the aes corporation notes to consolidated financial statements 2014 ( continued ) december 31 , 2016 , 2015 , and 2014 the following is a reconciliation of the beginning and ending amounts of unrecognized tax benefits for the periods indicated ( in millions ) : .
what was the percentage change in the unrecognized tax benefits from 2015 to 2016?
the company and certain of its subsidiaries are currently under examination by the relevant taxing authorities for various tax years . the company regularly assesses the potential outcome of these examinations in each of the taxing jurisdictions when determining the adequacy of the amount of unrecognized tax benefit recorded . while it is often difficult to predict the final outcome or the timing of resolution of any particular uncertain tax position , we believe we have appropriately accrued for our uncertain tax benefits . however , audit outcomes and the timing of audit settlements and future events that would impact our previously recorded unrecognized tax benefits and the range of anticipated increases or decreases in unrecognized tax benefits are subject to significant uncertainty . it is possible that the ultimate outcome of current or future examinations may exceed our provision for current unrecognized tax benefits in amounts that could be material , but cannot be estimated as of december 31 , 2016 . our effective tax rate and net income in any given future period could therefore be materially impacted . 22 . discontinued operations brazil distribution 2014 due to a portfolio evaluation in the first half of 2016 , management has decided to pursue a strategic shift of its distribution companies in brazil , aes sul and eletropaulo . the disposal of sul was completed in october 2016 . in december 2016 , eletropaulo underwent a corporate restructuring which is expected to , among other things , provide more liquidity of its shares . aes is continuing to pursue strategic options for eletropaulo in order to complete its strategic shift to reduce aes 2019 exposure to the brazilian distribution business , including preparation for listing its shares into the novo mercado , which is a listing segment of the brazilian stock exchange with the highest standards of corporate governance . the company executed an agreement for the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary aes sul in june 2016 . we have reported the results of operations and financial position of aes sul as discontinued operations in the consolidated financial statements for all periods presented . upon meeting the held-for-sale criteria , the company recognized an after tax loss of $ 382 million comprised of a pretax impairment charge of $ 783 million , offset by a tax benefit of $ 266 million related to the impairment of the sul long lived assets and a tax benefit of $ 135 million for deferred taxes related to the investment in aes sul . prior to the impairment charge in the second quarter , the carrying value of the aes sul asset group of $ 1.6 billion was greater than its approximate fair value less costs to sell . however , the impairment charge was limited to the carrying value of the long lived assets of the aes sul disposal group . on october 31 , 2016 , the company completed the sale of aes sul and received final proceeds less costs to sell of $ 484 million , excluding contingent consideration . upon disposal of aes sul , we incurred an additional after- tax loss on sale of $ 737 million . the cumulative impact to earnings of the impairment and loss on sale was $ 1.1 billion . this includes the reclassification of approximately $ 1 billion of cumulative translation losses , resulting in a net reduction to the company 2019s stockholders 2019 equity of $ 92 million . sul 2019s pretax loss attributable to aes for the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015 was $ 1.4 billion and $ 32 million , respectively . sul 2019s pretax gain attributable to aes for the year ended december 31 , 2014 was $ 133 million . prior to its classification as discontinued operations , sul was reported in the brazil sbu reportable segment . as discussed in note 1 2014general and summary of significant accounting policies , effective july 1 , 2014 , the company prospectively adopted asu no . 2014-08 . discontinued operations prior to adoption of asu no . 2014-08 include the results of cameroon , saurashtra and various u.s . wind projects which were each sold in the first half of cameroon 2014 in september 2013 , the company executed agreements for the sale of its 56% ( 56 % ) equity interests in businesses in cameroon : sonel , an integrated utility , kribi , a gas and light fuel oil plant , and dibamba , a heavy .