AES Colombia’s commitment

As part of our corporate responsibility, AES Colombia has a Human Rights (HR) Management System, in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles. In this way, we reaffirm our commitment to respecting the human rights of all individuals with whom we interact.

AES Colombia Human Rights Policy

The Human Rights Policy establishes the guidelines and expectations for our conduct towards our stakeholders. This commitment extends to our employees, communities, suppliers, contractors, clients, government entities, and media. Read the complete AES Colombia Human Rights Policy.

Public commitment

AES Colombia reaffirms its responsibility to respect human rights through actions aimed at protecting the life, health, integrity, and well-being of people, avoiding negative consequences derived from its activities.

Normative references

The policy aligns with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other international standards such as ISO 26000, the Global Reporting Initiative Standards, the United Nations Global Compact, and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

Scope and focus

The policy covers all AES Colombia's activities, including its operational and development assets, as well as those of our suppliers and contractors.

General Commitments

AES Colombia commits to:

• Respect and promote human rights without discrimination.
• Evaluate and manage the potential negative consequences of our activities.
• Respect beliefs, creeds, traditions, language, and cultural characteristics.
• Protect personal and confidential information.
• Maintain open and available communication channels.

Commitments and expectations with stakeholders

The policy details specific commitments and action expectations for each stakeholder group.

Commitments to Employees

• Provide fair and equitable opportunities and working conditions.
• Prevent, monitor, and investigate situations of discrimination or workplace harassment.
• Offer inclusive, safe, and healthy working conditions and environments.
• Ensure respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Commitments to communities

• Establish social management strategies in accordance with community needs.
• Prevent, mitigate, correct, or compensate for social and environmental impacts.
• Comply with agreements reached in prior consultation processes.
• Facilitate mechanisms for assertive dialogue and communication.

Commitments to suppliers and contractors

• Ensure payment of contractual obligations within agreed terms.
• Ensure the comprehensive health and safety of workers.
• Monitor clauses established in contracts.
• Raise awareness and provide tools on human rights.
• Communicate any changes that may affect their operations.

Commitments to clients

• Understand client needs and offer comprehensive solutions.
• Comply with contractual commitments related to human rights management.

Commitments to government entities

• Comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
• Facilitate the investigation of complaints related to negative human rights impacts.
• Maintain permanent relationships and foster inter-institutional dialogue.

Commitments to media

• Provide relevant, transparent, timely, and truthful information.
• Maintain assertive dissemination and communication spaces.

Monitoring and responsibilities

Each area of AES Colombia is responsible for fulfilling the commitments established in the policy and for monitoring expectations with stakeholders. The policy includes a management dashboard with specific actions, goals, responsible parties, and monitoring indicators.

Complaint handling and resolution

The HR policy establishes mechanisms for communicating petitions, complaints, and claims (PQRS) related to human rights. To download the help guide, click here.

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Dissemination and awareness

The policy is disseminated and socialized to all our stakeholders through communication strategies and awareness-raising activities to ensure knowledge and adherence to the established commitments and expectations.

Management dashboard

AES Colombia's HR Policy Management Dashboard details the company's commitments and expectations regarding human rights management. The management dashboard is designed to ensure compliance with these commitments and provide detailed monitoring of associated actions and goals. This tool was developed in conjunction with the leaders of each area and allowed us to identify key tasks that we regularly review in an internal due diligence process.

Human Rights risk matrix

Through the matrix, we identify and analyze human rights risks in the areas of influence of our operations. The matrix includes specific recommendations and a monitoring instrument to effectively manage identified risks. The information contained in the matrix complies with all established steps for developing a human rights risk and impact assessment according to national and international standards, such as:

• Including communities in the area of interest in identifying both risks and impacts, and in developing management measures.
• Evaluating the probability and severity (magnitude) of risk and impact materialization, which depends on detailed knowledge of the environment and the company's capabilities to manage them.

Reporting channels

The reporting channels allow us to identify potential alerts early by receiving petitions, complaints, claims, suggestions, and human rights violations related to our operation and service provision.
Submitting PQRS (Petitions, Complaints, Claims, and Suggestions) To submit PQRS, we have an online tool located at https://www.aescol.com/es/pqrs. The hours for this channel are Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. If the PQRS is submitted outside business hours, it will be registered with the date of the next business day. Click here to download the help guide. If you need to submit an anonymous PQRS, click here.

Submitting PQRS (Petitions, Complaints, Claims, and Suggestions) To submit PQRS, we   
have an online tool located at https://www.aescol.com/es/pqrs. The hours for this channel are   
Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. If the PQRS is submitted outside business hours, it   
will be registered with the date of the next business day. Click here to download the help   
guide. If you need to submit an anonymous PQRS, click here.  

Human Rights due diligence

In order to identify, prevent, mitigate, and respond to the negative consequences of our operations on human rights and in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles, in 2024, with the support of an external consultant, we carried out a human rights due diligence process in all AES Colombia's operational areas, considering the following aspects and technical sheet:

• Environmental conditions that put communities in the area of influence at risk of vulnerability.
• Environmental conditions that generate risks for the company, personnel, and assets.
• Potential risks and impacts with human rights consequences inherent to the sector and the environment. To conduct consultations in the field, four interview formats were designed, tailored to the selected stakeholder groups with particular variations in ethnic focus and the role of local authorities.

The risks identified through the due diligence process were incorporated into the matrix with detailed information, including: associated rights, environmental conditions affecting the risk, affected stakeholders (right-holders), location of risk occurrence, severity in human rights, and consequences of the risk for AES Colombia's operation. The identified risks are at low and medium levels concerning both human rights severity and consequences for AES Colombia's operation.

Supply Chain due diligence

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights establish that companies are responsible for their own management and for the management of suppliers and contractors who carry out activities within the territory. Therefore, AES Colombia applies a Human Rights Self-Assessment to its supply chain, with the purpose of identifying alerts for possible human rights impacts by suppliers and contractors and jointly developing prevention strategies and implementing action plans such as capacity building, accompaniment, monitoring, and collaboration with external actors, among others. The application of this tool ensures that all areas of the company participate in the process of strengthening due diligence in suppliers and, consequently, in the supply chain.
 

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