Tecpetrol has just published its first Global Sustainability Report. The report reflects the way in which the company’s core values of safety, health, environment, quality and transparency guide its daily activities throughout its operations.

The report highlights how Tecpetrol is contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2015, and has been drawn up according to the guidelines enshrined in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards that include the integration of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact. The report provides details of the company’s resources, processes and activities, and how these are deployed to achieve the results sought in the areas of health and safety, environment, diversity, human resources, community relations, financial performance and compliance.

"We are convinced of the value of sustainable development as intrinsic to our activity... This initiative is an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with our stakeholders, and underscores our commitment to a process of continuous improvement designed to benchmark and improve our performance," writes Carlos Ormachea in the foreword to the report, dated March 2021.

For Pablo Martellotta, who is from the Community Relations area and in charge of the team that drew up the document, this publication has propelled the company onto a new level, "achieving a great qualitative leap in terms of communication with our main stakeholders, in addition to positioning ourselves more competitively".

Martellotta explains that using the GRI standards, "involves asking ourselves tough questions about our day-to-day management, and prompts us to think about issues that we would otherwise not consider."

Commitment all the way down the line.

Employees from all areas of the company contributed to the report, and thanks to their input, it was possible to obtain the information and analysis required to reflect the efforts made in each area.

As this is the first global Report published by Tecpetrol, the main challenges were to coordinate the information and needs of the different sectors while showing the people involved the importance of this initiative and the scope of its influence. 

“Completing the project certainly sparked a sense of pride in having been a part of the process, and this is something that will make work on future editions much easier,” says Julieta Delorenzi, from the HR area, who also led the project.

A comprehensive assessment

The report spans 100 pages and covers subjects ranging from anti-corruption measures and principles, to water use and disposal, including hot topics such as biodiversity and occupational health and safety, as well as others as diverse as taxes and emissions. In other words, it’s a comprehensive look at all the activities involved in a company dedicated to the energy sector.

"The opportunity to evaluate our economic, environmental and social performance, and publish this data in the report according to international guidelines, means we can be transparent and take responsibility for the impact of our operations before our different stakeholders," explains Humberto Fernández, manager of the Pesquería Power Station.

The role of women in the industry

The “Our people” section presents the profile of Tecpetrol employees by country, as well as other aspects related to human resources, including a section dedicated to diversity and equal opportunities. This details the actions and the distinctive approach taken by the company to ensure that its different processes offer an environment that values, accepts and encourages diversity in all its forms.

“Launched in 2019, the Diversity+ program sprang from the firm conviction that plurality adds value. The basis for this was an internal, in-depth analysis of the conscious and unconscious biases we had identified during our research,” says Delorenzi, who goes on to emphasize that “this not only adds value for the company, but also for each member of Tecpetrol, and for the community as a whole.”

Next report, already under way

With the pride and satisfaction of seeing the report published, its managers are now analyzing the processes involved in producing this first edition. The team, which is already collecting information for the 2020 report, has drawn up its “lessons learned” report, identifying what went well and which areas could do with improvement. 

For Martellota, optimizing information processing times is one of the challenges for the future, while Delorenzi points out the need to prioritize a more diverse perspective regarding the involvement of the different countries in the company’s operations.