Preserving coastal ecosystems, Brazil

Brazil was one of the first countries in which we both owned renewable energy projects and had an on-the-ground presence.

As a result, we have a great understanding of the range of social, environmental and economic challenges faced by our local communities, as well as the country in general.

Over the last few years, we have created and been involved in a number of initiatives to help tackle these challenges, including funding the development of local infrastructure, improving educational facilities and financially supporting small businesses.

Due to the coastal locations of three of our five wind farms in the country – Cassino, Martifer and Santos – we have also had the opportunity to actively promote the preservation of these important ecosystems.

In October 2019, members of the team from our Fortaleza office travelled over 100km across the northern state of Ceará to the municipality of Trairi to participate in the Clean Beach Project, organised by environmentally-friendly agricultural developer Unique.

While the objective on the day was to clear litter from Flexeiras Beach, which is local to our 64 MW Santos project, the longer-term goal was to educate the community on the consequences of plastic pollution on beaches and surrounding habitats.

Among the other companies and authorities in participation was the local school, which ran a competition to collect plastic bottles for recycling. To reward the efforts of the students and staff, we donated a video projector to the school.

Education has always been an important part of our Environmental, Social and Governance programme, especially in our countries of operation where not everyone has access the same quality of it.

Earlier in the year, members of our Brazilian team also participated in a pioneering initiative in Rio Grande do Sul, the country’s southernmost state and home to our 64 MW Cassino project.

Through this project, approved by Brazil’s competent environmental monitoring body, our team educated local students on environmental concerns and provided 50,000 native seeds and seedlings to be planted in a local coastal dune.

Our hope is that by educating those in our local communities about caring for the environment, vital knowledge will be shared and passed down to future generations.