Iberdrola employees put solidarity into action, with more than 9,500 volunteers and 135 initiatives

Iberdrola’s 15th International Volunteer Week breaks participation records in the year its corporate volunteering programme celebrates its 20th anniversary. Behind the figures are professionals building homes, supporting older people, helping young people and restoring natural spaces.

Preparing a hygiene kit, collecting food, planting a tree or supporting someone starting a new life far from their home country. Iberdrola’s volunteering takes many forms, but all share one driving force: the commitment of its professionals. Its 15th International Volunteer Week brought together more than 9,500 people, a record turnout that translated into 135 social and environmental activities in collaboration with non-profit organisations and institutions.

The mobilisation also coincides with a special anniversary. Launched in 2006, the International Corporate Volunteering Programme is celebrating 20 years of activity. According to company figures, it now involves more than 23,000 volunteers from 24 countries each year, with over 10,000 initiatives and more than 90,000 hours of voluntary work. Over this period, collaboration with more than 3,000 social organisations has directly benefited over 14 million people.

These are the headline figures. But their real meaning lies in what happens on the ground: in a hospital, at a community kitchen or around a table shared with others.

In Spain, 72 initiatives were carried out, 21 of them national online activities. In-person activities took place in 15 provinces. Participation increased by 14%, with more than 4,000 registrations. Highlights included planting 800 trees in areas affected by last summer’s wildfires. Hundreds of professionals also came together at a charity market to support organisations working to improve people’s lives. They prepared hygiene kits and assembled “superpower” packs for hospitalised children. There was also time to put on an apron: an intergenerational MasterChef event brought volunteers and older people together through cooking.

Solidarity around the world

This commitment took different forms in each country. In the United States, participants helped build homes for vulnerable people, volunteered at community kitchens and took part in food and book collections. Cleaning public spaces and protecting biodiversity were also among the activities.

In the United Kingdom, teams collected toys and raised funds for children’s hospitals, volunteered in charity shops and food banks and helped maintain gardens and green spaces. In Brazil, charity sporting events, blood donations and visits to older people shared the spotlight with book and food collections for vulnerable families.

Professionals from Iberdrola Energía Internacional extended this map of solidarity. In Greece, they prepared and distributed survival kits for homeless people, collected essential supplies, took part in activities with people with cerebral palsy and cleaned beaches. In Germany, they improved the facilities at a refugee centre in Berlin and collected toys for a new reception centre.

In Poland and Japan, “plogging” – exercising outdoors while collecting litter – combined physical activity with care for the environment, alongside campaigns to collect supplies for animal shelters. France organised a blood donation campaign. In Australia, volunteers worked to restore habitats, conserve native wildlife, clean beaches and remove invasive species, as well as donating blood and collecting food.

A charity run

The kilometres covered also brought a charitable reward. A new edition of the global Dorsal Solidario challenge turned the distances covered by participants into food hampers for vulnerable families. The initiative benefited around 8,800 people.

The week also provided an opportunity to recognise individual contributions through the 2026 International Volunteering Awards. Eliana Alves, from Neoenergia, received the award in the Health and Well-being category for mobilising colleagues and partners and collecting 153 scarves for cancer patients at Aristides Maltez Hospital in Salvador, Bahia.

In the Education category, María Isabel Rebolledo, from Iberdrola Germany, was recognised for supporting young refugee and migrant women aged 13 to 20. Eilidh Campbell, from ScottishPower, also received an award in this category for her role in Breaking Barriers, a project that provides qualifications and work experience for young people with learning difficulties.

Alberto Blanco, from i-DE, Iberdrola’s electricity distribution company in Spain, was recognised in the Environment category. Through years of collaboration, he has helped plant more than 3,000 native trees and shrubs. Andrew Haughey, from Avangrid, Iberdrola’s US subsidiary, received the award in the Outreach and Commitment category for involving more than 100 people in volunteering activities.

These five stories show how volunteering grows within a company: someone takes the first step, inspires colleagues to join in and turns the desire to help into a shared effort.