our Values, our people are expected to uphold the highest ethical standards and must comply with all applicable laws and accurately record and track all business transactions.
Our Ethics and Compliance Program defines our business practices and corporate expectations worldwide. Our Code of Conduct encourages internal and external stakeholders to bring matters of concern to the company’s attention for prompt resolution. Our people and our stakeholders are empowered with a strong sense of ownership and accountability for their work, and we fully expect each person to adhere to our corporate values as described in the Code of Conduct. As a result, AES was selected as one of the 2021 World’s Most Ethical Companies® for the eighth straight year in a row.
Our Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, who reports directly to the Financial Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, manages the AES Ethics and Compliance Program and provides regular updates to the Board and AES business leadership on ethics and compliance issues. Representatives of the Ethics and Compliance program are located at AES corporate headquarters and throughout AES business locations globally.
All our decisions and actions are guided by a strict standard of ethics and transparency.
Our employees follow all these principles and values, adopting a Code of Conduct to ensure integrity and ethics in all relationships with our stakeholders.
Governance
Corporate Governance is one of the fundamental elements of our value generation model.
We have adopted a decentralized management structure through a close relationship between shareholders, managers, independent auditors and the Supervisory Board, aligning our corporate policies and decisions. In addition to separating the responsibilities of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and the existence of a Reporting Channel, among other measures, each action is based on ethics and transparency.
You can find out more about the Corporate Governance agencies and its members here. Visit Corporate Information – Administration and Guidance.
Compliance
Ethics is the utmost conduct when it comes to AES Tietê’s relationship with its business partners. As part of the Ethics and Compliance Program, before engaging in any business transaction, all risks involved in each potential business with partners, service providers or suppliers must be evaluated. The mapping of these risks is performed in accordance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Brazilian Anti-Corruption Law and all other applicable legal determinations and prohibitions.
AES leadership compliance message Brazil
Leading by good example
In our day-to-day business, we never give up on acting ethically and with integrity. In order to ensure that our professional conduct continues in this direction, we have put together guidelines on the practices and behaviors that are expected of each of us in the performance of our duties in the Values Guide.
Three values guide our actions, starting with Safety first. By practicing these guidelines, we ensure the physical, moral and legal integrity of each of us, our colleagues and AES Brasil. The second value - High standards of excellence - disseminates the importance of acting with integrity in our relationships with coworkers, customers, business partners and suppliers. And our third value, All together, emphasizes the importance of working collaboratively, as well as our responsibility to contribute to the success of those who work alongside us and, consequently, to AES's business.
By adopting the right behaviors, we will positively influence the people, entities and communities we work with and lead by example. AES Brasil's Values Guide and Compliance policies determine the integrity guidelines we need to respect, and are reinforced by the training offered throughout the year.
By actively participating in this agenda, we reiterate our commitment to the best market practices in terms of corporate integrity. Do your part. We are counting on you in this ongoing effort, which marks our performance and helps us to continue, together, accelerating the future of energy.
Rogério Jorge, CEO of AES Brasil
Global scale, local impact
At AES Brasil, delivering results and conducting our business ethically go hand in hand. For this to happen, we join efforts that put into practice and ensure compliance with our values: safety first, high standards of excellence and everyone together.
One of the measures we have adopted with this focus is our Compliance program. Made up of three pillars - inform, detect and respond - this program is strengthened by the various actions taken in each of them.
Compliance training and frequent internal communication on the topics are our way of informing. To detect, we have processes and structures that include analysis and prior approval for hiring business partners and internal control routines, as well as the AES Helpline, an independent reporting channel that can be used anonymously to report irregularities or practices that may not correspond to our ethics and integrity guidelines. The "Respond" pillar includes our zero tolerance for retaliation, as well as disciplinary or remedial measures provided for in our policies, and our Values Guide.
Our practices offer shareholders, customers, suppliers, employees, government agencies, industry bodies and other stakeholders that we interact with, the assurance that the relationship with each one will always be based on transparency, integrity and care for AES's reputation. These are practices which therefore become a competitive advantage and which must be continually reinforced.
Our ethics and integrity, managed through controls and transparency, make us stand out in the market. Proof of this is the constant recognition of the excellence of our compliance practices at AES Brasil and AES Corp.
For eight consecutive years, AES has been recognized as one of the most ethical companies in the world by the Ethisphere Institute, a non-profit organization based in Arizona (USA) and dedicated to promoting the best corporate ethics practices. Recognition like this reinforces that we are a company with a global scale, which makes a difference wherever it operates, producing positive local impacts.
Carlos Pompermaier, VP of Corporate Affairs and Regulation
Together, we are achieving ambitious governance goals
At AES Brasil, we value transparency and trust in our relations with our stakeholders. To ensure that these principles are present in our routines, we have adopted a series of processes and mechanisms, such as our Ethics and Compliance program. Based on practices such as due diligence of third parties, training and our whistleblowing channel, the AES Helpline, the program offers investors and other stakeholders the assurance that AES is a reliable company with a robust and mature culture of integrity.
Our ever-evolving Compliance agenda helps ensure the highest levels of control, protection and transparency in our business. Compliance works in partnership with other AES Brasil teams, such as Finance, Internal Audit and Internal Controls, areas that complement each other and properly execute our strategies aimed at sustainable growth, mitigating risks.
We are pleased to see these transparency and control efforts constantly recognized. The governance and sustainability practices we adopt at AES Brasil have enabled us to be awarded the Gold Seal for three consecutive years by EcoVadis, a global collaborative platform that allows us to monitor the sustainable development of companies. The company also participates in B3's Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE). The ISE is made up of shares in companies listed on the stock exchange that show the best performance in ESG (environmental, social and governance) practices. These recognitions confirm that, together, we are achieving ambitious governance goals.
José Simão, VP of Finance and Investor Relations
AES Helpline
AES Helpline is a confidential resource for AES personnel, contractors, business partners and other stakeholders to ask questions or report concerns about the AES business conduct. To ensure confidentiality, AES Helpline is managed by a third-party provider, EthicsPoint.
Toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 0800-891-4167
AES Helpline
Our global helpline serves as a confidential channel for asking questions and expressing concerns.
We reinforce our commitment to ethics and compliance with the expectation that all employees report suspected violations of laws and company policies. AES people are encouraged to use the helpline for guidance regarding legal or regulatory requirements, clarification of AES policies or procedures, and for counsel on appropriate behavior. AES strictly prohibits retaliation against employees who in good faith report ethics and compliance concerns.
Contact us
We work to live out our values every day. If you’ve noticed work that isn’t in line with our values, have a question or concern, or have noticed any suspicious practices within our company, we want to know so we can improve immediately.
Visit aeshelpline.com to ask a question, report a concern, or follow-up on a report.
