2012 Annual Sustainability Report
Society and the Environment
To ensure its economic sustainability, Grupo Algar follows an efficient management model and a solid corporate governance policy. This allows the holding company and its Subsidiaries to make wise decisions that will determine the Company's future.
Grupo Algar believes that inspiring people to adopt sustainable practices can change the future of our planet. As a result, it is a signatory to the Global Compact, an initiative developed by the United Nations Organization (UNO) to encourage the business community to adopt values related to human rights, labor relations, the environment and the fight against corruption. In addition, it adopts a series of practices based on the three pillars of sustainability: economic, environmental and social.
To ensure its economic sustainability, Grupo Algar follows an efficient management model and a solid corporate governance policy. This allows the holding company and its Subsidiaries to make wise decisions that will determine the Company's future. The social pillar focuses on promoting the development of the communities in which Grupo Algar is present by means of educational projects. Finally, the environmental sustainability initiatives are meant to promote conscientious management, with practices intended to engage the whole relationship network in the mission of preserving the ecosystem.
Instituto Algar
Grupo Algar believes that its operations and ongoing expansion have to promote the social development of the communities in which it is present. Constantly seeking to undertake initiatives that can change people's lives permanently, the Company believes that education is the most effective means to become engaged in improving human potential.
Instituto Algar, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012, is in charge of all the Group's educational initiatives. It is an OSCIP (Organização da Sociedade Civil de Interesse Público, or Public Interest Civil Organization) and receives donations from all the Group's companies so that it can undertake social initiatives that contribute to the human development of school children and educators through all-round education. In 2012, the direct investments in social initiatives totaled R$3 million. These funds allowed the Institute to continue its three programs, which were extended to four more cities last year. As a result, Instituto Algar currently reaches 16 cities in five states: São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Goiás and Maranhão. All the cities to which the programs were extended are in the area in which Algar Telecom is expanding, which shows that Grupo Algar's business growth and social sustainability initiatives go hand-in-hand.
Responsible for bringing Algar companies closer to the community, Instituto Algar coordinates the Companies' volunteering initiatives. Associates are encouraged to take part in the Institute's on-site or distance learning programs during their working hours, as well as in specific campaigns conducted throughout the year. In 2012, 570 associates were involved in volunteering activities. The Institute also built closer relationships with city and state departments of education, primary public schools, educators, school children and sustainability organizations.
Instituto Algar also manages part of the funds coming from Grupo Algar's tax incentives. That amount exceeded R$1.8 million in 2012. A total of R$178,300 from Income Tax due was distributed to nine City Councils for the Rights of Children and Youth and four organizations through the Children and Adolescents' Fund. The beneficiaries were the funds of Ituiutaba, Patos de Minas, Santa Luzia, Uberaba, Uberlândia, Pará de Minas and Itajubá (Minas Gerais State), as well as Curitiba (Paraná State), Itumbiara (Goiás State), São Paulo and Franca (São Paulo State).
Ten other cultural projects, including theater plays, workshops and projects for children, such as Dançarte para Meninos (Dance Art for Boys), in Uberlândia, and the Uberlândia Youth Orchestra, which received funds from local incentive laws (R$109,000), state incentive laws (R$955,800) and federal incentive laws (R$569,000).
Educational Programs
Instituto Algar has benefited over 250,000 students, 10,000 educators and 1,200 schools. Each group of stakeholders becomes engaged at different points of the process. The Institute comes into contact directly with secretaries and supervisors of education twice a year. It submits project proposals for the year at the first annual meeting and renders accounts at the close of the year. However, the Institute keeps contact with these officials by phone and e-mail throughout the year.
However, it maintains a closer contact with educators since education involves onsite and online learning activates, for example, meetings, conference calls, seminars and forums. In turn, Instituto Algar makes contact with students indirectly through questionnaires twice a year (at the beginning and at the end of the program) so that the impact on the learning process can be assessed.
In 2012, Instituto Algar's programs were conducted jointly with a total of 117 public schools from 16 cities and towns in five states (São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Goiás and Maranhão) and involved 350 educators and 6,700 students.
Algar Educa:
Focusing on education for teachers and officials from schools and public education bodies, the Algar Educa (Algar Educates) Program aims to discuss and disseminate the idea of All-Round Education for Human Development. Its phases comprise the preparation of an action plan so that the discussions give rise to actual initiatives and reach the whole school community easily.
The program includes on-site and distance learning activities. The on-site activities involve two training meetings (s total of 32 hours/year), two conference calls (a total of 4 hours/year), one closing lecture (4 hours) and one educational forum (6 hours). The two latter are held in November. In addition, two optional distance learning modules are offered, totaling an additional 40 hours/year. The training program also comprises guided assignments throughout the process.
In 2012, Algar Educa involved 282 educators from 96 schools located in 14 cities and towns in four States: Goiás, Maranhão, Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The program benefited 3,450 students and involved 570 volunteers. Encouraging associates to become involved in the community is part of the Institute's initiatives.
Algar Lê:
Geared to school principals, educators and teachers from Uberlândia's public schools, the Algar Lê – Correio Educação (Algar Reads) Program offers workshops to develop educators' skills in making use of the newspaper in classroom activities from the 1st to the 9th grade. The main purpose is to improve the students' reading and writing skills, thus turning them into readers and writers of contents, as well as teaching them to value the print newspaper as a cultural vehicle that plays a key role in the local history and identity. In 2012, 45 educators from 15 undertook the initiative with 2,400 students.
Also in 2012, Instituto Algar organized a spelling bee competition involving 13 public schools in Uberlândia to improve contestants' reading and writing skills. At the final, 2 students and 2 teachers from the winning school won a trip to São Paulo City to visit the Museum of the Portuguese Language.
Algar Transforma:
Algar Transforma (Algar Transforms) is developed jointly with Emcantar and benefited by federal and Minas Gerais State laws of incentive to culture. It is a complementary education program for children and teenagers (7 to 14 years old) and promotes social inclusion through digital culture, environment, integrated arts and literature workshops. The activities take place at Grupo Algar's Sports Club, in Uberlândia, and involved 245 students from 6 schools in 2012.
Programa Algar Sustentável (Sustainable Algar Program)
All Grupo Algar's companies, depending on the specific features of each one's business, seek to mitigate the environmental impacts of their activities and promote environmentally sustainable practices. In terms of sustainability, all Algar companies share the challenge of reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.
Instituto Algar also plays an active role in the Algar Sustentável program, which furthers the culture of sustainability. In 2012, the main focus was developing action plans for Grupo Algar's companies. The companies introduced 20 specific projects that have been monitored and shared through monthly meetings with the Sustainability Committees.
Additionally, there were three meetings about specific topics (solid waste management, fleet management and energy efficiency) to strengthen the culture of sustainability and discuss strategies to lower GHG emissions despite the Group's business growth.
Total Direct and Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Weight
Direct Energy Consumption
Amount of primary direct energy consumed by the organization:
| Non renewable: | 2012 | Renewable: | 2012 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diesel fuel (GJ) | 97,489.00 | Biodiesel B100 (GJ) | 4,790.00 | |
| Fuel Oil GMP (GJ) | 396,148.00 | Ethanol (GJ) | 29,981.00 | |
| Liquefied Petroleum Gas - LPG (GJ) | 38,566.00 | Firewood (GJ) | 116,705.00 | |
| Gasoline A (GJ) | 39,219.00 | Sugarcane bagasse (GJ) | 260,691.00 | |
| Aviation fuel (GJ) | 20,650.00 | Wood chips (GJ) | 680,282.00 | |
| TOTAL | 592,072.00 | TOTAL | 1,092,449,00 |
Indirect Energy Consumption
| Non renewable: | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| electricity | 349,989.00 | 366,765.00 | 465,632.94 |
| heating | |||
| steam | |||
| nuclear energy | |||
| Other forms of imported energy | |||
| Total | 349,989.00 | 366,765.00 | 465,632.94 |
In line with its action plan for GHG emissions, Algar Agro increased the use of renewable energy at the Uberlândia plant and replaced the boiler in the plant in Maranhão State to allow burning biomass in large scale. The company's CO2 emissions are expected to drop by 80% as a result. The higher the amount of energy from biomass fuel, the lower the Company's GHG emissions. The reason is that biomass absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, so the CO2 released when it is burned does not contribute to the green house effect.
Algar Telecom released 48.7% more CO2 in 2012 in relation to 2010, mainly because a new regional office was opened in Divinópolis. Had it not been for this new unit, Algar Telecom's and its associates' effort would have led to a 7.0% decrease in CO2 emissions. This effort includes the Carona Legal (Cool Ride) Program, which encourages carpooling among commuting associates. In addition to reducing the number of vehicles in the streets, this practice leads to lower fuel consumption and, consequently, savings and an environmental benefit.
At Algar Tecnologia, the use of electric energy accounts for a large part of the Company's total emissions due to the specific characteristics of its facilities. Therefore, the company has installed presence detectors and organized training programs to encourage associates to turn off electrical equipment not in use. The shorter the time the lights are on, the lower the company's total consumption and the lower the costs and environmental impacts. The Company is also firmly committed to reducing waste.
At Engeset, which has a nursery for native plant species from the Cerrado region in its headquarters, the Rota Certa (Right Route) program has been created to optimize the routes traveled by technicians in facilities and maintenance visits, leading to considerably lower total mileage at the end of the year. In addition to allowing lower fuel consumption, the measure helped reduce emissions of GHG and other pollutants and increase the useful life of the fleet.
Rio Quente Resorts uses solar panels to heat water at the hotels, thus preventing the burning of natural gas to generate power. Another environmental practice adopted by the hotel complex is Bird Land. Although the project does not help reduce emissions of GHG and other pollutants directly, the company prides itself on it because it is South America's largest bird sanctuary. Bird rescued by IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis, or Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) recovered or still under ongoing treatment due to mutilation, injury, malnourishment or serious illness, are given a second chance to live in freedom there.
At Algar Segurança, one of the measures to reduce GHG emissions is the use of electric bicycles in security rounds. Electric bicycles are much more silent and attract much less attention than regular motorcycles, and need no fuel.
In turn, Algar Aviation preferably purchases more efficient aircraft, which, consequently, consume less fuel. The Company also has an agreement with specialized companies to dispose of oil, fuel containers and other solid wastes.
Algar Mídia's energy use dropped because the company purchased more efficient air conditioning systems whose air ducts are submitted to regular maintenance. In addition, the areas to be air-conditioned were reduced through the installation of more switches. In addition to savings, the lower demand for electricity reduced the emissions required to generate it.
UniAlgar adopts selective waste collection, a practice that reduces emissions from the decay of waste disposed of in landfills and leads to greater benefits due to material recycling. In turn, the holding company is in a building in which the walls and part of the roof are made of glass, which increases energy efficiency..
In 2012, Algar undertook initiatives that led to a drop of 12,521.42 GJ in energy use. These include:
Resort Rio Quente
a) Renewable energy generation (159,840kWh in 2012) by harnessing biogas from an anaerobic digester used for sewage treatment. Part of this energy was used to run the anaerobic digester itself, but the excess was used for other purposes.
b) Replacement of the Hotel Pousada's chiller by a new air-conditioning system, which led to savings of 1,002,934.3 kWh/year.
c) Replacement by LED bulbs of the internal and external light bulbs, which account for about 35% of Grupo Rio Quente's energy consumption. In 2012, these new bulbs allowed saving 12.5 kWh.
d) Installation of solar panels for heating water used in showers, which led to savings of 86kWh in 2012.
Result: savings of 4,186.34 GJ.
Algar Segurança:
a) Energy efficiency program.
Result: savings of 267.10 GJ.
Telecom:
a) Several energy efficiency initiatives:
Chillers – savings of 550,322 kWh
Equipment replacement – savings of 377,439 kWh
Lead Lag – savings of 682,871 kWh
Higher internal temperature – savings of 310,300 kWh
CDMA- savings of 85,446 kWh
Switch replacement – savings of 1,969 kWh
Gains in Ibiraci – savings of 2,283 kWh
Gains at the Franca office – savings of 3,356 kWh
Unix Server – savings of 25,132 kWh
Araguari Headend – savings of 14,805 kWh
Eco-Commuting – savings of 20,827 kWh
Source Replacement – savings of 148,024 kWh
Air-conditioning system replacement – savings of 18,331 kWh
Result: savings of 8,067.98 GJ.
Water Withdrawal by Source
| Total water withdrawal by source | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Surface water, including wetlands, rivers, lakes and oceans | 0.00 |
| groundwater | 17,804,593.00 |
| Rainwater | 0.00 |
| Effluents from another organization | 0.00 |
| Municipal water supply or other supply companies | 18,878,3.01 |
| TOTAL: | 17,993,376.01 |
Direct and Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions
| Total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by weight | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| substance | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| Direct Emissions | |||
| Generation of electricity, heat or steam (EN3) | 26,517.6 | 20,059.4 | 37,900.00 |
| Other combustion processes | 399.72 | ||
| Physicochemical improvement | 0.6 | 0.9 | 520.49 |
| Transport of materials, products or waste | 5,616.8 | 7,047.1 | 8,759.00 |
| The opening of vents | |||
| Leakage emissions | 238.6 | 383.9 | 513.00 |
| Indirect Emissions (EN4) | |||
| Indirect energy consumption | 4,989.0 | 2,947.8 | 7,380.07 |
| Other relevant Indirect emissions of greenhouse effect gases | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| substance | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| Indirect Emissions. | |||
| Burning of LPG in industrial stove (Nutrin) | 6.10 | ||
| Land and air transportation | 19,287.34 | ||
| Paper consumption (printing + office) and solid waste treatment | 681.00 | ||
Business trips and employee transportation included.
Algar, by means of Algar Agro, replaced fossil fuel (BPF-1A oil) by biomass as boiler fuel to reduce GHG emissions in 2012. Four energy saving projects were developed at the Rio Quente Resort and 13 more at Algar Segurança (see EN5 indicator). Therefore, it was possible to achieve a reduction of 478.90 tCO2e, 79.75 tCO2e at Rio Quente, 5.45 tCO2e at Algar Segurança and 153.70 at Algar Telecom.
In 2012, Algar's activities generated 0.4528 in HCFC-22 and 0.0033 in HCFC-124, gases for air-conditioning systems that can cause damage the ozone layer.
Total Weight of Waste
| Type | Weight | Disposal method |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | ||
| Composting (tons) | 6,46 | Ecoponto |
| Reuse (tons) | 12,10 | Rio Quente - sending lubricating oil for refining in Proluminas, burning coconut in boiler and giving wood to the community. |
| Recycling (tons) | 8,86 | Various materials sent to Ecoblending and fluorescent lamps for decontamination Apliquim Brasil Recicle. |
| Landfill + incineration (tonnes) | 3.891,06 | |
| Reutilization-organic waste (tons) | 185,00 | |
| Total | 4.103,48 | |
Initiatives to mitigate the impact caused by operational activi ties
Resort Rio Quente:
- Anaerobic digester for sewage treatment to protect the ecosystem of the Água Quente Brook. The biogas generated can be used to produce electric power for the system and the hotels;
- Water Reuse System for the laundry room;
- Reuse Water System: collection of water discharged from the swimming pools at Parque das Fontes, simple treatment and installation of a new pump house responsible for pumping water to the existing reservoirs, which supply water for the Rio Quente Resort.
Algar Segurança:
- Ecoronda (Eco Security Rounds) Project, with the replacement of a motorcycle by an electric bicycle, thus reducing pollution and fossil fuel consumption.
Telecom:
- Natureza em Conta (Nature into Account): This project is designed to save tonnes of paper and is geared to CTBC's individual fixed-line or mobile phone clients. Those who choose to receive their bills in electronic format are given an extra 50 minutes per month. Clients paying their bills by direct debit receive another 50-minute bonus;
- Recycling Potentially Hazardous Materials The Company also has collection points for phone cards, batteries, battery chargers and mobile phones. After sorting them out and returning recyclable materials to manufacturers, the recycling project disposes of potentially hazardous components appropriately.
