Enel has been included in the prestigious “A” List for tackling climate change released by CDP, the global environmental non-profit that provides the most valued platform to monitor business performance on the fight against climate change. Furthermore, the company ranked within the leadership level in the CDP Water list, with an A- on its performance in managing water-related risks and opportunities. In addition, Enel’s Spanish subsidiary Endesa has been included in both the Climate “A” List and the Water “A” List.
“Enel’s inclusion in CDP’s Climate A List is a recognition of our company’s position to address climate change, one of the greatest challenges facing the world, by promoting the decarbonization of the energy generation systems while contributing to other sectors’ decarbonization through the electrification of energy demand,” said Francesco Starace, Enel CEO and General Manager. “Our sustainable and integrated business model, which places climate change as a core priority for creating long-term value, allowed Enel to be recognized by CDP as a leading utility in the transition towards a zero-emission energy system. Once a company understands that sustainability actions are an investment and not a cost that is when we can make a meaningful impact and create shared value in the world.”
CDP’s annual environmental disclosure and scoring process is widely recognized as the gold standard of corporate environmental transparency. In 2020, over 515 investors with over 106 trillion US dollars in assets and 150+ major purchasers with 4 trillion US dollars in procurement spend requested that companies disclose data on environmental impacts, risks and opportunities through CDP’s platform. This year, over 9,600 responded, representing the highest turnout ever.
A detailed and independent methodology is used by CDP to assess companies, allocating a score of A to D- based on the comprehensiveness of disclosure, awareness and management of environmental risks and demonstration of best practices associated with environmental leadership, such as setting ambitious and meaningful targets.
Enel found inspiration in the threat of climate change and decided to invest in actions that would both increase value creation and contribute to faster achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), placing SDG 13 for the fight against climate change at the center of its strategy. Towards this aim, Enel has been constantly investing in renewables and smart grids, becoming the largest private renewable operator with around 49,000 MW of managed renewable capacity and the biggest network operator with more than 74 million end users around the world.
The Group’s climate governance model and its approach to managing climate change risks and opportunities, along with the actions put in place all over the world to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by accelerating renewables and phasing out its coal capacity, were some of the best practices recognized by CDP.
Enel expects to reduce GHG emissions per kWh by more than 50% by the end of 2020 compared to 2007 levels. Furthermore, the company has recently strengthened its commitment towards zero emissions by boosting its 2030 GHG target to 80% from 70% compared to 2017, certified by Science Based Targets Initiative according to a pathway aimed to limit global warming to 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Towards this aim, the Group expects to invest around 70 billion euros and reach around 120 GW of consolidated installed capacity by 2030, 2.7 times higher than the approximately 45 GW currently installed.
Enel’s sustainability leadership is globally acknowledged through the Group’s presence in several other renowned sustainability indices as well as rankings, such as the MSCI ESG Leaders Indices, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World and Europe, the FTSE4Good Index series, the Euronext Vigeo Eiris indices, the STOXX Global ESG Leaders index, the ISS “Prime” rating, the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, the Refinitiv TOP 100 Diversity and Inclusion Index, the Equileap Gender Equality in Europe Ranking, the Corporate Knights Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World ranking, the ECPI indices and the Thomson Reuters/S-Network ESG Best Practices Indices.
The Group is increasingly attracting the attention of Socially Responsible Investors, whose stake in the company is steadily growing, representing now about 13.4% of Enel’s share capital, more than double compared to 2014 levels. This increase, which is in line with the growing recognition of the importance of non-financial elements in the creation of long-term sustainable value, reflects the bolstering of Enel’s global sustainability leadership.