Stakeholders and social dividend
At the heart of our decisions
We have developed a responsible and sustainable business model, an essential element of which is the involvement of stakeholders and the creation of shared value for all of them.
The Group’s companies work to increasingly involve their stakeholders in all the company’s activities and operations. Iberdrola’s Stakeholder Engagement Policy (SR), which was approved by the Board of Directors in 2015 and was recently updated, defines its stakeholders as “those groups and entities whose decisions and opinions have an influence thereon and who, at the same time, are affected by the activities carried out by the Iberdrola Group”.
The value chain shaped by Iberdrola’s businesses means that these groups are very numerous, which is why the company splits them into stakeholder categories. As a result of a reflection process involving different areas and businesses of the company and external experts in the field, six stakeholder categories have been established.
Iberdrola´s Engagement Universe
Stakeholders
Iberdrola people
CloseMore than 42,000 people
How do we create value?
We provide high-quality, future-focused employment in a working environment that promotes equal opportunities
- Direct employment: over 42,000 people.
- New recruitments: over 6,000 new professionals.
- Training: 73.8 hours per person per year.
- International workforce: employees from 95 different nationalities.
- Safe working environment.
- Flexibility and reconciliation measures.
- Our employees' field of work: green jobs.
- Strengthening Young Talent programmes: Master's Scholarships and Iberdrola Group graduate programmes.
Supply chain
CloseNearly 19,000 suppliers
How do we create value?
We collaborate, generate momentum and create opportunities
- Global procurement: over €18bn million generating employment for 500,000 people.
- Sustainability: 96% of awarded contracts allocated to suppliers assessed using sustainable criteria.
- Promotion of human rights.
- Partnerships and agreements to jointly reduce emissions and accelerate and facilitate the development of green products.
Communities
CloseAll communities where we operate
How do we create value?
We work continuously with communities and contribute to their development
- Record investments: €11.9bn (+5%), plus €5bn in the corporate operations of Avangrid and ENW.
- Tax contribution: €10.3bn.
- Contribution to the community: €56.7m contribution to society: foundations and others.
- Foundations' activity: 10m annual beneficiaries in 2030.
- Innovation: more than €400m of investment in innovation.
- "Electricity for all programme": 13.8m beneficiaries (cumulative).
- Volunteering: 22,800 volunteers with their families.
- Sport: support for 800,000 sportsmen and women.
Customers
Close36 million customers
How do we create value?
We provide a safe and competitive energy supply
- Quality of supply and incident resolution.
- Smart grids: 81.4% of total networks.
- Smart and innovative solutions: in residential and industrial areas.
- Customer experience: accessible solutions for traditional and digital customers.
- Vulnerable customers: protection procedures.
The environment
CloseHundreds of organisations around the world
How do we create value?
We fight climate change and protect biodiversity
- CO₂ emissions: emissions of 38g CO₂/kWh in Europe, five times lower than industry average
- Biodiversity: nature positive.
- Circular economy: 100% recycling of blades and panels by 2030, reaching 98.4% by 2024.
- Global leadership in clean energy: 84% emission-free installed capacity.
- Conservation, restoration and tree planting programme: 5 million trees.
- Commitment to reduce water consumption.
Figures from the 2024 financial year.
Principles of stakeholder relations
The Iberdrola Group assumes and promotes strong principles to engage with and build relationships of trust with its stakeholders. These principles, which are shared by all Iberdrola professionals and govern their day-to-day relations with stakeholders, are listed below.
Responsibility
Acting responsibly and building relationships based on ethics, integrity, sustainable development, respect for human rights and the rights of the communities affected by its various activities.
Transparency
Ensuring transparency in relationships and in financial and non-financial communication through clear and responsible practices, sharing truthful, appropriate, relevant, accurate, complete, reliable and useful information.
Active listening
Practising active listening by promoting effective communication between the company and its stakeholders and vice versa, as well as direct, fluid, constructive, diverse, inclusive and intercultural dialogue.
Participation and involvement
Encouraging the participation and involvement of stakeholders in the activities of all companies by promoting, at Group level, voluntary consultation processes or other similar channels of interaction, while respecting the specific features of each country’s legislation, especially in the planning, construction, operation and dismantling of energy projects, as a fundamental element in human-rights due-diligence processes.
Consensus
Working in ways that are compatible with reaching consensus with stakeholders, taking their views and expectations into consideration.
Collaboration
Promoting collaboration with stakeholders to contribute to the fulfilment of the Purpose and Values of the Iberdrola Group and its ethical and basic principles of governance and sustainability.
Continuous improvement
Pursuing continuous improvement by periodically reviewing stakeholder engagement mechanisms to ensure they respond, as efficiently as possible, to needs at any given time.
Global stakeholder engagement model
The Iberdrola Group has promoted a Stakeholder Engagement Policy with the following objectives:
- Strengthen the commitment to Iberdrola’s business project, creating sustainable value for communities through the social dividend.
- Address stakeholders’ legitimate interests on an ongoing basis.
- Consolidate long-lasting, solid relationships of trust.
- Promote recognition of diversity, especially in the professional development of its members.
- Protect corporate reputation in all the countries and businesses in which Iberdrola operates.
The Group manages engagement with its stakeholders through its own model, whose main objective is to provide specific responses to their legitimate needs and expectations. This model constitutes a continuous improvement process based on the following 10 phases:
Stakeholder engagement model of Iberdrola Group
This is an advanced and rigorous model structured into 10 phases that ensures a process of continual improvement:
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Identify Stakeholders
Established by the policy
-
Segment Stakeholders by categories
Based on daily management criteria
-
Prioritise Stakeholder categories
According to impact and influence on value creation
-
Define levels of engagement
Information, consultation, interaction or collaboration
-
Review channels for engagement
Evaluate existing channels and create new ones
-
Design engagement model
Best suited to each Stakeholder category
-
Identify relevant issues
For both Iberdrola and each Stakeholder category
-
Identify risks and opportunities
That help create value for Iberdrola and its Stakeholders
-
Design action plan
Initiatives in relation to the engagement model and relevant issues
-
Monitor and report
To analyse outcomes and report on performance
- Stakeholder map
- Engagement model
- List of relevant issues, risks and opportunites
- Action plan
- Follow-up
Engagement channels and issues
Iberdrola ensures effective communication with its stakeholders through constantly evolving channels, tailored to their needs and aimed at building strong and lasting relationships. Through active listening and ongoing dialogue, the company identifies the most relevant issues for these groups, which guide its decisions and actions.
Universal channels
- Telephone, email, web and intranet
- Meetings and interviews
Universal issues
- Ethics, integrity and transparency (accountability to stakeholders and society)
- Climate emergency, energy transition and industrial alliances
- Innovation, artificial intelligence, digitalisation and cybersecurity
- Electricity prices
- Vulnerable customers and universal access to energy
- Strategy, investment plans, financial outlook and regulatory changes
- Respect for human rights, local communities and a just transition
- Sustainability performance
- Action for biodiversity and nature
Channels and issues specific to each stakeholder group
Iberdrola personnel
Specific channels
-
Meetings with the Executive Chairman and management team
-
Intranet, internal newspaper and employee management platform
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Volunteering channel and single employment channel
-
Workplace climate surveys
-
WhatsApp for employees
-
Ethics mailbox
Specific issues
- Talent attraction, development and retention
- Social benefits and work-life balance
- Diversity and equality
- Occupational health and safety
- Labour relations and rights
Shareholders and financial community
Specific channels
- General Shareholders’ Meeting
- Shareholder Club
- Shareholder newsletter
- Results presentations, Capital Markets & ESG Day and roadshows
- Investor relations app
- Corporate reports
- Shareholder ethics mailbox
- Shareholder website
- Exclusive OLA channel
Specific issues
- Strategy and investments
- Structure, composition and remuneration of the Board of Directors
- Economic and financial performance
- Shares and dividends
- Political and regulatory situation in the countries where Iberdrola operates
Customers
Network business users
Specific channels
- Digital channels (customer website, app)
- Remote channel (telephone)
- Satisfaction surveys
- Complaints systems
- Communication and outreach campaigns
Specific issues
- Quality of supply
- Customer satisfaction and experience
- Complaints, claims and incidents
- Present and future of the sector (energy transition)
- Strategy and investments
Customer business users
Specific channels
- Digital channels (customer website, networks, chat, Iberdrola Clientes app, public charging app)
- Remote channel (telephone)
- Customer service points, pop-ups
- Satisfaction surveys
- Communication and dissemination campaigns
Specific issues
- Electricity bills and prices
- Customer satisfaction and experience
- Marketing of new solutions
- Complaints and claims regarding incidents
- Climate change and decarbonisation
Supply chain
Specific channels
- Supplier registration, evaluation and classification platform
- Satisfaction survey
- IBuy tender management platform
- Supplier service centre
- Supplier website
- Enquiry mailboxes and whistleblower channel
- Traction campaigns, improvement plans and remediation plans
- Global and local supplier of the year awards
- Social and sustainability audits
Specific issues
- Supply chain sustainability
- Purchasing conditions, contracts and payments
- Strategy and investments
- Supplier traction
- Economic and financial performance
- Support for innovation
- Tool improvement
Regions
Media
Specific channels
- Corporate website
- Press releases
- Events and meetings
- Social networks
Specific issues
- Strategy and investments
- Ethics, integrity and transparency
- Electricity bills and prices
- Iberdrola's role in the development of local regions
- Customer satisfaction and experience
Regulatory bodies
Specific channels
- Enquiries and procedures
- Websites and bite-sized content
Specific issues
- Strategy and investments
- Present and future of the sector (Energy transition)
- Public policies
- Regulation of energy markets
- Regulation of remuneration for regulated businesses
People affected by the facilities
Specific channels
- Ethics mailboxes and other mechanisms for receiving complaints and claims at the project level
- Region surveys
- Specific discussion panels with the region
- Website enquiry inbox
Specific issues
- Communication and involvement of local regions in operations
- Iberdrola's role in the development of local regions (employment, investment, taxes, local purchasing)
- Support for vulnerable groups
- Local regions' rights to land or housing and socio-cultural heritage
Social representatives
Specific channels
- Assemblies, meetings and interviews
- Telephone
- Conferences, events and forums
- Applications, mobile phones and chats
Specific issues
- Actions related to culture and sport
- Activities related to education
- Innovation projects
- Support for vulnerable groups
- Public policies
- Institutional relations
Environment
Specific channels
- Corporate website and reports
- Inspections and audits
- Partnerships, collaborations, events and conferences
Specific issues
- Climate change and decarbonisation
- Biodiversity
- Sustainability indices
- Environmental management
- Present and future of the sector (Energy transition)
- Circular economy
Best practices by country
Spain
Iberdrola's Ilumina Plan was created in response to the severe flooding that affected the Valencia region in October 2024, causing massive damage to the electrical networks and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power. The plan involves an investment of €100 million to rebuild and modernise the electrical networks in the area, incorporating resilience measures such as raising and sealing equipment, digitisation, installation of underground cabling, renewal of conductors and reinforcement of the grid meshing. It also includes specific engineering contracts and the mobilisation of human and technical resources to ensure a safer network that is better prepared for extreme events.
United Kingdom
The ScottishPower initiative, in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and the Glasgow Riverside Innovation District (GRID), seeks to promote the development of professionals specialising in urban planning to contribute to Scotland's sustainable economic growth. As part of the project, the University has created two fully funded places on its new accredited master's programmes in planning (MSc City Planning and MSc City Planning & Real Estate), also offering industry placements thanks to the agreement with ScottishPower. A pilot project is currently underway with two participants who will undertake their placement at ScottishPower Energy Networks. The aim is to inspire and train a new generation of network planners through practical experience.
United States
Avangrid's Central Maine Power (CMP) initiative, "Annual Nonprofit Network Event", is a yearly meeting organised by the Maine-based subsidiary to strengthen relationships with non-profit organisations. The event seeks to listen to their needs, share best practices and generate meaningful connections between these entities and internal teams. It also encourages employee participation in volunteer activities and offers networking sessions and practical demonstrations, creating a collaborative space that promotes social engagement and community cooperation.
Brazil
Neoenergia's Quilombola Basic Environmental Programme (PBAQ) is an initiative that seeks to comply with environmental licensing requirements around the Oitis wind farm complex in Piauí (Brazil) and support the Sumidouro quilombola region.
The PBAQ focuses on three areas: social communication, cultural and territorial strengthening and promoting income generation and self-sufficiency. It includes actions such as sponsoring the Kizomba Festival (a traditional event that reinforces cultural identity), donating musical instruments and planning future projects such as "Caminhos Quilombolas: Turismo Sustentável" (Quilombola Paths: Sustainable Tourism), aimed at developing sustainable community tourism. The latter includes the creation of ecological routes, equipment, workshops and training to promote the socio-cultural and economic development of the region.
Mexico
The Innovation Friday initiative seeks to involve employees in innovation processes through practical and collaborative sessions that promote creativity in daily tasks. Eighty per cent of workplaces in Mexico have been visited, holding face-to-face sessions addressing topics such as disruptive innovation, lateral thinking and the development of KPIs. More than 100 employees have participated in interactive activities and games designed to stimulate ideas, with 32% of attendees submitting proposals after the sessions. The programme reinforces a culture of innovation that is accessible to all, from ideation to implementation.
Reputation, an intangible asset
The Iberdrola Group considers reputation to be a highly valuable intangible asset, influencing such relevant aspects as talent attraction and retention, commercial relationships with customers, capital markets valuation and integration into communities. It therefore affects both long-term sustainability and corporate resilience.
Reputation management is carried out across all Iberdrola areas and businesses, with two key elements standing out:
- Proactive management of stakeholders through the application of the Global engagement model with stakeholders, which makes it possible to understand expectations, needs and impacts and to analyse risks.
- Communication plans, Sustainability Targets and the numerous specific initiatives implemented by Iberdrola’s areas and businesses, focused on each of the company’s six stakeholder groups.
Each year, Iberdrola reviews and updates its Corporate reputation policy, which serves as the main reference for the control and management of this risk.
What’s more, the company has internal procedures and working groups in place to respond to potential reputational crises, defining the management model, procedures and responsibilities for handling these matters, to ensure a swift, coordinated and effective response based on transparent and efficient communication.
Commitment to the community: creating sustainable value for all
Iberdrola maintains relationships with communities throughout all phases of a project and establishes dialogue channels through which communities can communicate their expectations and needs.
Iberdrola continually strengthens its engagement with the communities in which it operates through a stakeholder engagement process aligned with the principles set out in the Stakeholder Engagement Policy and aimed at identifying potential impacts on human rights and creating sustainable value for all. Project-level stakeholders may include potentially affected communities or individuals, as well as their formal or informal representatives, among others. Special attention is paid to vulnerable groups, including Indigenous peoples.
Stakeholder participation is key to ensuring the environmental, social and economic performance of projects throughout their entire life cycle (see the Human Rights section). For this reason, understanding and engaging with stakeholders at an early stage allows Iberdrola to better understand their expectations and needs and to place them at the centre of our decisions.