Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

The Company maintains disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that the Company files or submits under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to the CEO and CFO, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.

The Company carried out the evaluation required by Rules 13a-15(b) and 15d-15(b), under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including the CEO and CFO, of the effectiveness of our “disclosure controls and procedures” (as defined in the Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)). Based upon this evaluation, the CEO and CFO concluded that as of December 31, 2024, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting described below.

Management's Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Management of the Company is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act. The Company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP and includes those policies and procedures that:

• pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company;

• provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and

• provide reasonable assurance that unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements are prevented or detected timely.

Management, including the CEO and CFO, assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024 and has concluded that we did not design effective controls over the review of the disposition of AES Brasil, a complex non-routine transaction; specifically due to the use of incomplete data in the estimation of the fair value of the net assets of AES Brasil, which was used in calculation of the impairment expense after AES Brasil was classified as Held for Sale in Q2 2024. The result of which caused an overstatement of impairment expense that was calculated in Q2 2024 and Q3 2024. In making this assessment, management used the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission ("COSO") in 2013.

Management continues to implement measures designed to ensure that the control deficiency contributing to the material weakness is remediated. The remediation actions include: (i) policy updates detailing steps to perform in an impairment analysis of complex ownership structures, (ii) detailed instructions on considerations to be included in the fair value estimations, (iii) updates to Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations policies, and (iv) training to impacted personnel.

As of the date of the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our management believes we have made progress toward remediating the underlying causes of the material weakness. We believe these actions will remediate the forgoing material weakness. The material weakness will not be considered remediated, however, until the applicable controls operate and management has concluded, through testing, that the controls are operating effectively. Management expects to begin remediation efforts immediately and be completed by June 30, 2025.

Notwithstanding the identified material weakness, as of the date of the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our management, including our CEO and CFO, believes that the audited consolidated financial statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K fairly present, in all material respects, our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for the periods presented and such financial statements are presented in conformity with GAAP.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting:

203 | 2024 Annual Report

Other than the material weakness discussed above, there were no changes that occurred during the quarter ended December 31, 2024 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

204 | 2024 Annual Report

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of The AES Corporation

Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

We have audited The AES Corporation’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, because of the effect of the material weakness described below on the achievement of the objectives of the control criteria, The AES Corporation (the Company) has not maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on the COSO criteria.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The following material weakness has been identified and included in management’s assessment. Management has identified a material weakness in controls related to the Company’s disposition process related to AES Brasil.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the 2024 consolidated financial statements of the Company. This material weakness was considered in determining the nature, timing and extent of audit tests applied in our audit of the 2024 consolidated financial statements, and this report does not affect our report dated March 10, 2025 which expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

205 | 2024 Annual Report

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Tysons, Virginia

March 10, 2025

206 | 2024 Annual Report