Embraer creates Environmental Office

For the purpose of integrating and expanding the Embraer’s environmental policies and achieving new levels of sustainable development, the company has created an Environmental Strategies and Technologies Office, under the leadership of Satoshi Yokota, Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning and Technology Development, who, in the past, has held several key responsibilities within the Company in the areas of industry, engineering and development.

Directly connected with this decision, Graciliano Campos has been named Director, Environmental Strategies and Technologies, reporting to Yokota.

“There is a growing concern, within Embraer, regarding environmental issues, and this is reflected in the products developed by the company, as well as in the environmental policies that are established,” said Frederico Fleury Curado, Embraer President and CEO. “The creation of this new office is one more important step toward coordinating efforts for Embraer’s sustainable development, respecting the environment.”

The mission of the Environmental Strategies and Technologies Office is to develop specific environmental protection policies. The goal is to support the business units and other areas of the company in establishing strategies for reducing the environmental impact of its manufactured products and production processes, as well as those of suppliers and customers.

“The responsibilities of the new executive include following up, on a global scale, the evolution of the environmental issue, thus assisting the company in its search for alternative materials and technologies that have less impact on the environment,” explained Satoshi Yokota, Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning and Technology Development.

Embraer obtained ISO 14001 certification in 2002, recognition of the company’s best environmental practices. Embraer also recently hired a consulting firm to perform an inventory of all the manufacturing plants in Brazil, in terms of CO2 emissions, in order to guide the company’s actions for expanding its environmental policies.

“At Embraer we experience constant challenges, and maintaining sustainable growth is, undoubtedly, one of the most important at the present time,” said Graciliano Campos, Environmental Strategies and Technologies Director. “We will review our strategies, in order to deal with current and future issues, minimizing the Company’s environmental impact, thus contributing to worldwide efforts to lessen greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.”

Alcohol Powered Ipanema

In the search for alternative fuels, Embraer was the pioneer aeronautics company to certify an airplane powered by alcohol, in 2004. The Ipanema is the first series aircraft in the world to leave the factory certified to fly with this type of fuel. Alcohol is three to four times cheaper than aviation gasoline (avgas). Furthermore, alcohol powered airplane engines are cleaner and pollute less than aviation gasoline, because, among other things, ethanol has a neutral balance of carbon emissions in its life cycle and has no lead in its composition, making the fuel ecologically correct.

Social and Environmental Programs

Aware of its corporate social responsibility, Embraer significantly expanded its actions for protecting and preserving the environment in 2006. The company’s recycling program, which began in 1998, has been making substantial gains, in terms of efficiency. Since 2000, the recycling volume has grown 52.9%, to the current 79.6% of waste produced, such as wood, plastic, styrofoam, paper, cardboard, and cooking oil. The remaining 20.4% represent materials which, for the time being, are considered to be non-recyclable.

Embraer’s energy conservation programs were recognized by the Industrial Federation of the State of São Paulo (Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo-FIESP), that awarded the company for two projects in 2006. That was the first time a company received two prizes in the same year.

Embraer also backs socio-environmental projects of the Department of the Environment of the City of São José dos Campos, like the recuperation of vegetation along the sources of the Paraíba do Sul River, for the purpose of improving the city’s quality of life. In the city of Gavião Peixoto, where Embraer has a manufacturing plant, the company has a rigid policy of environmental control in place. From the beginning of the installation of the factory in the city, Embraer has carried out an aggressive reforestation program. Over 400,000 native trees, of 135 different species, have already been planted. The environmental commitments made by Embraer also include monitoring the quality of the water tables and rivers, as well as implementing rigid controls for waste disposal and pollution. Embraer is conscious that sustainability is built via socially responsible measures, in addition to those related to the environment. For that reason, it has developed social initiatives focused on education, since 2001, through the Embraer Education and Research Institute.

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