Petrobras prioritizes social action for child development and human rights

Sustainability is in the core of Petrobras’ action. The company’s social investment in 2006 was heavy in the areas of child development and human rights, with special emphasis on repudiation of child labor and forced labor in its operations and supply chain. The company acted in the social and environmental area through partnerships in over 2 thousand projects, nearly 750 of which related to the Federal Government’s Zero Hunger Program.

Investments in environmental conservation and recovery totaled R$ 1.4 bn, and the company expressly committed itself to avoiding the emission of 18.5 million tones of carbon into the atmosphere by 2011. To reach this target, some R$ 35 mi were spent in the Internal Energy Conservation Program, which has saved 1.1 gigawatts and reduced oil consumption by 2.5 thousand barrel/day. By 2011, the company will have spent a total of US$ 49.9 bn with the creation of 850 thousand direct and indirect jobs a year.

In the 2006 Social and Environmental Report, audited by KPMG, Petrobras self-declared as a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) A+ level company. It took almost 300 collaborators from all areas of the company to make this report, gathering information based on national indicator matrices – Instituto Ethos’ and Ibase’s – and international ones – GRI’s and DJSI’s.

According to Luis Fernando Nery, Social Responsibility manager of the company, “this report is an advanced one, which complies with requirements of national and international indicators and has been structured through a participative methodology.” Nery said that, above all, the document enabled the company’s self-assessment, and was a management and information tool.