The Odebrecht companies that operate in the Engineering and Construction sector are committed to adopting practices designed to identify, evaluate and minimize the negative impacts caused by the developments while maximizing the potential of the positive impacts, promoting effective gains in environmental quality.

By protecting the ecosystem around its construction projects, the construction company follows internal policies oriented by the international norms and legal requirements from each country. Odebrecht’s operations in the area earned it the ISO 14001:2004 certification, which it continues to maintain, along with the recognition of stakeholders through awards.

Principles:

• Every project must be assessed and classified as to its potential social and environmental risks.
• The legal compliance of the project in each region is the basic principle and demands continuous follow-up to guarantee compliance with legislation, permit requirements and the commitments assumed with Clients, investors and financial agencies.
• Potential environmental and social impacts must be identified and evaluated with the use of the right methods that are consistent with the associated risks.
• The projects must avoid negative interferences in conservation units and other protected areas and identify possible impacts on threatened species. When such impacts and interferences are unavoidable and the analyses indicate that the benefits of the project outweigh the environmental costs, appropriate measures for mitigation and compensation must be proposed.
• The projects must promote public participation and programs designed to consult communities and social organizations in their area of influence, using adequate communication mechanisms.
• The rational use and conservation of natural resources, the protection of ecosystems, the maintenance of biodiversity, the minimization of deforestation and respect for regional cultural issues must be considered the objectives to meet during all phases of each project.
• Each project must institute an Integrated Sustainability Program that is compatible with its scope, complexity and magnitude, as well as its potential impacts.
• For projects considered to have a high social-environmental risk, it is recommended that there be a revision and assessment of the environmental studies and performance of the Integrated Program by an independent consultant based on the different stages of a project, such as the winning of the bid, installation and operation.