“Integrating carbon prices in the costs of a company’s internal operations is one of the most effective measures” that any corporation can take in the fight against the climate emergency. This is the moment of truth; either we tackle this situation now, or we will struggle to achieve our targets as a society”, said José Manuel Entrecanales, chairman and CEO of ACCIONA during his speech at the business forum of the United Nations’ 2019 Climate Action Summit, held in New York earlier this week.
José Manuel Entrecanales explained that, with the right incentives, corporate executives can quickly find solutions to achieve their goals, and formulas to reduce their emissions are not an exception.
ACCIONA, back in 2016, already began involving business areas in the internalization of CO2 costs in order to become a carbon-neutral company. “We have a special situation. We are, among other things, a renewable energy company,” said Entrecanales, who indicated that the firm is continuing to further reduce its emissions.
“However, no matter how much we do in-house, what we have is a problem of scale,” he said. “There are millions of companies that have yet to hear about this; this is an urgent issue and a challenge.”
Among the necessary measures that governments need to carry out to combat the climate crisis, José Manuel Entrecanales highlighted the European Union’s initiative that aims to develop a new corporate taxonomy through identifying 67 sustainable business activities that will be key in the new “low-carbon economic sector”.
He also suggested increasing public administrations’ climate demands in public procurement and developing processes that boost financing for the new sector, among other measures.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
