OHL Publishes its Last Initiatives in Sustainable Development in Conama 10

OHL has taken part in the tenth Spanish national environmental conference “Conama”, that was held in Madrid on the 22 to 26 November under the slogan “Now more than ever”. At the conference, which was organised by the Fundacion Conama, the Group presented their latest initiatives in sustainable development and the environment.

This year was different in that Brazil was invited to attend the event. To integrate Brazil’s participation in the conference the FHB was formed (Hispanic Brazilian forum for sustainable development) that has been working in parallel with the conference. Its main focuses were on the water, energy and social responsibility sectors.

OHL took advantage of the opportunity to inform attendees of its decisive and successful bid for using internationalisation and diversification as the bases of its growth strategy. This was, in fact, the theme of the OHL stand, which was visited by, among others, Jorge Samek, Brazilian general director of Itaipu Binacional; Jose Machado, Brazilian vice minister of the environment; and Antonio Felix Domingues, manager of organisation and communication of the national Brazilian waters board. All of these visits were accompanied by the general corporative director of OHL, Luis Garcia-Linares, who explained for them the Group’s prominent position in the Latin American country.

In the framework of the Hispanic Brazilian forum for sustainable development (FHB) OHL was also represented in the organisation of the Brazil and Spain workshop: The social and environmental integration of infrastructures. This took place on 23 November and was chaired by Fernando Gutierrez de Vera, OHL Concessions consultant, also present were Margarita Torres, assistant general manager of construction for the Community of Madrid; Yves Besse, president of the Brazilian association for the public services’ private water and sewage concessionaires (ABCON); Fernando Regis dos Reis, research and study supervisor for the national land transport agency (ANTT); Pedro Perez del Campo, manager of environment for administrator of railway infrastructures (Adif); Joaquim Ignacio da Costa Neto, supervising manager of Riberao Preto water and sewage department; and Angel Cajigas Delgado, general executive manager of the water treatment association (ATTA). On Wednesday 24 November, the Group was also represented in the FHB with a speech from Jose Antonio Membiela, general manager of OHL Environmental Inima, on the subject of “The challenges and potential of water management”. Present for this talk were Nelton Friedrich, manager of coordination and the environment for Itaipu Binacional; Victor Vinuales, manager of the ecology and development foundation; Jesus Yague, from the ministry of the environment’s general water management; and Yves Besse, president of ABCON.

These contributions were complemented by OHL’s participation in other areas at the Spanish national environmental conference. Specifically, Rosa Alberdi, manager of CSR Service, was present in the room “Company contributions to a sustainable economy” and another entitled “Corporate Social Responsibility as a tool for competetivity”.

Over the five days of Conama 10, over 100 different activities have taken place related to energy and climate change; the economy; urban challenges (mobility and building); rural land and development; biodiversity; water; environmental quality; technology and innovation; and society. Moreover, over 500 technical communications were received, in which OHL also took part, that in this year’s Conama included representatives from the top level of its subsidiaries OHL Brasil and Ambient.