Team size: 34

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organization’s resilience?

In SAESA’s legal management, together with our internal clients, we constantly carry out SWOT analysis of the different areas and business lines, such as commercial, operations, finance, environment, development of new projects, using the outcomes as input for new opportunities and identify and manage operational, business and legal risks.

In addition, we have an active role in the company’s different strategic planning processes (not only as specialists, but also leading specific action plans), along with taking part in the evaluation and management of operational risks.

These actions allowed us to have early and efficient management of the different challenges, risks and inconveniences that have arisen in the day-to-day operation of the company. However, unforeseen events and crises always exist and occur.

Once the risk or crisis has arisen and been overcome, together with the management involved we carry out an analysis of the internal or external causes, failures, improvement to be done and lessons learned to amend mistakes, failures, improve in processes and procedures, and implement risk mitigators to ensure the resilience of the organisation.

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?

Sustainability is one of SAESA’s seven fundamental values, along with integrity, transparency, safety, excellence, customer focus and efficiency, which constitutes a relevant pillar of the way of doing business, which is projected in operation areas and in relationships within the Company and with third parties.

In SAESA´s culture, taking care of the environment, respect for regulations, compliance with high ethical standards, implies and entails the conviction of the correct way of maintaining relationships with clients, suppliers, collaborators, and the community, marking a distinctive seal in the Company’s actions. This has led SAESA to be distinguished in different areas, such as obtaining, for the fifth consecutive year, the Recognition of Commitment to Integrity granted by the Fundación Generación Empresarial and its placement in the first places in Chile in the ranking of the best companies to work for, carried out yearly by Great Place To Work. Additionally, the results of the GRESB survey stand out, where the company’s ESG policies and commitment are measured, SAESA achieved in 2023 a score of 89/100 points, improving annually since we started taking place in the survey in 2016.

The current challenge is to reinforce the sustainability strategy integrated into the business, and bring together the aspects in which progress has already been made and those in which we must continue working, imposing goals aligned with current needs and responsibilities.

The fundamental pillars of SAESA´s sustainability strategy that is being worked on are:

Energy transition and amplification — reglementary and regulatory compliance: relationship with the authority and stakeholders; climate, flexibility and job stability; health and safety of our collaborators; information and communication with the client; information security; gender equity and diversity and inclusion; safety, development and improvement of standards for contractors and suppliers.

Harmony with the environment — community linkage programmes; promoting a circular economy model of waste management; carbon footprint measurement and definition of a mitigation strategy.

Responsible operation — access to energy in remote locations; digital and technological transformation; operational infrastructure continuity and operational efficiency.

Regarding climate change, it is an issue of special relevance for business. In addition to seeking to mitigate the impacts of activity on the elements that accelerate climate change, it is essential for our industry to seek innovative solutions that allow the resilience of our electrical networks in the face of unprecedented climate situations. This is how we are studying the comparative experience in burying electrical distribution lines, with a view to implementing this solution, mainly in rural sectors with high vegetation.

Along these same lines, since 2020 the calculation of our carbon footprint has begun, including scopes 1, 2 and 3 in the measurement for the year 2022. We are currently defining the roadmap of the emissions mitigation strategy with which SAESA is committed to being carbon neutral by 2050.

The role of the legal management and compliance is fundamental on to validate, develop, control, and evaluate all the initiatives associated with sustainability in its different dimensions and strategies, as well as its participation in the different committees that promote and monitor these actions.