Social Management

Management of the social dimension in Copel is performed based on identification of risks, impacts and opportunities, prosing improvements, as well as defining goals that help composing indicators for integrated management of people, suppliers, communities surrounding the undertakings, customers and actions in society.

At each new undertaking, environmental studies are made as part of the licensing process, in a periodicity varying according to the complexity of the project. The results that substantiate socioenvironmental programs, which, in addition to the mitigation and compensation nature, seek to sensitize surrounding communities on correlated themes.

The Sustainability Policy sets the general guidelines for engagement with stakeholders, which reflect on the importance of dialog and transparency, considering the demands, priorities and expectations of each.

Other internal policies relative to this theme are: NPC 0104 – Corporate Risks Integrated Management Policy, NPC 0309 – Sponsorship Policy and 0320 – Human Rights.

Copel’s participation in the selection of sustainability indices portfolios of the stock exchanges of São Paulo and New York is a form of assessing the Company’s performance in this sense, as well as of rendering accounts relative to socioenvironmental commitments assumed.

Social Dimension Indicators and Targets

Copel’s performance in the social dimension is examined through a series of indicators and goals set between the areas and top management, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with legislation in force, sustainability in all dimensions – social, economic and environmental; and valuing the Company’s intangible assets.

Among the aspects relative to people management, the ones that stand out are employee satisfaction, benefits granted above the market average as means of attracting and retaining talent, valuing its work force; personal and professional development, respect for diversity and incentive for equity, promoting accessibility and the commitment to occupational health and safety.

Each area of the company sets its own indicators and targets on an annual basis, and currently, these results are attached to an individual development plan, which may result in variable benefits granted by the company to its employees.

Actions with the community, the voluntary work program, social investments and expansion of access to energy with all quality and safety Copel provides grants the company a stand-out role in the industry, and consumer evaluation guarantees successive recognition and serve as basis for measuring performance excellence.

Copel prides itself in being the first company in the energy industry to adhere to the United Nations Global Compact and it aligns its indicators and goals to the Sustainable Development Objectives (SDO), supplying clean and accessible energy, prioritizing decent work, assuring economic growth, investing in innovation, expanding and improving infrastructure, reducing inequality, contributing that communities and cities are more sustainable and fighting climate change.

For learning more about Copel’s indicators, access the Company’s reports: Reports and Publications – Copel.

Opportunities Social Dimension

Copel, based on its public commitment to promote economic growth with sustainability, invests in an integrated and transparent management, aligning market processes and trends with the expectations and needs of its stakeholders.

The integrated risk management model adopted by Copel seeks, in addition to enhancing the positive social impacts, to reduce to the maximum, the negative social impacts, anticipating mitigating measures whenever necessary.

Several actions and programs developed by the company are demonstrations of how it turns risks into opportunities in favor of social causes, implying in quality due to the population.

The Cultivar Energia Corporate Program, for example, developed in partnership with municipal governments, demonstrates the balance sought by Copel in sustainable development through an integrated management of risks and opportunities.

The Program enables the implementation of community gardens in properties under power generation and distribution lines, acting preventively in the incidence of irregular occupations and risk to the population, providing the improvement of the urban space, the encouragement of food security and the possibility generating income for the community.

Considering that the impacts of its business can change the social dynamics of a community, Copel bases its initiatives on the generation of shared value, respecting the expectations of its stakeholders and investing in new technologies to guarantee clean and accessible energy.

Risk Management - Social Dimension

In addition, a specific clause was included in the Bylaws that guarantees the maintenance of the provision that attributes to CAD the obligation to pass on the tariff readjustments approved by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), making it mandatory to call a specific meeting of preferred shareholders in case change the device in question.

As an additional opportunity, the migration to B3’s Level 2 Governance was also approved, subject to the success of a secondary public offering of shares issued by the Company and held by the controlling shareholder.

Copel understands that Corporate Governance is a differential applied to the company’s management, which provides more transparency, efficiency, minimizes strategic, operational and financial risks and contributes to the company’s longevity.

Aligned with the principles of governance and sustainability, Copel adopts the best market practices, being considered a prominent company. As a result, the Company recently approved a wide-ranging reform of its bylaws, with emphasis on the following improvements in governance: 50% increase in the members elected by minority shareholders in the Board of Directors (from 2 to 3), inclusion of an external member in the Statutory Audit Committee.

In addition, three new statutory committees were created, as follows: a Minority Committee, responsible for analyzing matters that alter the rights of minority shareholders; a Sustainable Development Committee, responsible for advising the Board of Directors (CAD) on matters related to people management and issues related to ESG dimensions; and an Investment and Innovation Committee, with the participation of a member of the CAD elected by minority shareholders, to deal with matters related to the Company’s investment plan, as well as issues inherent to innovation.

Impacts - Social Dimension

Copel, in the development of its activities, seeks to mitigate the negative impacts arising from operations and enhance the positive impacts, building alternatives together with the community and the government to act in situations of social relevance and boost development in a responsible manner.

The implementation of new ventures generates jobs and revenues for the municipalities, as well as local development. However, situations that need mitigation or compensation are identified through social programs described in the basic environmental plans, in simplified environmental reports and in the reports detailing the environmental programs of each enterprise.

In addition to mandatory social programs in the context of environmental licensing, Copel develops other actions aimed at communities within the scope of corporate sustainability and in a corporate manner.

The continuous communication of the results obtained with the actions and programs to mitigate impacts allows the establishment of performance strategies, identification of opportunities and the proposition of improvements.

Supply Chain Management

As it is a mixed-capital company, Copel is subject to Federal Law No. 13.303/16 and the Internal Regulation for Bids and Contracts, which restrict supplier selection actions. However, in addition to the legal obligations, the Company uses, as main criteria in the selection of suppliers, compliance with labor legislation and respect for human rights, fiscal suitability and environmental commitment.
The criteria are defined in the bidding notices, contractual clauses, supplier registration manuals and the Code of Conduct, in addition to standards and technical manuals permanently available to those interested on the company’s website.

Supplier Management - Social Dimension

Copel has in its contracts, provisions referring to social matters. If there are negative impacts practiced by suppliers that violate the contract, the contract manager has the duty to assess the pertinent administrative sanctions, which can be warnings and/or fines, termination of contract and/or temporary suspension (independent administrative process).

Both in the certification of Copel GET suppliers and in the awarding of the best suppliers of Copel DIS, one of the factors assessed is conformity with provisions referring to environmental criteria of contracts.

Items such as tax and labor regularity certificates and inclusion in the Dirty List of Slave Labor, for example, are verified from selection to the end of the life cycle of contracts.

In the on-site inspections of Copel DIS contracts or for Industrial Evaluation of material and equipment manufacturers, verification items referring to respect to human rights are included.

Learn more about the Certifications process at Copel.