Ignacio Galán joins the Council of Generation Unlimited, a UNICEF organization

The president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galan, today joined the Global Leadership Council of the UNICEF Generation Unlimited organization. Launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the 2018 General Assembly and led by UNICEF, Generation Unlimited is a global public-private and youth partnership that seeks to connect millions of young people with training opportunitiesempowerment, employment and social entrepreneurship.

At a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, discussions focused on how to help prepare the next generation for a green and digital future. Agenda topics included how the rise of Artificial intelligence and the green transition are shaping the future of work.

The Global Leaders Council is co-chaired by Catherine M. Russell, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Bob Moritz, President of PwC. The council is made up of a diverse mix of business leaders, NGO and charity representatives, and government officials.

“We are in the midst of a green revolution, which is accelerating every day. Renewable energy is good for the planet and the investment behind it offers huge opportunities for employment and skills development. We need people from all countries and origins to achieve the clean energy of the future. For vulnerable youth, accessing those opportunities can be challenging.. It is the job of UNICEF and all Generation Unlimited partners to help break down those barriers. It is an honor to join the Global Council of Leaders and be part of a program that will help so many people,” Galán stressed in his speech.

Program in Brazil

As part of Generation Unlimited, Iberdrola specifically supports a program in Brazil called 1 million opportunities (1MiO), which is designed to help vulnerable young people in the labor market of the country, improving their skills, job opportunities and green employment. The electric company also supports the UPSHIFT innovation program led by UNICEF in Somaliawith which it seeks to train young victims of violence and at risk of exclusion in innovation and social entrepreneurship.

Iberdrola has a broader alliance with UNICEF, which includes the provision of digital content and learning materials on climate change and sustainability to 'Learning Passport', UNICEF's global learning platform. This tool allows continuous access to quality education for children and young people around the world.

In Spain, Iberdrola also supports 'Generation Unlimited Spain', a new multi-stakeholder alliance, also designed to support vulnerable young people. Iberdrola is helping to design training courses that offer young people the skills necessary to play a role in the energy transition.

climate summit

In addition, Prince has urged companies to respond to the United Nations (UN) call to create and present Transition Plans, as global temperatures continue to rise.

Galán, invited by the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, to participate in the Climate Ambition Summithas thus urged companies to enhance their leadership in this matter.

"The success of the transition towards a cleaner energy model requires ambition and commitment from companies around the world. However, despite significant progress, There is still a gap between words and action", said.

Likewise, the director of the electricity company was "proud" to be among companies leading climate action, although he warned that "it is vital that there are more companies that create and present solid transition plans." "We have been one year since the last call to action, and time is already against us in the fight against the climate crisis," he added.

Likewise, Galán stressed that companies "can - and must - use their levers and strengths to step forward and play a more central climate leadership role."

In this regard, he considered that establishing a clear roadmap, which companies can verify, is "vital for business efforts to reduce emissions."

At the forefront

Iberdrola, which is at the forefront of the energy transition for 20 yearsis one of the first companies to present the plan, following António Guterres' call last year for business leaders to step forward.

Specifically, the Climate Transition Plan establishes the actions and mechanisms that Iberdrola will carry out to achieve its environmental objectives and ensure that its activity contributes to the decarbonization of the economy as a whole.

The actions established in the roadmap include the establishment of the objectives to achieve carbon neutrality in scopes 1 and 2 in 2030 and emissions net zero before 2040 for all scopes, including 3; as well as the company's short- and long-term emissions reduction targets based on science and consistent with the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement.

Likewise, it includes the commitment to invest directly in projects with a high impact on sustainability, seeking synergies with biodiversity objectives, or the decarbonization strategy focused on reducing emissions, working on an electrical system entirely based on renewables as the backbone of a decarbonized energy system.

The Climate Transition Plan is supported by the company's investment plan for the period 2023-2025, which commits 47 billion euros until 2025 to promote the energy transition, with more than 27 billion euros allocated to networks and investments and 17 billion euros in renewable energy to reach 52,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable installed capacity at the end of the period (from almost 40,000 MW in 2022 ), while increasing storage capacity to exceed 100 gigawatt hours (GWh).