Release sent on July 21, 2022
State GState Grid Brazil joins the UN Global Compact
The initiative is part of an ESG agenda that has been expanded by the company over the last few years and fits into the global strategy of the State Grid group.
State Grid Brazil Holding (SGBH), one of the largest companies in the Brazilian electricity transmission sector, has joined the Global Compact Brazil Network. This is a United Nations (UN) initiative with voluntary membership aimed at engaging the private sector and mobilizing business practices in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption. The company now joins its holding company, State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), which has been a signatory to the Global Compact since 2006. The initiative is part of a series of actions aimed at improving the company's environmental, sustainability, and governance (ESG) strategy.
"We are pleased to have our membership application accepted. SGBH, as one of the largest companies in the sector, understands that its role goes beyond operational safety and aligns its strategy to become an ally in overcoming major global challenges. We have a set of ESG initiatives included in our five-year strategic plan, and joining the Global Compact materializes our commitment to transmitting energy sustainably and transparently, generating value not only for the business but for society as a whole," says Ricardo Felix, Director of Health, Safety, and Environment at SGBH.
Joining the Pact brings several benefits to the company, including improving its reputation, strengthening its ability to address challenges, and reaffirming its commitment to the energy sector's sustainability agenda. Furthermore, it reinforces the company's sustainable practices in line with its goal of increasingly consolidating its ESG journey and its business interests. Among other benefits, it also helps it obtain financing through the issuance of green bonds for projects under development, as has already been done in the case of the Silvânia Transmissora de Energia project.
"Despite already being a regulated sector with a clear licensing process for socio-environmental factors, we are seeing companies taking on transformative roles in society, seeking to address relevant issues intrinsically linked to their operations, such as climate change. Companies face valuable opportunities to contribute to a more just and sustainable society, including diversity and inclusion, decarbonization, and anti-corruption initiatives in their strategies, for example," highlights Ricardo.rid Brazil is the first energy company to achieve ISO 56002 certification in the country.
The implementation process was coordinated by the PALAS consultancy, a pioneer in this standard in Brazil.
State Grid Brazil Holding (SGBH) has just received the ISO 56.002 certificate, focused on innovation management. With this, the company becomes the first in the Brazilian energy segment to obtain this seal. This achievement reinforces State Grid Brazil's commitment to the pursuit of innovation in the electricity sector, where the company has already invested more than R$31 million in the last five years.
Over the course of approximately six months, the company underwent an assessment process that identified its innovation initiatives, as well as those that still needed to be developed to meet the guidelines of the standard. During this stage, the necessary adjustments were made to demonstrate, through the audit process carried out by the Australian certification body QMS, the efficiency of its innovation management system.
“Being one of the pioneering companies in innovation management certification further increases our focus on ensuring the development of new technologies for the Brazilian electricity sector. To this end, we rely especially on technological exchange with companies in the State Grid group in China, in addition to our various partners in Brazil. We have, in total, 10 R&D projects in our portfolio and we hope to make good contributions to the market”, highlighted SGBH’s Engineering Director, Danilo Sousa.
PALAS consultancy implemented the certification process, analyzing energy market trends, mapping risks inherent to the business and creating an innovation funnel, capable of involving employees in the search for ideas that can leverage the company.
“Obtaining ISO 56.002 demonstrates the alignment between State Grid Brazil and the best market practices in innovation management. Furthermore, it guarantees a great competitive advantage for the company, positioning it as a pioneer in the market in the search for innovative solutions that can improve or increase operational and technological efficiency in the energy transmission segment”, highlights Alexandre Pierro, founding partner of PALAS.
Launched in July 2019, the ISO 56.002 certification for innovation management demonstrates that the company is prepared to deal with the transformations and new needs of its line of business. Based on eight pillars – process approach, future-focused leadership, insight management, strategic direction, resilience and adaptability, value generation, adaptive culture and uncertainty management – ISO 56.002 argues that an innovation can be a product, service, process, model, method or a combination of any of these.
Among the expected benefits of implementing ISO 56.002 are the involvement of all stakeholders in innovation projects, the continuous generation of ideas, the creation of a culture of innovation, in addition to the development of new products, services and markets previously unexplored by the company.
About certification
ISO – the International Organization for Standardization, is an independent non-governmental organization founded in 1947 in Geneva, Switzerland, with the aim of organizing the post-World War II world. The organization brings together experts from 164 countries to develop non-binding international standards and thus obtain a management system that can serve the international market. In total, there are more than 22 thousand technical standards, which cover more than 50 business management models.
ISO 56.002 was first developed in 2008, amid the crisis in the banking system. For 11 years, experts from around the world worked to find the best practices in innovation in their countries in order to reach a consensus. The objective of the standard is to ensure that companies innovate periodically, systematically and focused on generating value. It is estimated that approximately 350 companies worldwide have been certified with this ISO for innovation management.
