Throughout our history, we have learned that acting responsibly toward our stakeholders is fundamental to operating a productive, profitable business. It is for this reason that we embed environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles across our operations and pursue philanthropic initiatives that strengthen our foundations in the communities in which we do business. These efforts help us ensure that our business model is sustainable well into the future.

Our ESG Principles

As we pursue our value-related goals, the following principles and associated practices ensure that we manage our investments with integrity, balancing economic goals with good corporate citizenship.

Ensuring the Well-Being and Safety of Employees

Employee Well-Being: Meet or exceed all applicable labor laws and standards in jurisdictions where we operate, which includes respecting human rights, offering competitive wages and implementing nondiscriminatory, fully inclusive hiring practices.
Health & Safety: Aim to have zero serious safety incidents within our businesses by working towards implementing consistent health and safety principles across the organization.

Be Good Stewards in the Communities in Which We Operate

Community Engagement: Engage with community groups that might be affected by our actions to ensure that their interests, safety and well-being are appropriately integrated into our decision-making.
Philanthropy: Empower our employees to participate in — and use our resources to give back to — the communities in which we operate.

Mitigate the Impact of our Operations on the Environment

Environmental Stewardship: Strive to minimize the environmental impact of our operations and improve our efficient use of resources over time.

Conduct Business According to the Highest Ethical and Legal/Regulatory Standards

Governance, Ethics and Fairness: Operate with high ethical standards by conducting business activities in compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and with our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
Transparency: Be accessible to our investors and stakeholders by being responsive to requests for information and timely in our communication.

Environmental Stewardship

With more than a century of experience as a business operator, we have developed expertise in areas such as energy and water conservation, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, recycling, and wildlife preservation. Across our operations, we pursue innovative programs that foster environmental responsibility.

Australian Railroad, Australia

Australian Railroad has an environmental management system (EMS) in place to monitor, manage, and reduce environmental impacts. One component of our EMS is our partnership with the Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife, which works to relocate and protect rare flora and minimize the environmental impact of rail operations overall.
PD Ports, U.K.

In 2012, PD Ports was one of the first U.K. ports businesses to have been awarded the ISO 14001 certification, an internationally recognized standard for environmental management systems. PD Ports’ ISO 14001 certification underscores the company’s commitment that it will conduct all activities within the supply chain in such a way that beneficiary needs are met at minimum cost to the environment.
District Energy, Canada

Enwave, our Canadian district energy business that provides heating and cooling solutions for commercial buildings, has adopted a large number of sustainable technologies such as Deep Lake Water Cooling, the world's largest lake-source cooling system. Water from the depths of Lake Ontario, which is consistently at 4⁰C, is used to drive a heat exchange system, resulting in approximately 90% less energy usage versus conventional cooling systems. Website

Employee Well-Being

Because our employees are integral to our success, our management teams maintain high standards with respect to employee welfare. Safety training and protocols are constantly refined, and health and safety incident metrics are reviewed regularly. Our goal is to have zero serious safety incidents within all portfolio companies by following a set of health and safety principles that are applied across the global infrastructure businesses.

EBSA, Colombia

EBSA, Brookfield’s Colombian regulated distribution operation, places a strong emphasis on employee health and safety. In 2015, the company conducted a wide range of educational activities, including safety training for employees working at height, electrical hazard prevention, risk management, road safety and more.
Arteris, Brazil

Road safety for employees and contractors is a major focus for Arteris, the Brazilian toll road operator. Under Arteris’s site audit campaign, senior leaders visit work sites and engage in dialogues about safety. Arteris has also adopted Brookfield’s safety principles, which are reinforced through rigorous training of all employees and contractors.

Community Engagement

We believe that building strong partnerships with local and national stakeholders is good business. To ensure our interests are aligned, we continually look to involve our local communities and other stakeholders in both our existing businesses and our new investments.

Brookfield-CSR — WETT, U.S.

Prior to building a 600 km transmission line in Texas, Brookfield engaged in significant outreach to local landowners and the general public. We incorporated the feedback we received into our development plans, which ultimately ensured that the project was aligned with the interests of local stakeholders.

Philanthropy

We believe that making a positive contribution to our local communities is a fundamental responsibility. Brookfield has a history of deep involvement in philanthropy and we continually work to instill a culture of charitable giving and volunteerism among our employees and business partners.

Brookfield Utilities, U.K.

Brookfield Utilities U.K. (BUUK) participates in annual fundraising events for the development of long-term solutions to poverty in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. For example, in 2015, BUUK employees participated in a variety of fundraising initiatives in support of CARE International U.K.
PD Ports, U.K.

PD Ports, Brookfield’s U.K. ports business, co-founded the High Tide Foundation, a charity that aims to increase young peoples’ awareness of employment opportunities in port, marine and related industries in the Teesside region of the U.K. To date, more than 60 companies and 4,000 young people from over 30 schools have taken part in High Tide.

Governance and Ethics

Upholding fair and effective business practices is a cornerstone of being a responsible global citizen. Across Brookfield, we have adopted strong governance practices to ensure our activities are conducted with the utmost honesty and integrity and in full compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements. Brookfield’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics sets out the commitments expected by Brookfield. We believe this is critical to maintaining the confidence of our customers, investors and investees.

Brookfield maintains a reporting hotline to report suspected unethical, illegal or unsafe behavior in English and other languages. The reporting hotline can be accessed online or by jurisdiction as noted in the Code of Conduct.

For more information about Brookfield’s corporate governance practices, please visit our Board of Directors and Corporate Governance pages.