Hello, everyone. I would like to welcome you to this webinar about Just Transition. My name is Raquel Chamochín, ESG Investor Relations, I will be your host today. The current context of the energy sector is very challenging, it also offers good opportunities for Iberdrola. To reach energy independency, affordable prices, and also meet the decarbonization targets, we need an acceleration of electrification with renewables. In Iberdrola, we believe that this transition to a carbon-neutral economy by 2050 will be delivered because the technology is already available, it makes sense in terms of economics, it's also a social and environmental need. In addition to all of this, we must manage transition and social risks of this process. Let me introduce you our speakers today that are going to elaborate deeper how Iberdrola is traveling this journey.
On one hand, we have Mónica Oviedo, who is the head of Sustainable Management and 2030 Agenda, and she's going to explain the context of the energy transition, Iberdrola track record about this process, and also she's going deeper on the Citizens' Innovation Platform, which is an initiative developed in alliance with universities and local bodies. Hello, Mónica.
Hello.
On the other hand, we have Marta Martínez. She's the Head of Special Projects in Climate Change and Alliances area, and she's going to describe the contribution to socioeconomic development and biodiversity protection of renewable projects. Welcome, Marta.
Hi, Raquel.
After my colleagues' presentations, we will move to a Q&A session. Please, if you want to send any, use the link of the webcast that you can find on top of the screen, and we will collect them and answer them all at the end of the presentations. I would like to remind you that this webinar will be available on our website, iberdrola.com, to be watched on demand. Well, without further ado, Mónica, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Raquel. Thank you all for being here to listen to this interesting concept, Just Transition. Just Transition was used for the first time in the COP21 in Paris. It was included in the preamble of the Paris Agreement and it was said, "Just Transition and decent job." I think this term is very relevant. As you can see in this slide, environmental challenge is out of discussion. We have ahead, in front of us, we have to decrease our emissions, we have to change the ways that we are producing energy. That means that closing fossil facilities will have some impact in jobs. You have here some figures and numbers before the European Green Deal was signed.
We have more than 200 coal power plants, meaning the job for more than 160,000 people working in 2030 in this, in this sector. These are the figures, the numbers, the environmental approach. We see the Just Transition as an opportunity. This closing of coal plants offers opportunity for growth for the local regions where they are settled. That's the Just Transition concept, and that's why we're working very heavily on that. After eight years since this Paris Agreement, the job, the decent job, has been embraced, has been opened. The Just Transition concept includes more than the job creation. In these eight years, Just Transition has become the mechanisms to join together this social challenge with the environmental climate change challenge that we have in front of us.
This social driver is key and is the mechanism that can join and that can help us to achieve the targets that we have in front of us. People and nature have to be dealt together. We are working with the job creation. We have here some drivers. The workers, they are a very relevant part of this process. We have to involve them in the process. We have to train to increase the training of their skills. We have to anticipate their needs. We also have to work with local suppliers and customers. We have to support them because they have to also change their way of living. They are focused on an area that is no longer viable, economic viable.
We have to improve local consumption, we have to support these suppliers in the change, in the transformation, and we have, for sure, help customers in this transition. Communities. Communities are, as I mentioned, society and nature, so local communities are key in this process. They have to be taken into account. We have to manage directly with them, so we have to improve social innovation, because there are new ways of working with them, and I will explain one initiative that we have launched regarding this social innovation that is focused on bottom-up approach, not going there with a solution from outside. We have to go there to check which are the solutions to be developed at a multilevel scheme.
That means that we have to share the benefits of the Just Transition and to minimize the risk. This is something very relevant for the Just Transition concept. We look it as an opportunity. This is something that's a challenge, but for us, this is a huge opportunity because Iberdrola started this process more than 20 years ago. We have closed more than 17 coal and fuel oil thermal plants. It means more than 8.5 GW of installed capacity that have been closed. This closing of these fossil facilities, you have a picture here of one of our facilities in Asturias, have been developed with accompanying plans. The closing of the facilities go together with a plan focused for the specific region.
We have specifically plans for training, plans for increasing the renewable capacity in the areas where it's possible. We want to develop local industries, and we have included in these accompanying plans of the last of the two of them, this innovation platform that I would like to explain. Regarding employment, what we have done with this decent job, area that was asked at the beginning, it was a very relevant issue for Iberdrola. What we have done is try to, offer the employees of these facilities other jobs closely, nearby. They have been offered that. We have the contractors of the, of our own staff, we have relocated to other projects, other facilities, here in Spain, for example. They are working in the decommissioning labors.
External staff has been hired for decommissioning, and also our own staff is also working in the decommissioning by now. We have also launched training. It's very relevant to help these employees in the new skilling of this sector. We have, for example, in the year 2021, more than 90 people were trained on Smart Solar solution, Smart Mobility or Smart Clima. We are preparing another edition during this winter. Reskilling opportunities. It's very important that we are doing. Not only this is something that is done by Iberdrola alone.
We are working together in partnership with public authorities and also with local actors, because we are, for example, now in launching some initiatives in the reskilling program, in training in photovoltaic panel install of more than 40 people in the region. We are working together with the public authorities in order to do that. This is a very long-term process. This is the initiative, the Citizens' Innovation Platform, that we launched three years ago. This platform, with the help of the two universities, the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the Agirre Lehendakaria Center from the University of the Basque Country, they have helped us to use this new methodology, this bottom-up approach that I mentioned before, in order to promote Just Transition in these two locations that you can see in the map.
They are very close, Asturias and Palencia in Spain. We wanted to activate new economic growth in these regions. We want to promote collaboration. We want to take part here with the people of the two locations. It's very relevant to take into account that we have to interconnect new projects, new initiatives in the region, taking into account people. This result, this platform, these initiatives are tailor-made. Although they are very close, they are unique. You cannot copy-paste and use the findings of one to other. It's very difficult. You have to take into account the really, the local culture of each initiative. This is the methodology that we have been followed during these years. It's a five-step process. This is like circular because we are always listening, mapping.
I will explain briefly what we have done, because it's a multi-stakeholder platform and very innovative, and we want to explain which are the specialties of this, of this process. We started with a listening process, making more than 400 interviews with the academic. Our own employees took part in these interview sessions. They were interviewing different actors at different level in the region because they knew who were the main actors in the regions. We cannot go there and say, "We have to go to speak with this person," because they know who are the main actors in the session. After listening, what we have is like eight patterns. For example, these are the eight icons that you have in the slide.
We have eight patterns of needs of different profiles of people in each region. Their needs are unique, and you have to fulfill their needs if you want to transform the region. Afterwards, after the listening, we do a mapping of different initiative, every initiative that they would like to have in the region, or they can also have started to launch, but they are in the middle of the process, for example. It's very relevant, the third step of collective interpretation. We have to join together, sit together, and check that what we understood in the two previous steps were okay. They, it's part, and they take part of the process.
We have taken more than 20 meetings for the co-creation because there are several initiatives, several projects, and it's important that they want to change them, or they want to adapt them, because we want to adapt them to the people of the region, and that means transformation. This is a process that is ongoing process. We are working on that, and I think it's a very good idea to listen to Gorka Espiau. He's the Director of the Agirre Lehendakaria Center, who wants to share with us some relevant findings of the process. Please.
ESG indicators are normally struggling to maintain the same level of detail in the environmental front, the governance front, and in the social sphere. This initiative that Iberdrola has been powering in La Vilavella is a very, very good example of how the social impact front can be at the same level as the environmental and governance. In this case, what Iberdrola's done is, instead of looking for a single-point solution, has been, for two years, helping local initiatives to come together and identify a portfolio of experiments, interconnected experiments, instead of that single-point solution. We also know that the main challenge of these areas is not only identifying these initiatives, but actually to change the narrative that is operating about the possibility of change.
This listening process that has been supporting the identification of experiments has allowed a decontamination of existing perceptions, and mental models is as important as identifying these solutions. Two years later, we have a portfolio of experimentation, but also a clear will of local actors to work under a new transformation narrative.
Some platform learnings after the two years, that I mentioned that it's an ongoing process. I would like to remark the effort, the long-term process that means working in a platform like this, because it's a very long and complex process. You have seen us wearing a sanitary mask because we were in the middle of the COVID crisis, so that was another challenge also. Every process is unique and special. I already mentioned about the not copy-paste, is that you cannot use a no-one-size fits for everybody. I think it's important to take the time to listen to the community, to go beneath the surface, because it's very relevant what is behind the surface in these processes. You cannot leave anyone behind.
You have to listen to everybody. You have to respect this, the identity of each community. Collaboration is crucial. It's something that, in this multi-stakeholder platform, it has been key. You need to establish very, very strong bonds in this process. You can see here in the slide, in the middle, we have a summary of different lines of action because we have received so many initiatives, very different sector. I can tell you, for example, circular economy. We have also dealt with agro, with food, with tourism, with culture, with energy, for sure. The ones that were dealt or were related to energy, we were working on that and studying, analyzing. One example, this is Exiom. This is a result that we have had in Asturias.
I would like to remark that thanks to this platform, and only because this platform was working on the area, we had the opportunity to have one of the PV cells factory that is going to be installed in Europe, in Langreo, in the place where we were closing our coal facility. It was an opportunity for Iberdrola, and that's why we have taken a stake in the company, and very relevant and joining with the employee. Some of our employees that were working on the dismantling process, they have been interviewed, and they will be working in this platform, in this factory. I think it's very relevant. We, we are not happy for having this kind of super nice, successful result. This is not enough.
If we want to transform the region, we have to connect with other initiatives. We have, for example, another initiative focused on health, for services for health, and we have to join and work together with other initiatives, with the training of the vulnerable people working there, focused on PV installations, for example. I would like to remark this idea: We have to include people and society in this process, and we have to give them a space safe for them to interact and to work together. That would be a summary of the process.
Thank you very much, Mónica, for this nice presentation. I think now we can move, Marta, to your presentation, please.
Thank you, Raquel. Now, I'd like to focus on the growth plans in renewables, and how are we integrating communities and nature into these growth plans. More specifically, I will speak about our Convive Programme, which is the program that is running activities for this purpose. At Iberdrola, we've been engaged in the energy transition for the past 20 years, and that is our commitment going forward. We have also had the commitment to make that and renewable deployment more aligned with biodiversity and local communities. Convive Programme does specifically that. It's based on this historical commitment, and it's taking it one step further, ensuring that the renewable energies generate benefits for all, and it's looking for initiatives that multiply these positive impacts on a global level, since we're working for mitigation and emissions reduction.
Also, at the local level, having contribution to socioeconomic development, to biodiversity conservation. It is also looking to generate impact internally, but also externally, and working with others to have overall better acceptance or social acceptance of the energy transition and renewables. It's structured around three areas of work. It's contribution to socioeconomic development, protection and enhancement of biodiversity, and also working with others, with experts and with other stakeholders in alliances and collaborations to learn from each other and to make this process progress. On socioeconomic development, we can look into these five areas. It's first, training, unemployment. Also looking into relying on local suppliers.
That, taken one step further, is an industrial plan that can go beyond the renewable value chain, integration of economic activities, and making them compatible with our facilities, and direct contribution to communities. I will focus then later on some examples to give a face to these areas. On biodiversity, well, this biodiversity is a key area. It's also another pillar and a value that's really at the foundation of our climate action plan. Also last year, November 2022, we revised these targets, launching the 2030 biodiversity plan, which as an overall target to achieve net positive impact on biodiversity by 2030. All these activities they feed into Convive because they obviously impact the way we do things in our facilities.
More specifically, maybe we could focus on what is being done at the facility level for biodiversity integration and conservation, and also research studies, which on, for instance, PV, they're quite meaningful and there's a lot to learn there yet. On alliances, we have a wide range of collaborations, focusing on whether it's running expert dialogues and getting people together, whether it's awareness initiatives or collaborations, more specifically to push or to move forward in specific areas. Just to give some examples of these things, on local socioeconomic development, we can see, for example, one of the latest is the energy community that we launched in Cedillo. Cedillo is a town in the southwest of Spain, and it's the first of its kind because it's been open for the whole town, as well as its businesses.
It's been a long process, but it's been worthwhile. We also work on improving access and services in the areas, for instance, whether it's roads or also we've refurbished recently some of the villages around our facilities, which is also another economic inductor if it brings tourism to the area. Smart Mobility, where we can and making that these rural towns, they can also, well, enjoy the new sustainable mobility, like with EV charging stations and so on. We've also running other pilot projects or always experimenting. For instance, we're working now on a repopulation project. It's running three towns where we already have renewables installed.
Really, in very, very close collaboration with the municipality and the local council, also we're leveraging on the knowledge of experts on this field. We'll be getting results in the next months. On training, unemployment, well, obviously, we try to always staff with local resources, local people, our employment opportunities. We run also specific trainings for this, on whether it's facility surveillance training or more specific. Also, reaching out to vocational schools and to, well, schools and with younger people and have them come to our facilities. We're also running with UNICEF. This is also a very important alliance we've put together in Spain, working with UNICEF, working with our suppliers, and also with social entities, to define a specific training program for young people in vulnerable situations.
We've had already 150 young people being trained. We're taking also this program to the rural areas. We're now conducting our first program in the southwest of Spain, in Extremadura, and it's very promising. Out of these young people, they've also, most of them have also done some internships in our suppliers and ultimately, having access to the labor force or to the work, to having a decent work there. Industrial development. The way we like to do this is from our facilities and going outside, let's say, so, and reaching out further out.
In our facilities, what we're trying to do, on the one hand, trying to make them more compatible with other economic activities, whether this is local grazing, which we already have this in place in 16 out of the 17 PV plants in Spain. Whether it's introducing new activity, like in the case, for instance, of beehives and producing ecological solar honey in our installations. Because they actually, they provide a very suitable condition for beehives. There is no pesticides around, there is no chemicals. There's also ring-fenced areas, so they're quite safe for that purpose, and this is working quite well. We're also running on agrivoltaics. It's still pilot projects being developed, and I think there's a way to go there.
We're having our first project in Toledo, which is close to Madrid, nearby here, and it's optimizing a vineyard facility with having a solar facility next to it, and how the two of them can live together. The next step is working with our suppliers, looking at the renewables value chain and trying to make the most of it at the local level. We're working, for instance, with Faramax. Faramax. They manufacture transformers, power transformers, and they're based in Malpartida de Plasencia. It's a town of 4,000 people. They're now, they're running, or they're under this expansion plan.
They're trying to double their production capacity, and so we, whenever there's a possibility, we do try to engage local suppliers and contribute to their growth, let's say, and their engagement in this green economy. If we move that one step out, outwards, is working with industrial partners so that they can on their decarbonization pathway. What this means is that, by having clean energy, this can be also a driver of further industrial opportunities. For instance, Fertiberia, this is the looking into Puertollano. This is a first project to produce green hydrogen for a fertilizer production line. Exiom Group, as Mónica was explaining, is also a way of coming together with other partners, help them decarbonize, and help that bring more industry to the regions, to the local levels, next to where these renewable energies are installed.
Of course, startups, which can happen anyway in the process, but also looking into new business areas, again, expanding those frontiers. Energy LOOP, for instance, this is a JV that's looking into opportunities in the recycling and the valorization of blades once they come to the end of their useful life. Now, before moving on to the biodiversity, I think it's good if we have a professor from the University of Salamanca, he's specialized in environmental economics, to set the scene for the link between the energy transition and biodiversity. We can have that video now.
Years ago, we used to say from universities and business schools that return could not be measured just by profits, that environmental and social achievements were also in consumers and investors' minds. Firms should be aware and include sustainability within their goals and their activity. Today, sustainability is on the front side of every major firm. In fact, the long-run growth and the existence itself of firms cannot be understood without a strong commitment on sustainability. Climate change is the main focal issue now. Loss of biodiversity and reduction of natural capital are coming close. Energy will always be in the spotlight, because first, it is related with all of them, and second, it is embedded in our development and our way of living. This is why the transition to renewable energy is not only necessary, but also unavoidable.
Certainly, it will produce impacts on the environment. Know that they will be much lower than those from fossil fuels. Iberdrola has been, these years, a committed leader in the deployment of renewable energy and the abandonment of fossil fuels. Now is working to reduce the impacts of solar and wind energy on nature and wildlife. We at the University of Salamanca have partnered Iberdrola in countless research projects related to biodiversity and natural capital. We expect to continue collaborating in this promising line, since we are convinced that renewable energies and their sound and responsible management will become the best allies for the preservation of biodiversity and natural capital.
Okay, now, we can focus on biodiversity, as was mentioned in the video. Well, we do believe that renewables energies can be an ally, have to be an ally of biodiversity in order to tackle also this biodiversity crisis, which we are also facing. As I mentioned, we launched the 2030 biodiversity plan, with the target to be net positive on biodiversity by 2030. What this means and what this plan does, is it set the framework so that we can measure our positive and negative impacts. By applying the conservation hierarchy, which means avoiding first, reducing, and restoring or regenerating, we want our facilities to be net positive across its asset life by 2030.
When it comes to facilities, then, we try to integrate all these measures into them, and for instance, biodiversity enhancement and conservation. We'd run ecosystem restoration and the reintroduction of species. In this case, this can mean, well, we ring-fence the facilities, so this is a good thing because it allows animals in, it allows also the native species to flourish, and that will attract new animals, and they are really safe areas. They can act as a, as a biodiversity hub, and this is something we are also researching into, especially on PV plants. Looking at how is biodiversity evolving before we have the plant there and over time, and then looking into what was there already, and we're really finding very promising results there.
We have also reintroduced some native species in some areas, looking into applying best practices for protection, whether this is video surveillance with artificial intelligence for birds near our wind farms, and also installing specific devices to, well, to protect them or to make sure they don't enter. Sustainability and management and certification, this certification has been developed by UNEF, that's the Spanish Solar Association, and we have four installations already certified. They do cover not only the environmental and biodiversity aspects, but also the social aspects. Reforestation initiatives as a complement, looking into nature-based solutions. We've launched our Trees Programme some years ago with the target to plant about 20 million trees by 2030. We've already accomplished over 10% of that in the past two years.
I'll jump into, here we are, the third area, which is alliances and collaboration with key stakeholders. As said before, I think the challenge is so big that no one can do it alone. It's always collaboration and listening to each other, and learning from each other is a way of also getting more impactful results and shortened timelines together, you know? Just as I said, some examples here. Clean Action is a coalition that was put together at COP26 in Glasgow. It's being led by some of the top conservationist organizations, Birdlife International, The Nature Conservancy, WWF. It brings together also the private sector, policy makers and civil society, to make that link between energy and nature.
With Birdlife International, we just announced this partnership for the next three years, which we'll also look into common projects and trying to develop new initiatives to kind of work closer and more aligned into climate and nature and renewables. I'd like to spend a minute on the Convive Awards. This is very recent. We just launched them. We had the ceremony two weeks ago, we wanted to look for initiatives and good cases that could be scaled and that could be replicable in other places of, in Spain, in this case. Also to want to create awareness, to recognize the efforts that's behind all of these initiatives, also to start creating a network. We did them in partnership with the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
It's really an initiative that we would like to keep on for the future, since it's been a very good experience, also trying to identify what others are doing. I will wrap up with some conclusions. Convive Programme builds on Iberdrola's commitment to the energy transition, but to an energy transition that's aligned with biodiversity and with contributing to local communities. It takes that one step further, looking into initiatives that can multiply results, and that can do these things better. Are structured around these three pillars that I mentioned, and overall, what we're trying to achieve is contributing globally to a better social acceptance of the energy transition and more awareness. That's all from my side. Thank you, Raquel.
Thank you. Thank you, Marta. Thank you, Mónica, for these meaningful presentations that has taken us through the diverse facets of the Just Transition and its risks and opportunities. I think that we already have received some questions. Remember, if you want to send yours, you can do it through the webcast, and we will try to answer them all. Okay, let's go with the questions that have entered. Who proposed all those activities that you have explained, the company or stakeholders? I think, Mónica, this is for you, for your side.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for the question. This is something that was internalized, and I think that's very relevant because they are behind our activity. We embraced the 2030 Agenda, and in the year 2030, we changed, and we modified our bylaws in order to include 2030 Agenda within our governance system. So I think that makes us, like, really ready for working in these kind of actions. 2030 Agenda is a challenge for all of us, and we have one of them, 7.1. The target seven is focused on clean energy and affordable energy, so we have the, the purpose, the ethical commitment of working there. Listening to the stakeholders, and this is a very relevant part of our stakeholder management process. We listen to the needs, to the material issues. That's why we partner with the universities in order to launch these kind of initiatives.
Marta, let me send you this, next one. You have mentioned energy communities as one of the actions developed. Could you explain with more detail, how do they work, and what are the benefits for those communities?
Okay. Sure. I think Cedillo is a good example. Cedillo is a town in the southwest of Spain. It has 400 inhabitants over there. It's quite remote. We've put together, well, actually, they have, in the town, a community energy. It's called Pueblo Solar Cedillo, that's a vehicle where all the neighbors in the town, they can join this association, and they can be part of this community, this energy community. It has the benefits that it can bring. It brings on energy savings on the bills. It's also open to all the businesses and commercial activity in town. It will be open for the next five years. They also view it as a driver of new activity and new population in town. This is a very good example, and it's first of its kind because it reaches out to all the town there.
Okay, thank you. Coming back to Just Transition, Mónica, could you please detail disclosure of Just Transition indicators with an outcome focus, such as evidence of outcomes from Iberdrola's open innovation platform or other collective work agreements or community engagement efforts?
Yes.
This should extend third-party contractors?
Thank you. Yes, thank you for the question. The outcome, the input, the impact analysis is really key. It's something very innovative, and we are working on that. The idea is that we will be publishing by next month, a report with the main findings of this innovative platform that I have been explaining, and we will deliver indicators focused on activities. Number of, for example, number of employees created. For example, this Exiom factory will bring more than 100 employees. This other facility that I mentioned related to health services, another 100. We will be measuring some indicators focused on activities; number of initiatives, for example, interconnected. Number of SDGs impacted. That will be a set of indicators focused on activity. We will have some indicators focused on results.
It's very important to have a specific result, no? We will work and explain the quantity and quality of collaboration opportunities that have been created. The number, for example, of the different tools used in the process, the evolution of the platform in the media, for example. These are another examples of indicator focused on results. We will have another set of indicators focused on impact. It's very relevant to check the type and number of prototypes that are being created, thanks to the platform, that fulfills the needs of these eight patterns, of these concepts that we have to fulfill. This is, for example, Professor Gorka Espiau was explaining before about the mental change, the difficulties about the mental change.
this is another outcome, this, the number of change in narratives in the social change, the number of of change, narrative change regarding the platform, because we arrived there, we wanted to work there. it's not an easy process, as I explained before. I think it's important, it's important to have these kind of indicators that they are very relevant because this is a new process, and we have to work together, and it will be public, and I would like to share with all of you these results and co-creating and co-designing these indicators. I'm happy to include new ones if the investors community feel that we are missing some of them, for example.
Marta, do you think agrivoltaics would play a minimum meaningful role in Just Transition, or would they remain a niche area?
Well, thank you for that question. Agrivoltaics is an area where I mentioned one of the projects we're experimenting or we're looking into it. Agrivoltaics is a whole range of technologies and possibilities, no? We're running this with vineyards. We're looking into other areas or other, whether it's tomatoes and some other harvesting there or with cattle, and we're looking at different options, olive trees and so on, not only in Spain, also looking into opportunities in France, and it's promising. We'll see how it evolves and where in agrivoltaics there's more room for larger developments.
Okay. I think this is a good one. Will the energy transition be affordable? What about taking care of vulnerable customers? Marta, if you want to start.
Okay. Well, from a general perspective, we've been seeing how renewable energy has been becoming more competitive and how the technological revolution has been providing meaningful and sustained cost reductions, and they now have a lower generation cost than other conventional sources of energy. On top of that, it's not just let's say, the climate or environment, it's also this is economically viable, and it brings on energy security also to communities, no?
If I may.
Of course.
I think it's very relevant and as you mentioned before, the clean and affordable energy is one target because they have to fulfill the three requirements of the sustainable energy. It has to be like we have to take care of these vulnerable clients. In Iberdrola, we launched in the year 2014, Electricity for All program. It was focused on developing countries in order to give access to electricity, and it has reached more than 11 million people with access to energy since that year. I think it's very relevant. We have another line of action focused on developed countries, where we have to give access to these vulnerable people.
We are coordinating all the initiatives that are being made in this field. For example, the facilities, the easy payment solutions that we are giving in countries like Spain, UK, Portugal, United States. We are going beyond what the law is asking for, and we are giving more detail and more facility, because I think it's very relevant to include these vulnerable clients in the equation. I think it's very good question, and for sure, it's a key priority for the company.
Okay, Mónica, I think this one is yours, too. How do you peer benchmark utilities for the efforts on Just Transition? What KPIs would be the most suitable?
Okay. Regarding benchmarking, all of us are starting since the year 2015. We have been working on the decent job driver, and all of us are working now in the other areas. I think that we took a step ahead the rest of the peers working, and we are one example of best practice with this multi-stakeholder platform that we explain in every meeting that we have with colleagues that are working on this sphere, and they really like this kind of initiative. I think that it's very relevant to work together because we are all sharing our initiatives, so we work together with other utilities and energy companies from other countries. We have been called by European Union in order to take part in this process of transformation in Europe, because these coal facilities that have to close, this is something that we do not know how to transform.
We will be very happy to share our initiative in order to be shared. We have some initiatives that are focused on the measuring, but there is no a clear index for Just Transition. This is a chapter, for example, in CA100+, the chapter 9. It's included there, but there is, we do not have, like, a clear picture of everybody there. We are showing the qualitative information, and this quantitative information that I mentioned before, these indicators focused on outcome, results, and activity, will be shared, and we will be focused on that.
Okay, thank you. Marta, I think this one is yours. What lessons can we learn from past transition, such as the shift away from coal, to inform our approach the current Just Transition?
Well.
Yes, or maybe Mónica. Yes. Please. Let me re-repeat it, please.
Yes.
Lessons can be learned from past transition, such as the shift away from coal.
Yes
-which Iberdrola has already done, to inform our approach to the current Just Transition?
The previous approach, I think this is something that we have been closing facilities, focusing just on the job creation. I think that the new context is much more complex, because I think this is something that it will be replicated everywhere. Imagine that all coal suppliers, or the suppliers linked to this coal sector, will have to change. This is a new challenge for all of us, because it will be a spread. Environmental and net zero is out of question. Now with this, with this scenario, because some years ago, climate change and the net zero commitments weren't very clear. Now, Iberdrola is in front of us saying, "We will be net zero before 2040 in the three scopes." I think it's very relevant that all of us are working on the same path, and this is something that has to be shared by all of us.
We have some learning from this process, for sure. It hasn't been easy. I mentioned at the beginning, we have to take into account that this process takes a long time. There are a lot of initiatives that we have received that we weren't able to have a investment on them, for example, because we were dismantling. In the process of dismantling, we have to take into account that it took, like, three years to dismantle. We wanted to do things, but we weren't able because the time-consuming process. I think that we have some challenges in front of us and some lessons and that we have learned in order to do and replicate in another processes.
I will add to this. Looking into the other side of the coin, no, which is the growth and how do we have to move from this fossil fuel energy sector to renewables one space, no? We are fully convinced of the opportunity in that transition and the way this renewable energy is not just good for the environment, it's also good for the economy, it's good for people, and it has to also be good for nature, and it will be good for nature. With that commitment, that is also another way of approaching this transition and adding or contributing to materializing those opportunities, whether it's our own development or whether it's working with others.
As I mentioned, some initiatives working with our suppliers, working with other industrial partners, making awareness at society level to, well, to convey these messages and to convey these opportunities. Also, working at training and making sure we have the skills available so that all the pieces can fit in together, and we can have the resources needed to actually move into this transition we're now on.
Okay, keeping a little bit on this discussion of KPIs, indicators, we have this one: How can we measure and track the progress of a Just Transition to ensure that it is achieving its intended goals for both people and nature? Let's focus a little bit on-
Yes-
-how can we track the record, no?
Yes. In the, we presented at the beginning the 200 coal facilities that have to be closed, thanks to the Green Deal. I think, and this is only Europe.
Mm-hmm.
The job challenge that we have with the direct and indirect job, this stranded sector, it has to really change and be transformed. I think that a good approach could be that outcome, that if we manage to have these indicators focused on environment. We have to decrease the level of CO2 emissions, and we know that closing coal facilities, it will decrease really very rapidly. We have some indicators focused on environment, but we have to include, at the same time, job creation, new opportunities, new jobs created, new prototypes that are innovative initiatives. I think it's important to work together, and we will. It's, at the end, is what 2030 Agenda is claiming, is the mantra of no leaving no one behind.
I think it's very relevant to work on this approach. We have a strategic plan worldwide for the year 2030, and if we try to achieve the 17 goals, we will be working on this Just Transition for sure.
Okay, still speaking about indicators, I think people likes to measure. How do you intend to measure your positive biodiversity impact? What KPIs will you be used?
Okay. Thank you for this question, quite technical. As I said, on the new biodiversity plan, it does set the framework.
Mm-hmm.
We've gone through a process of studying different methodologies. We did leverage and trying to understand what others were saying. After analyzing different cases, we are implementing the Biological Diversity Protocol and following their methodology to track and measure direct impacts across the different biodiversity areas. There'll be several KPIs, depending on the specific impact, and that will also allow us to then establish not only positive and negative, but also on a like for like basis, how to compensate those or account for those and have that balanced biodiversity accountability.
Okay, Mónica and Marta, I think we have covered quite well already all the topics involved in this Just Transition ecosystem. If your question has remained unanswered, please don't hesitate to contact Iberdrola Investor Relations team. We will come back to you soon.