- The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) acknowledged Enel’s leadership in mitigating risks posed by climate change and seizing the opportunities by fostering the development of renewables and reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- Enel also achieved leadership status in the CDP Water list, with an A- score
Rome, December 7th, 2021 – Enel has been included in the prestigious “A” List for taking on climate change released by the Carbon Disclosure Project (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 a score of A- for its performance in managing water-related risks and opportunities. In addition, Enel’s Spanish subsidiary Endesa ranked within the leadership level in both the CDP Climate and CDP Water, with an A- score while Enel Chile and Enel Américas achieved both a B score for the CDP Climate for their first time of participation in the ranking.
“Our inclusion in CDP’s Climate A List is yet another major acknowledgement of the company’s ongoing commitment fighting climate change, one of the most urgent challenges facing global society and which requires serious action from everyone as well as swift measures from companies,” said Francesco Starace, Enel CEO and General Manager. “The steps the Group has taken to address climate change are an integral part of Enel’s corporate strategy, as highlighted by our ability to bring forward our Net Zero goal to 2040 and the focus on the Group’s growth in renewables and the promotion of electrification. We are accelerating growth across the business, bringing value to our customers who are at the core of the Group’s Strategy.”
CDP’s annual environmental disclosure and scoring process is widely recognized as the gold standard of corporate environmental transparency. In 2021, over 590 investors with over 110 trillion US dollars in assets and 200+ major purchasers with 5.5 trillion US dollars in procurement spend requested that companies disclose data on environmental impacts, risks and opportunities through CDP’s platform.
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.
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.
The Group has recently brought forward its Net Zero commitment by 10 years, from 2050 to 2040, both for direct and indirect emissions. This ambitious commitment will be achieved by phasing-out all its coal-fired power plants by 2027 and gas-fired power plants by 2040, along with the exit of the gas retail business through the promotion of electrification, without resorting to any offsetting measures, such as carbon removal technology or nature-based solutions. Furthermore, between 2021 and 2030 the Group expects to directly invest, through the Ownership business model, around 70 billion euros and reach around 129 GW of consolidated installed renewable capacity by 2030, leading to a reduction of 80% of its direct greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1) by 2030 with respect to 2017, as certified by the Science Based Targets Initiative according to a 1.5˚C pathway.
Enel’s global sustainability leadership is acknowledged through its presence in several other renowned sustainability indices as well as rankings, such as the MSCI ESG Leaders Indices, the Euronext Vigeo-Eiris 120 indices, the MIB ESG Index, the FTSE4Good Index series, 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's Top 100 Gender Equality Global Ranking and the ECPI indices.
The Group is increasingly attracting the attention of Socially Responsible Investors, whose stake in the company is steadily growing, representing now about 14.6% 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.
An example of Enel’s commitment to tackling climate change and on the transition towards a zero-emission energy system, as recognized by CDP, can be found in the Group’s vision and 2030 electrification plan for the Italian island Sardinia, as shown here:
https://www.enel.com/company/stories/articles/2021/09/planning-green-future-sardinia