- The company has signed an International Business Declaration urging the G20 to adopt more ambitious goals for mitigating climate change
- The manifesto was presented on occasion of the celebration of the One Planet Summit, co-organised by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, the President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, and the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, to drive the application of the commitments made two years in the Paris Agreement, adopted at COP21.
ACCIONA is a signatory of the 'International Business Declaration', with another 54 companies, and promoted by a number of international organisations such as We Mean Business, Corporate Leaders Group and CDP, to urge governments to implement the Paris Agreement. The Declaration was presented the day before the celebration of the 'One Planet Summit' in Paris, which coincides with the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement.
The Declaration subscribed by ACCIONA, urges the G20 countries to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2025. The document states that the tax savings from the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies should be allocated to investments in the low-carbon economy, renewables and energy efficiency.
The manifesto, backed by a range of international businesses, calls on governments to develop a strategy to decarbonise their economies and to revise and increase their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) so as to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21. Businesses are calling on governments to present their revised objectives and commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by 2020.
Another measure identified by the Declaration with regard to implementing the Paris Agreement is a robust carbon pricing system that penalises emissions and drives business and investments towards low-carbon business models.
Finally, business leaders, among which is José Manuel Entrecanales, Chairman of ACCIONA, also urge other companies to support the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), set out in a guide developed by members of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). In the ‘CEO Guide to Climate-related Financial Disclosure’, CEOs promote effective management and transparent disclosure of the risks, opportunities and financial impacts arising from climate change.
The 'One Planet Summit' in Paris seeks to remind the world of the urgency of adopting measures to combat climate change, two years after the Paris Agreement, which was, the last major multilateral progress made in this area.