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#climate change #environmental sustainability #SDG
In the context of its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Iberdrola group focuses primarily on compliance with SDG 13, climate action, making an active, determined contribution to a sustainable, low-carbon future to fight against climate change. We have therefore set ourselves the target of reducing the intensity of CO2 emissions up to 50 gCO2/kWh by 2030 and being carbon neutral by 2050 on a global scale.
With CO2/kWh two thirds below the European average, its investment strategy focused on clean energy and networks will make Iberdrola a carbon neutral company in Europe in 2030, enabling it to reduce its CO2 Nota emissions globally by 86 %, to 50g/kWh, at the end of the decade. The objective is to achieve global carbon neutrality by 2050.
A total of 79 % of the group's installed power comes from emissions-free sources, accounting for 37,037 MW of clean energy (data at the close of the Nine months 2020).
Iberdrola has now decommissioned all of its coal-fired power plants.
The largest wind farm in Iberdrola's history is East Anglia ONE, in British waters in the North Sea.
Iberdrola has joined the first observatory in Spain to promote the use of electric vehicles and expand sustainable mobility.
The company is planning to plant 20 million trees by 2030, which will absorb approximately six million tons of CO2 over 30 years and cover land the equivalent of 25,000 football fields.
The Iberdrola group against climate change.
SEE INFOGRAPHIC: Iberdrola group against climate change [PDF]
Find out more about our climate change milestones
1 Data from the Sustainability Report 2019 [PDF].
2 Data at the close of the Nine months 2020.
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SDG 13 focuses on the need to adopt urgent measures to stop climate change, which is affecting every country in the world. Among these measures we can highlight improving resilience and capacity to adapt to climate-related risks, including actions regarding climate change in governments' policies and strategies and improving education and awareness.
According to the fifth IPCC evaluation report, between 1880 and 2012 the average temperature on Earth increased by 0.85 ºC, while between 2030 and 2052 this increase will be 1.5 ºC and between 3 and 5 by the end of the century. Also, the sea level rose by 19 centimetres between 1901 and 2010 and the Arctic is losing 1.07 million km2 of ice every decade.
At the same time, greenhouse gas (GG) levels in the atmosphere have been rising gradually since the Industrial Revolution, and have now reached a worrying level of more than 400 parts per million (ppm), according to 2019 figures published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This body warns that this is a rising trend. The last time that the planet had a similar concentration of CO2 was between three and five million years ago, before humans even existed.
All this data suggests that the Earth's weather patterns are changing and human activity is largely responsible. Climate change has a negative impact on the environment, the economy, human well-being and communities and, if we do not act fast, the consequences will be devastating for life and for the development of our planet. In fact, extreme weather events and rising sea levels are already affecting the most vulnerable people living in developing countries. By acting now we can promote economic growth, eradicate extreme poverty and improve people's health and well-being.
Reversing this trend is only achievable via worldwide action and by tackling the problem forcefully from all angles. It is for this reason that taking urgent action to combat climate change was made SDG 13 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals adopted in September 2015 as part of Agenda 2030.
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SEE INFOGRAPHIC: Keys to understanding climate change [PDF]
To strengthen the international response to the real and global threat of climate change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) annually holds a Conference of the Parties (COP) attended by around 200 countries. The COP is the most important worldwide initiative aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and slowing global warming. Since the signing of the historic Paris Agreement (COP 21), which came into force in November 2016, countries have been working to limit our planet's temperature increase to less than 2°C.
Within SDG 13, the specific goals from here to 2030 are as follows:
In this regard, communities must work towards a low-carbon economy, where renewable energies and the electricity sector have a crucial role. Decarbonisation of the economy is vital to halt climate change, and this can only be achieved with clear investment in electrification and clean energies.