Community engagement is a material topic for Bracell encompassing identifying and managing community needs, and building and maintaining close and transparent relationships with stakeholders.

In 2023, Bracell announced its set of long-term sustainability targets and commitments titled “Bracell 2030”, which includes specific Empowering Lives target:

Promoting women’s entrepreneurship in communities

Our approach to stakeholder engagement includes informing communities and neighbors near our forestry and mill operations about the actual and potential impacts of our operations. As part of these practices, we:

• Inform neighboring communities about upcoming forestry operations in their vicinity, including potential risks and both positive and negative impacts from these operations;
• Strengthen our relations with communities and neighbors;
• Enhance communication with our communities and neighbors;
• Support local initiatives and help to address local needs;
• Identify, prevent and minimize potential impacts caused by operations on these communities and neighbors;
• Mitigate the risk of potential community issues that could affect our operations;
• Address inquiries and concerns regarding operational aspects and the company as a whole.

Bracell’s Integrated Management System (IMS) includes a standard, available to all employees, on relations with communities and traditional peoples and communities.

The standard outlines criteria and requirements for establishing an integrated management process for engaging with communities neighboring Bracell’s forestry and mill operations. It also contains guidance on relations with traditional peoples and communities, in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

The objectives of the standard are to establish continuous two-way communication, provide up-to-date and transparent information, identify and evaluate social aspects, establish measures to control and mitigate potential negative impacts, and identify positive impacts.

Read more about our local community engagement practices in GRI 413-1.

Our Community Relations guidelines are informed by an exercise to identify and review social aspects and impacts in our operations, requests and concerns raised through our communication channels, and assessments conducted by Bracell.

Across our operations, we conduct stakeholder engagement activities, impact assessments, and development programs aimed at the local communities surrounding our operations (learn more in the section Bracell Social in GRI 203). To ensure these efforts are effective, we identify the primary impacts, risks, and opportunities associated with our operations to determine the relevance of each sustainability topic for the business, including indigenous lands (learn more in GRI 411-1).

Risk mapping, monitoring and management is undertaken throughout the pre-operation, operation, and post-operation stages to manage social and environmental risks and prevent and mitigate impacts (see GRI 403-2).

Community relationship building and engagement practices
Committees	Community associations are commonplace in the region where we operate in Bahia. Bracell has established committees and other permanent channels to help cultivate good relationships with associations and engage closely with community leaders in each region. We also support public institutions such as the Civil and Military Police, Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Judiciary, and other governmental agencies.
Community Surveys	We conduct on-site visits to survey the communities neighboring our operations. These surveys identify resident families, community leaders, and the key needs and aspirations of each community. We also assess existing infrastructure, potential impacts from our operations, as well as the presence of traditional communities, indigenous peoples, or Areas of High Social and/or Cultural Heritage Value.
Impact Zoning Map	These surveys map out our plantation, protected and development areas. Communities situated within these zones are categorized according to their level of influence on our operations and projects. We also identify any traditional communities, including quilombola and indigenous settlements.
Stakeholder Mapping and Matrix	Community Survey data is used to build a matrix indicating the municipality in which each stakeholder is located, the organizations representing them, their stance towards the company, contact details, level of influence, profile, interests, among other pertinent information.
Community meetings	We convene gatherings to keep stakeholders abreast of Bracell’s forestry management operations, including planting, harvesting, haulage, and other operations near communities. During these sessions, we address inquiries, document grievances, and identify communities’ primary needs. We also provide informational materials about the company and available communication channels. These discussions also extend to indigenous communities (learn more in GRI 411-1).
Operational Dialogue in São Paulo and Bahia	Bracell holds “operational dialogues” and monitors operational impacts directly with neighbors and communities near our eucalyptus pulpwood plantations in São Paulo, including indigenous communities. Neighbors are consulted individually, and communities, including indigenous communities, are consulted collectively. In Bahia, we hold meetings with communities to share information about planting, harvesting, haulage, and other activities in the region. During these discussions, representatives have the opportunity to ask questions, lodge complaints, identify community needs, and identify points of special interest and attention in each location.
Production and distribution of informational material	We advertise our “Contact Us” channel in our “operational dialogue” kit, which includes informational brochures about the forestry cycle, videos with information about eucalyptus cultivation, forest fire campaign materials, copies of the company’s Public Forestry Management Brief, as well as keychains and caps.

 

Bracell systematically monitors actual impacts on communities. In our forestry and mill operations, the most significant potential impacts include odor emissions, noise, dust from truck traffic, machinery, and equipment, road degradation, as well as health risks from the use of crop protection products (pesticide drift).

Mill (São Paulo)
2021		2022		2023
Complaint	Number	Complaint	Number	Complaint	Number
Traffic accident risk	10	Odor	1	Odor	1
Community disturbance (complaints about loud noise and overcrowding in contractor accommodations for the São Paulo expansion project)	135	Piping maintenance	1	Traffic accident risk	1
Speeding	1	Speeding	0	Speeding	0
Road damage	3	Road damage	0	Road damage	1
Total for mill	149	Total for mill	2	Total for mill	3

 

Forestry (São Paulo)
2021		2022		2023
Complaint	Number	Complaint	Number	Complaint Substantiated	Number
Damage to third-party property	32	Airborne dust caused by trucks and machinery	51	Road maintenance	63
Airborne dust caused by trucks and machinery	16	Damage to third-party property	33	Damage to third-party property	41
Road maintenance	6	Maintenance of roads, bridges and culverts.	36	Airborne dust caused by trucks and machinery	37
Road damage	6	Speeding	19	Fence maintenance	27
Total for forestry	104	Total for forestry	139	Total for forestry	168
Total mill and forestry	253	Total mill and forestry	141	Total for mill	3

 

Mill and forestry operations (Bahia)
2021		2022		2023
Complaint	Number	Complaint	Number	Complaint	Number
Property damage	20	Property damage	8	Property damage	12
Roads	24	Roads	8	Roads	14
Dust (forestry operations only)	18	Dust (forestry operations only)	12	Dust (forestry operations only)	8
Contractors	21	Contractors	11	Contractors	14
Dangerous driving	7	Dangerous driving	12	Dangerous driving	11
Noise	0	Noise	1	Noise	2
Other	0	Other	6	Other	16
Total mill and forestry	100	Total mill and forestry	58	Total mill and forestry	77