ACCIONA's 2019 milestones

As we enter a new decade, 2020 will be a year full of challenges that will spur companies to work on a business model focused on sustainable development and societal needs.

For years, ACCIONA has been committed to the fight against climate change, generating 100 % clean, renewable energy, ensuring that millions of people have access to water, and building resilient infrastructure.

Let's take a look at our biggest milestones and what we achieved throughout 2019 in our mission to design a better planet:

• In January, ACCIONA was included in the "2019 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations" ranking, which is released each year in Davos, Switzerland and analyses around 7,500 companies around the world based on 21 sustainability criteria, a recognition we achieved again in January 2020. 

• We know that developing long-term sustainable, scalable business models that help to ensure access to clean energy in disadvantaged areas of the world is essential. That is the mission of ACCIONA's foundation, acciona.org, which this year launched its first Luz en Casa project in Panama to provide 400 families across 7 indigenous communities with electricity through state-of-the-art home photovoltaic systems. The foundation has also provided electricity to more than 50,000 people in remote areas of Mexico and Peru. 

• Innovation is one of ACCIONA's best assets in finding solutions that add value to our society. In 2019, we presented the first piece of architecture built using concrete 3D printing—the Romanesque arch of San Pedro de las Dueñas (León)—at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid. This project initiates a new era for sharing, conserving, restoring and recovering historical and cultural heritage. 

• In April, ACCIONA won the contract to design, build, operate and maintain the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Ho Chi Minh City, the most populous city in Vietnam, located in the south of the country. The project is worth EUR 200 million and benefits more than a million people. 

• Following its roll-out in several Spanish cities, ACCIONA consolidated the internationalization of its scooter-sharing service by rolling out 300 electric scooters in Lisbon's old town. In addition to Lisbon, the scooter-sharing service is currently available in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Zaragoza, Valencia and the Italian city of Milan. 

• One of 2019's most interesting projects was ACCIONA's pioneering solution in the field of renewable energy whereby flexible photovoltaic panels were installed on a wind turbine tower in order to produce energy for the turbine's internal electricity consumption. This hybridisation project represents another giant leap in clean-energy innovation. 

• In 2019, ACCIONA was awarded the contract to build and manage the "NESS Energy Project" energy-from-waste plant, which will be located in the city of Aberdeen. The plant will be able to process 150,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste each year to generate electricity. 

• In Denmark, the motorway over the Danish fjord was opened to traffic. The impressive EUR 133 million project was completed three months ahead of schedule and will improve communications in the region and ease traffic congestion in Frederikssund. 

• The conclusions of Refinitiv's 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Index were released in September. The index analyses data from 7,000 listed companies from around the world to measure their performance in terms of gender equality, integration and diversity in the workplace. The index placed ACCIONA among the world's top 25 companies for diversity and social inclusion. 

• Staying on topic, 100 women set off for Antarctica in November as part of the fourth edition of Homeward Bound, an international programme—of which ACCIONA is a global partner—promoting women's leadership and empowering women in the scientific field to tackle the climate crisis. 

• ACCIONA opened a new global 3D printing centre in Dubai, aiming for 25 % of the components for all newly constructed buildings to be made with 3D printing technology by 2025. 

• For the fifth consecutive year, in 2019, ACCIONA once again reaffirmed its position as the world's "greenest" electricity generation company according to the annual "New Energy Top 100 Green Utilities" ranking issued by Energy Intelligence, an independent consultancy specialising in energy markets. 

• EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) reached EUR 933 million (+5.6 %), with growth in Energy (+6.7 %) and Infrastructure (+5.1 %), and investment amounted to EUR 982 million, with accelerated future 

• Within the framework of COP25, ACCIONA announced its commitment to reduce both its direct and consumed-energy emissions by 60 % by 2030, as well as to reduce its value chain emissions by 47 %. This target was validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which has classed the target as the most advanced to be approved so far. 

• Just before the end of the year, ACCIONA set the Palmas Altas wind farm to work, which is the second farm we've installed in Texas and the ninth in the United States. The new wind farm houses 46 Nordex technology wind turbines, with a total capacity of 144.9 MW.