- Reduced Consumption: It will calculate the COE facilities’ water footprint, promote the reduction of water consumption and replicate the strategy in other sporting organizations
The Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) has selected ACCIONA as its exclusive partner to develop the organization's water management strategy through a pilot project called "Efficient Water Management Models for the Spanish Olympic Committee". Its main objectives are to position the COE as an international role model among sporting organizations, promoting its value to society and its contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The COE and ACCIONA announced this agreement at a ceremony attended by Alejandro Blanco, president of the COE; Joaquín Mollinedo, ACCIONA's chief officer for Institutional Relations, Communications and Branding; and the ambassador of this action plan, canoeist Rodrigo Germade, Olympic runner-up in Tokyo 2020 and three-time canoeing world champion.
ACCIONA will develop a project that will include an efficient water management model in the COE facilities, the results of which will be scalable and replicable for other sporting organizations and events.
The project will be carried out in several phases. In the first phase, ACCIONA will calculate the water footprint of the COE facilities; in the second phase, it will establish water consumption reduction targets, considering direct and indirect impacts; in the third phase, it will outline water solutions replicable to other sports facilities, distinguishing those that reduce consumption to achieve neutrality from those that generate a positive impact.
In the final phase, ACCIONA will work on the scaling strategy for its implementation, as well as the financing alternatives that Spanish sport federations can choose alongside the COE in order to replicate the water management model in other organizations, facilities and events. Finally, ACCIONA will carry out a communication campaign with the COE, presenting the results of the project to the European Sustainability Working Group of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The year-long project is part of the COE's sustainability strategy, aligned with the one implemented by the IOC, the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, for all its internal and external operations, in which water is one of its action plan’s ten points.
Water is the main element for sustaining social development, preserving the health of the planet and driving economic growth. However, the climate and environmental crisis is having a direct impact on the management of this resource. In this context, ACCIONA identifies the climate crisis as a water crisis.
The main challenge is to develop adequate water management based on climate adaptation and mitigation. ACCIONA, as a leader in climate action in the water sector, takes on the challenge of extending a positive water footprint worldwide through the design of regenerative water infrastructures, which contribute to the regeneration of water ecosystems, with a special focus on solutions for water catchment, desalination, purification, distribution, sanitation, treatment and reuse.