Decarbonisation: The trees planted by ACCIONA in the Dehesa de la Villa district will absorb 300 tonnes of CO2 over the next 30 years
ACCIONA today planted 4,000 trees in the Dehesa de la Villa district of Madrid as part of its commitment to generating a positive and lasting environmental impact on the city, in its capacity as lead sponsor of the ACCIONA Open de España Golf Tournament, held in October.
The trees were planted in partnership with the Madrid municipal government as part of the Madrid Compensa (Madrid Offsets) programme, aimed at decarbonising the city by replanting urban spaces to turn them into CO2 sinks.
The new tree coverage will absorb 300 tonnes of CO2 over the next 30 years.
The species were chosen based on their historical relationship with the Dehesa de la Villa district, as well as their ecological, biological and ornamental value. They include holm oaks, pine trees and cork oaks (a long-standing feature of this Madrid park), maple, ash and mountain ash (to improve the soil and provide a habitat for butterflies and other insects), as well as shrubs, which are essential to the understory.
This initiative will also help restore one of the city's main historic green areas, which was badly hit by Storm Filomena, and it also had a social dimension as local residents participated in the planting under the supervision of experts from ACCIONA and the Madrid municipal government.
A total of 1.1 hectares were planted in the “Pedrete” area, which covers 9.7 hectares and features in the Dehesa de la Villa Master Plan as one of the priority areas for ecological restoration.
ACCIONA, which has the concession to maintain Madrid's historic parks, will monitor, maintain and supervise the plantation and will conduct regular inspections to ensure that the growth and optimum development of the trees is suitable for the species involved.
SUSTAINABLE SPORT
ACCIONA, which is the lead sponsor of the 2021 ACCIONA Open de España Golf Tournament, deployed a range of sustainable solutions during the tournament to neutralise any harmful effects on the environment, ensuring a positive net impact that will remain as a legacy to the city.
The tournament was carbon-neutral, as emissions were kept to a minimum and those that were unavoidable were offset through certified Carbon Emission Reductions from the Oaxaca Wind Power Complex (Mexico) under the United Nations Framework Convention.
Wanting to go a step further, ACCIONA undertook to plant trees in Madrid with the capacity to absorb the equivalent of the CO2 offset; the latest planting is part of this initiative. To achieve the offset, in addition to the latest 4,000 trees planted, ACCIONA will plant another 5,000 in a location to be chosen by the Madrid municipal government.
ACCIONA will also plant trees on behalf of this year's top five golfers (between 3,000 and 4,500 trees in total), which are estimated to offset ten-fold the carbon generated by them and their teams over a complete golf season.
These initiatives are fully aligned with the company's Sustainability Master Plan, which promotes regeneration through measures based on natural solutions.