In addition to excellence in energy services, Copel Distribuição plays a fundamental role in Paraná society, presenting itself as a catalyst for the best social, cultural and business practices in the ESG sphere. Through preventive and educational actions in the field of Cultural Heritage, linked to the environmental licensing of its energy projects, the aim is to combine economic growth with actions to preserve and protect cultural assets safeguarded at national, state and municipal level through in-depth studies and impact assessment of material and immaterial assets, as well as actions to extrovert the knowledge acquired, ensuring the permanence of cultural assets for the enjoyment of present and future generations.
The activities carried out by Copel Distribuição within the scope of Cultural Heritage are related to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 04. Quality Education; 10. Reducing Inequalities; 15. Life of Terrestrial Ecosystems; and, 17. Partnerships and Means of Implementation.
According to Article 216 of the Federal Constitution of 1988, Brazil’s cultural heritage is made up of material and immaterial assets, taken individually or as a whole, which bear reference to the identity, action and memory of the different groups that make up Brazilian society. In Brazil, it is the responsibility of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN), a federal agency linked to the Ministry of Tourism that is responsible for preserving Brazil’s cultural heritage, to protect and promote the country’s cultural assets.
In this area, as a result of the installation of its energy projects, Copel Distribuição adopts a set of preventive actions and measures supported, above all, by Iphan Normative Instruction No. 001, of March 25, 2015, which aim to know, protect and safeguard the rich cultural heritage in the areas where it operates.
The purpose of the Federal Safeguarded Cultural Assets Program is to preserve, conserve and safeguard protected cultural assets (including archaeological assets, registered, listed and valued, belonging to the Federal Government), by preparing research projects to carry out field studies to assess the potential for and impact on archaeological heritage and, when required by IPHAN, the Archaeological Heritage Management Program, in line with obtaining the Environmental Licenses (Preliminary License – LP, Installation License – LI and Operating License – LO) for the energy projects to be installed by the company.
Compliance with current legislation is also operationalized by an internal procedure, the Environmental Technical Instruction – ITMA 10.17. v.2.0 – Management of Cultural Property Safeguarded at Federal Level.
DIS is a national leader among energy distributors on the subject of Cultural Heritage and has been systematically reassessing its practices to generate new knowledge and cultural value. In December 2024, the magazine Eletro Evolução, of the Brazilian National Committee for the Production and Transmission of Electricity (CIGRE-Brasil), published an article entitled “Cultural heritage management: the preservation of archaeological sites in situ on Copel Distribuição S.A.’s high-voltage distribution lines”, demonstrating Copel Distribuição’s significant progress in dealing with the issue.
