Within the organisational context of EPAL and Águas do Vale do Tejo, and to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards and the Company's mission, vision and values, the following commitments are made:

1. Delegated Management of the Vale do Tejo Multi-municipal System – Ensure delegated management of the Águas do Vale do Tejo system, under the terms of the concession contract and applicable legislation, without prejudice to the responsibilities of this company towards the grantor and the regulator. 

2. Business Responsibility – ensure the quality of the products and services provided, which contribute to public health, environmental preservation and society, using the most innovative practices, ensuring the necessary resources are available, and implementing adequate plans, processes and procedures to reduce risks and maximise opportunities and achieve the objectives and goals proposed for the continuous improvement in the performance and effectiveness of management systems and for the sustainability of the Company.

3. Satisfaction of Employees, Customers and Other Stakeholders – To listen and promote the meeting of the relevant requirements, needs and expectations of their employees, customers, community and other stakeholders, with a view to improving the relationship with relevant stakeholders, the company's products and services and existing interfaces. 
Ensure communication, consultation and participation of employees and their representatives in topics related to management systems and in identifying solutions to improve their performance, particularly in terms of health and safety.

4. Employee Training, Competence and Knowledge – Enhance and promote the skills, employees’ professional qualifications and individual and organisational knowledge necessary for the effective performing of their functions, responsibilities and tasks. 
Provide continuous and excellent training and access to networking, encourage creativity, personal development and a commitment to sustainability, with a view to fostering an organisational culture aimed at improving performance, innovation and creation of value in and for the company. 

5. Promoting Staff Health and Safety – Identify hazards and assess risks to staff health and safety, determine and adopt effective measures for prevention, protection, and, as far as possible, elimination of hazards and reduction of risks. 
Guarantee safe and healthy working conditions and prevent the occurrence of accidents at work and occupational diseases, namely work-related injuries and health conditions. 

6. Valuing employees and their contribution - Implement conciliation practices and measures, aimed at adapting employees to the context of their role and their personal and family life and which promote their health, motivation and involvement in the company. 
Promote respect for the principles of equality and non-discrimination and the balance between different spheres of life, in order to contribute to a balanced participation of men and women in professional and family activities, to foster their personal development and for the positive evolution of the company and society. 

7. Asset Management – Define and implement strategies to ensure effective and efficient asset management, based on the organisation's strategic guidelines.
Manage company assets with a value-creating logic, ensuring a balance between cost, risk of failure and performance throughout their life cycle, by providing resources and optimising investments, exploration and maintenance. 

8. Sustainable development and social responsibility – To actively, innovatively and responsibly contribute to a sustainable future of the company and society, through the defining of a strategy of sustainability and socially responsible actions, in terms of governance, society and the environment. 
Contribute continuously to the economic development of the regions where it operates and of the country and to social cohesion, fulfilling the commitments to employees, suppliers, customers, communities, the state and other stakeholders. 
To act responsibly with respect to the impacts, risks and opportunities inherent in the activities carried out, promoting the protection of the environment, through the eco-efficient use of natural resources, preventing pollution and the occurrence of environmental accidents in all activities, contributing, whenever possible, to the recovery of environmental liabilities, compensation for the company's ecological footprint and for the preservation of biodiversity. 

9. Combating and adapting to Climate Change - Continuously improve global energy and water performance, promoting actions reduce consumption and improve efficient use of water and energy; the reduction of water losses and maintaining them at economically acceptable levels; actions aimed at carbon neutrality; the acquisition of water-efficient and energy-efficient products and services; strategic thinking aimed at adaptation, resilience and the company's proactive and timely response to climate change and its effects.

10. Organisational resilience and continuity of the business – Promote the appropriate preservation, protection and safety of critical infrastructures and a culture of risk management and resilience for its activities and businesses, defining and planning strategies to reduce the probability of the occurrence of disruptive events and/or their consequences and impacts.
Enhance the capacity for organisation, prevention and recovery in the face of adverse factors or conditions, to ensure continuity of the business, fulfilment of the mission, the preservation of human life and stakeholders’ confidence in the company.

11. Information Security - Manage and ensure adequate use of the information systems that support the company's activities and the products and services provided to customers, to guarantee the availability, integrity and confidentiality of information about the company and its customers, complying with what is established in the policies and other related internal regulations.

12. Integrity, transparency, ethics and anti-corruption – Promote and ensure compliance with the provisions of the Code of Conduct and Ethics, the Corruption and Related Violations Risk Management Plan and the company's Anti-Corruption Policy, the principles of the United Nations Global Compact subscribed to by the company and other applicable guidelines, contributing to reducing the existence of conflicts of interest, improving the image, confidence and reputation of the company among its stakeholders. 
Foster a culture of integrity, transparency, ethics, anti-corruption and compliance, covering decision-making, the company's activities and the relationship with its business partners, actively contributing to the fight against corruption and to good governance.

13. Supply chain involvement – Promote the sharing of values, principles of sustainability and compliance with suppliers of goods and services, encouraging them to adhere to the commitment to respect and apply the good practices implemented, creating value for both parties. 

14. Innovation and Development – Encourage research and development of solutions for identified opportunities, actively promoting a process of innovation across the company, focused on the business, cost-benefit relationship, sustainable development and ideally scalable in the water sector, establishing, when the need is identified, external partnerships in the projects. 

15. Circular Economy – Promote awareness of circular economy principles, identifying and implementing opportunities in the company's processes and activities that contribute, in this way, to sustainability. 


  

 Approved at a meeting of the Board of Directors, 23th September 2020