Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. First of all, I would like to welcome to the company's seat in Avenida América, to the few shareholders that are kind enough to be here with us to make this day a bit more normal for an AGM. As it's been the case these past two years, we've held our AGMs both on-site and online. I would also like to thank the presence of the board of directors members. In order to make things easier for those who have decided to come here on-site, they're present in the eighth floor following this AGM online. Therefore, the session is open for the ordinary shareholder meeting for 2022, with the aim, among other things, to approve the annual accounts of 2021.
Today's call, as you've seen, was published on the fourteenth of February on the company's website and on CNMV's website and in different national papers. The agenda is in the different calls and also in the attendance card that you have or that all of you have received. Therefore, if you allow me, I'll consider the agenda as read. You agree, right? Now the secretary will provide the data regarding attendance quorum to this AGM. The summary of the attendees list is as follows: Present shareholders, 227. Holders of 793,571,388 shares, 81.84% of the share capital. Represented, 387. Represent holders of 82,900,000 shares, 8.555% of share capital.
In total, 614 shareholders, 876 million, representing 94.4% of the share capital. We still need to record the last shareholders that registered to the platform. The final results will be published on the website together with results of the vote. According to the Companies Act and our AGM regulation, we meet the legal requirements to declare this AGM as validly opened. According to the attendance data, more than 90% of the share capital is represented, so I declare the AGM as validly called on first call. The panel will be made up by the chairman and the directors that are connected through a video conference and the secretary.
According to Article 203 of the Companies Act, and as it was stated in the call, we've required the Notary Public of Madrid, Mr. Fernando de la Cámara, to draft the minutes of the AGM. I'll give the floor to the Notary Public. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Fernando de la Cámara, Notary Public of Madrid. I've been required by the company to draft the minutes of this AGM, as it's mandatory for listed companies. According to the regulations of the company's bylaws, I ask if there are any questions or caveats or comments regarding the comments made by the secretary regarding the represented shareholders and the share capital as represented. Should there be any comment, it'll be recorded in the minutes. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Notary Public.
Those shareholders that will wish to take the floor after my report, we kindly request you to hand in your attendance card to the staff in the room so that you can receive the form that has to be filled in. The shareholders that are online can send their questions and request the floor through the form to that purpose, also online. Once all the statements have been made, the secretary, and myself will answer your questions. If there's any shareholder that wants the Notary Public to take little notes of their words, we kindly request you to send the text that you will be using or please state so in the online form so that it's recorded in the minutes. After all the interventions have finished, we will vote the proposal for resolutions.
The secretary will give you some indications regarding the process. Basic rules that regulate the process are as in previous years. Voting on the proposals for resolutions regarding the things that are included in the agenda will be done according to a negative deduction system and will consider votes in favor corresponding to all the present, and represented shares, reducing the votes against and abstentions and the shares of shareholders who are here and they leave the meeting, or if they're online, if they leave without voting. Votes for resolutions that are not included in the agenda will be voted according to a positive affirmation system.
We'll consider votes against for all the shares present and represented, reducing votes in favor, and abstentions, and shares whose holders are here and leave or online and leave the meeting without voting. I also inform you that for shareholders or the representatives that are here on site, if they want to go on record and say that you're leaving the meeting, you can do so. There's a table at the exit where you can state what you want to vote before leaving the meeting. In case if shareholders are taking part online, before leaving the meeting, since they can vote at any point, since the votes are opened until the end of the AGM, they can do it at any point.
First of all, we will vote resolutions that were submitted by the board of directors, and then the ones submitted by all the shareholders. Once the resolution has been approved, any other resolution regarding the same issue that are incompatible will be canceled. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. If you agree, now we're going to go on to the explanation of 2021. This will be subject to your consideration and vote. In order to do that, I'm going to use some slides that I will be presenting. For those of you here in the room, you can look at the screens. For those of you who are online, it's now the main part of the screen. I would like to insist on the fact that my presentation is broken down in five parts. First of all, I'm going to explain the energy scenario.
Second, our results for 2021, which are submitted to the AGM's consideration today. I'm going to provide you with some explanations regarding the company's activities during 2021 in terms of environmental sustainability and governance commitments. We'll continue with some explanation on project Géminis. I'll explain it in with more detail. Last but not least, a summary, and the secretary will analyze it also with the proposals that will be submitted to this AGM for vote. We're going to start with the energy scenario. As you know, it's changing every day. During 2021, and I would like to insist on the fact that this is an AGM focused on results of 2021. That's why we're going to refer to that, although it seems that it's really far away.
Too many things have happened these past weeks, and we barely remember 2021. This is what this AGM is about. The most important thing to highlight is that in those countries in which Naturgy is present, energy operators regarding electricity or gas, recovery of demand was widespread, quite widespread. We almost reached pre-COVID levels. I remind you that the comparison to 2020 is not stable, considering that in 2020 there was a pandemic going on in the world with many effects of activity being closed down in most countries in which Naturgy is present. As you can see on the chart that I'm showing now, in general terms, energy demand in these markets for the company meant a widespread growth.
It is also true that this, the last quarter of 2021, and, in particular this, the first quarter of 2022, the evolution of energy market has caused a significant change in the stability trends that we've seen these past years. Regarding the oil barrel reference and also the gas reference at European level, what we call TTF, and also as a consequence, the electricity, Spanish market, what we call the pool, you can see there sudden changes in Q4 and Q1 2022. The recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine has caused significant peaks in gas prices and electricity prices, and this has taken us to prices over 45% and 70% for gas and electricity these past weeks. Please don't think that this is a special increase in prices. It is just for Spain.
As we can see in this chart, it's also happening in Europe. Electricity prices have increased in an unprecedented way. As you can see to your left, Spanish prices, the average of which in 2020 was around EUR 35 per megawatt, has multiplied almost times four in 2021, and they've multiplied times two in Q1 2022. This has not been extraordinary. The other European countries have also suffered the same changes in prices. As you can see to your right, these electricity prices have followed gas prices in the European hub. As you know, the electricity market has a similar functioning in EU member state. What we see in this chart is that prices, electricity prices, have followed the gas spot prices. Spain continues to move forward. Its energy mix is evolving in a relevant way.
Here, I just want to highlight what's happened in this country for the past 20 years and the evolution we expect for the next 10. This evolution, this goal, is based on public data that were communicated by the government of Spain to the European Commission in March 2021, a year ago, in the so-called PNIEC, the Integrated Plan for Energy and Climate. As you can see, Spain's goal is to decouple as quickly as possible from dependence on the outside and to base a relevant part of electricity generation in renewable sources. In green, in this bar chart, you see the part in green. In 2000, it was less than 20% of electricity generated, and the goal is in 2030 to have approximately three quarters of electricity generated will be generated from renewable sources.
Obviously, this requires a transition and some supplementary conditions. The first one would be. Well, I would like to highlight the part of this bar that has to do with electricity generation based on CCGT in 2010, represented 23% of the energy mix. It will still be relevant in the following years because even in 2030, approximately 10% of electricity, of the electricity needed to cover demand, will still require CCGTs, gas turbines, to generate electricity. As you can see, in the first 10 years of this period, Spain needed 180 terawatt-hour to 270 terawatt-hour. In 10 years, the electricity consumption in Spain, the needs of electricity in Spain increased 80 terawatt-hour.
We expect that almost 0.5%, 40 terawatt-hours, this is what Spain needs to grow in the next 20 years, a quarter compared to the growth we've had in the first 10 years of this century. The role of CCGT as generation technology to back up the system is key because of the following. First of all, the growing penetration of renewable energy in the energy mix requires supporting technologies. I would like to remind you that water and wind, in particular, are natural resources that are intermittent, and cannot be planned. Also, coal plants in 2000 represented almost 40% of the energy mix. They're not part of it any longer. The replacement of electricity generation through said plants is needed to prevent energy shortages.
We also have to bear in mind that starting in 2027, we start a progressive plan of closing energy provided by nuclear power plants. This timeline was approved in 2020. I apologize, 2019, the speaker says, and it's progressive between 2017, the first nuclear power plant that will close is Almaraz, and 2035, that would be Trillo. Last but not least, I would like to highlight great opportunity that has to do with what the government has said lately, which is trying to depend less on third countries, and also the possibility of having CCGTs within their energy mix. They could use renewable gases, so an increase in the use of renewable gases, so they will be able to change energy needs in terms of importing natural gas. Now we're going to move on to results for 2021.
They were published in a relevant fact, published by the company in February as a continuation of its approval by the board of directors. As you can see in the documents that were provided, it's included in financial and non-financial report that's available in our website. I'll go quickly through it, and I would like to highlight the most important milestones. The main figures of the year are on the screen. Ordinary EBITDA, gross operating result in recurring terms, which is EUR 3.983 billion. Net result, consolidated result of EUR 1.231 billion. This allowed the company, as you can see, to cover total investments worth EUR 1.801 billion, more than its profit. In terms of debt, the final debt for the year is EUR 12.831 billion.
I'll explain how it compares to our debt in previous years. An operating cash flow above EUR 1 billion and a tax contribution to society. I'll explain how we justify in our sustainability report that this was a contribution from Naturgy to the society as a whole of almost EUR 2.8 billion. We could say that 2021 have had a very sound operating result in all areas of operation lines, and it's a first step of recovery after the pandemic in 2020. Regarding results, and in particular, ordinary comparable result, we see an improvement in the gross operating result, and also an improvement in net result. I remind you that in 2020, and as a consequence of asset impairments that were considered during the pandemic, we carried out an accounting adjustment.
As I explained later, this makes comparisons really not easy. What does this cross operating outcome comes from? I would like to talk about two different businesses. The ones related to volatility of markets, generation, trading, and all the management and international trading, which accounts for approximately 40% of the business results. All the businesses that have to do with distribution, energy distribution and transportation networks, both electricity and gas, and this accounts for 60% of our results or our profit. If we focus on the different territories, results in Spain do not reach 60% of the business origin, and a bit more than 40% at international level. Here, the five countries where the company has more activities are Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Panama and Argentina.
I would like to highlight an additional 12% in a number of countries, almost 20, that also make a contribution of 12% to the consolidation of this result or profit at group level. I'd like to mention the hard work of the whole company and its managers. They've managed risks this year, and this has been key to mitigate significant volatility and also to prevent impacts on the different businesses. The operating gross profit has improved. It has improved in ordinary terms, also in accounting terms. Let's take a look at the real recurring changes that we can expect in the future. In the gross operating profit, we need to compare the two blue bars we see here, which are the ordinary EBIT, that's for each year.
As you can see, EBITDA has improved mainly due to the management of market businesses. I've highlighted before the activities included in them, also network businesses, and there've been reductions in all the ordinary aspects of the business. Now let's take a look at net profit or net result, the final result in the bottom line of the P&L.
I would like to say that in 2020, we included asset impairments worth more than EUR 1.2 billion. The comparison between 2020 and 2021 is not really appropriate. At ordinary level, the improvements in financial results and business activity has improved our results significantly. Our debt has decreased. Well, the net debt on EBITDA is 3.6x . This metric is a common one in the industry, and it somehow explains the financial health the company may have regarding its ability to pay back the banks. Now it's in a more than acceptable range according to rating agencies, and the average cost of debt is 2.5%.
I'd like to insist here that this average cost is related to the average of our debt denominated in euro and also in all the currencies of the countries where the company is present. We were able to reduce our debt due to a significant cash generation. This was used to reduce our debt in almost EUR 800 million, pay the shareholders, and carry out investments. With carried out investments, going back to our investment strategy that had been reduced in 2020 as a consequence of the pandemic and the ability to execute many of our plans. You know that one of the commitments of the company towards shareholders is to provide a predictable, recurrent dividend paid.
Two payments, two installments, one in summer and another one in autumn, and a final complementary payment after the holding of the AGM. In August 2021 and November 2021, we paid these two first dividends. As we had committed to that commitment, the proposal that we're gonna do is to pay the complementary dividend of EUR 0.50 per share, together with the 0.70 that have already been paid, will make a total of EUR 1.20 per share, which is what we had committed for this year. To your right, you see the total yield evolution of the company.
Let me recall that the total yield or profitability is estimated taking into account the revaluation of the share based on the dividend is the total yield that a shareholder has had in the company. It's in the last 16 months, 13 months, sorry, between January 1, 2021 and March 14, 2022, a total profitability of 35% versus the evolution that other rates have had, such as the IBEX or the EURO STOXX Utilities. In this sense, let me say that the company, as reflected in the chart, has been affected in its listing because of speculation at the end of 2021, but it's back on track after the month of February 2022.
If you will allow me in order to conclude this section about the year 2021, I'd like to highlight three ideas for you to take home regarding the management of the business management. First, which has everything, which is everything that has to do with business related to the market, what we call the liberalized businesses. The management has been focusing on two main elements that will continue to be the main elements we're to set our goals for the management of 2022. Risk management, volatility, uncertainty is what relates to risk. The objective of the company is to eliminate to the maximum uncertainty, which is really affecting many sectors, but more specifically the energy sector.
It's one of the main objectives of the management to focus on the better management of risk and possible risk and to ensure supply. Ensuring supply so that our distribution grid, our generation plants, and our clients, both for electricity and gas, have the guarantee of supply no matter what circumstance. We're working to adapt to the recovery of the demand by operationally improving each and every one of the operations in the fields. These operational improvements must lead to a better capacity of service, reaction capacity, response to incidents, and to face all those challenges, even climate changes that may occur, so that the reaction time to the events that may happen are as short as possible. Our
If we make major investments in our grid so that we can get access in the most remote places to electricity and gas, that will improve our infrastructures, and that's what we want. At a group level, we want to reduce our net debt and reinforce the liquidity to face these uncertain times that we are living that will demand financial caution so that we're ready for any negative event that may happen. The company is not alien to everything that has to do with its approach on a comprehensive plan for climate change, sustainability actions, and governance actions. What we now call the ESG aspects, which is what it has to do with the milestones achieved during 2020. If we focus on the green line, we see the environment. I'd like to highlight, above all, three achievements.
First, a relevant improvement in the direct CO2 emissions, 9% below the emissions we had the prior year. We want to continue investing to install more than 5.2 gigawatts of power of renewable origin. Third, more than 300 biodiversity initiatives that have been carried out. For, if you need more details, let me address you to the sustainability report, which is in our website. For the attendees present here in the room, you have a book available for you to follow these biodiversity initiatives. In the social leg, also three main aspects. Though the chapter is much more extensive in the report. We want to improve our rate of accidents versus 2020. We have improved in severity degree by almost a 40%.
You know that security for employees is one of our main elements that we take care of, and we want to improve all this. We want to have rates of minus 37% of what we've had this year. We also want to increase the amount of providers that are audited under the same criteria that we use ourselves. We want to work with committed providers, committed as we are in these terms of sustainability and the environment where we have decided to be at. We've got 72% of providers that are audited under the same schemes and with the same criteria as we are for safe environments, sustainability and government.
With everything that has to do the commitment towards gender equality for 2030, let me highlight that 80% of the new recruitments done during 2021 have been women with an average age of 25. That must help us to reach that gender equality objective by 2030. The third leg, corporate governance. Three major milestones. First, approval of the new sustainability guiding plan or master plan. The sustainability commission recently created by the board of directors. Its first commission was to formally approve the sustainability plan by the board. Amongst these and other achievements, the company has been awarded in 2021 by S&P Global Platts as the best energy company in 2021. All the achievements with regards to climate change and water use changes have been acknowledged by the CDP. Let's now talk about decarbonization.
We're advancing in the decarbonization of our activities. You can see the direct CO2 emissions that have reduced drastically since 2017 until 2021. Another important aspect is the emission factor of the generation, because emission factor has to do with productivity and the efficiency of our generation that emits CO2. The emission factor has reduced by 20% versus the previous year, and 33% versus 2017. 33% of the installed capacity is free of emissions already. This proves our clear commitment of the company in the reduction of emissions and the investment in clean technologies. As I was saying before, an economic value of more than EUR 23 billion that's shared with the society, which among the groups of societies, providers, employees, investors, and it's necessary to carry out this investment plan.
Let me highlight here. More than 2,100 vulnerable families helped, and assisted during this year, out of the more than 700 voluntary employees that we have in our Vulnerability Assistance, Energy Vulnerability Assistance plan. We are auditing our providers, as I was saying before. Finally, let me highlight another initiative where we have more than 400,000 clients listed, which is the initiative called Compromiso, Commitment. With the escalation of the price of electricity, we have provided to the market, clients and non-clients, the possibility to give a fixed price on electricity when the escalation of the pool price started.
We did that in September before having any other initiative from our competitors or from any kind of regulation that followed the same track, in order to try and find a way to avoid that because of opportunistic reasons, some clients would not be able to use these technologies, and therefore, their fixed costs would increase. Let me now go to explain briefly what we have already. We have explained in a relevant fact issued in February, and that you have very probably read in the newspapers, and I'm talking about Gemini project, Proyecto Géminis. Before about this project, let me just give you two major ideas.
First, we are analyzing, as we said, we were starting to analyze a project which simply, what I can tell is that confirms that what we were thinking is fit for purpose. It's crystal clear that it, the RDA is fit for purpose, even though we have to still analyze more. The second idea is that the decision on the calendar, on the timeline, as any decision, is of course, depending on different elements, the conditions of the market and the visibility on regulation, if we get the adequate ratings, and if we get the administrative permits and authorizations. We have a calendar, we have a timeline, which may and will adapt, and that will have to adapt depending on uncertainties. Why is it fit for purpose?
Why did the board of directors back in time decided to approve starting to analyze this project? Well, I want to share with you the key elements of this sector, because I think that's gonna help you to better understand the reasons why the company thinks that this project is adequate to the problems we have in the evolution and the dynamics in a sector which in such turmoil, in such a transformation such as the energy sector. We're facing, at a sector level, a super investing cycle, which has to do with the energy transition mainly. Everything has to do to adapting the energy mix. Everything has to do to the shifting towards a greater energy independence from raw materials coming from abroad. That requires and will require major investments. That is not something immediate.
This is something that is going to be happening step by step, little by little, in the country's energy mix, especially after the major investment that has to be carried out. Second, we must simplify and reapproach the business models. This is not specific for our country. You know that everywhere in the world, especially our neighboring countries, are carrying out, and have carried out in the last years, a reapproaching of their management models in order to be more simple, better understandable, and therefore, more efficient. Third, which is everything that has to do with this energy crisis. I think everybody will agree if we say, if I say that this energy crisis has led us to rethinking the energy system. Within this new approach of the energy system, we are gonna have two major parts in the equation.
One will be to guarantee the supply security to our clients, to society, to our industries, to our homes, and also to have a more flexible generation. If you will allow me, in more independent generation. It is also true that from the standpoint of the sector, we clearly see more and more that there are synergies between the tailor-made generation and clients. Let me explain this in greater detail. What we intend to say with this sentence is that clients and flexible generation are two parts of the same coin. If they're united, the volatility in the market will be lesser, and that volatility will affect less to the risk of the business or to the business per se. It will be a lower risk.
Therefore, the importance of what we call sustainability, environment, and governance aspects will be more and more in line with the taxonomy of the EU and are and will be presenting many of the decisions and regulation that will be passed in the future. Before these key elements, the company wanted to react. Gemini project is a good project to analyze and see if it provides a good answer to all these challenges I've been covering right now. Among other things, because we've got two kinds of businesses. We've got the network or grid business and the market, and synergies between both businesses are limited. The fact that if we separate them, that will generate operational costs of quite a nature, right?
We've read the last reports quoting the surplus in costs of separating and the surplus in costs on the independent management of both businesses. Let me deny that. We are working already in quite an autonomous way, so separating them would have no impact or would be minor, because we're already doing that. We want to generate growth opportunities. When a company has its capital cost and shareholders require to be profitable, as they need to, competition capacity increases. When a company is more complex, and when the company doesn't have capital cost necessary for each business line, the capacity to compete reduces. We're convinced that companies would be much more competitive with a better resource allocation when necessary and where necessary. Organizations have to be more agile and flexible and focused on their differential skills and powers.
That will help, of course, in this project to be much more successful. Also the management and employees, if so, will have better visibility at a longer term with a clearer project and a much more sustainable project. That will, of course, respond to the interest of our shareholders, which you know, as you know, even as of today, regulators compel us to work, for example, in Spain, in all the gas distribution grid or electricity grid. We have to work according to a directive, which is the Unbundling Directive, separating and making independent these two activities versus the deregulated activities. The conclusion is that we understand that this will make the future of both grids more dynamic, reinforces the attractiveness of both groups, and therefore, it is positive for the shareholders and for the employees.
If you wish to see the project Gemini from the stance of the groups affected in one or the other part of the business at the geographical level. Here is a breakdown of everything that has to do with the geographies where they are present, the activity mix between electricity and gas, and the business profile. I would like to talk more about the business profile, because as you see, the company has a profile which is fully regulated, and the other company, the profile is of the market. It's not, it's deregulated. As you can see, they are very different profiles. How have we approached this project? With a structure that harms no shareholders.
On the contrary, it makes having two companies with the same shareholders remain, and these two companies will have the possibility to benefit from the advantages of this project. We're not thinking about a project going against any interest whatsoever, and that will be the structure of both. This structure is going to be very similar, as you can see in this slide. Let me now finish with the proposal for resolutions. Let me summarize what the secretary is going to detail point after point. From point 1-8, we're going to ask for the approval of the annual accounts and the report on management and the remuneration reports. Point 9 has to do with the ratification of the appointments in the Board of Directors. Points 10-13, changes in the bylaws.
and 14/15, delegations, if you think it necessary, into the board of directors and the people proposed to carry out all the proceedings related to the resolutions approved as of today. This is the end of my report. Thank you so much for having listened to me, and I'm at your disposal, each one of you, if you wish. If you have questions, we'll just open the floor for interventions. We've received just one question, remote. Let me read it, and I will give the copy to the notary public. Josep Babot Barbero asks, 29 March 2021, the Catalan government and another company of the sector signed an agreement to forgive a debt of 35 families in Catalonia, allowing them to start from scratch.
The company assumed more than EUR 28 million, 73% of the debt, stemming from these vulnerable families from 2015 till 2020. The Catalan government wants to have agreements with other energy companies as of this year. The question is, if with the context of the prices and the vulnerable families that cannot pay invoices, is Naturgy going to be proactive to solve this situation? As it's the second company in number of clients in Catalonia, the questions are the following. First, after more than seven years of the Ley 24/2015, is the company going to negotiate as the competitor did with the government in Catalonia? Is the company willing to assume that debt to free these vulnerable families? Are you gonna do it before the end 2022, if you agree to do so?
Well, thank you for this question that we have received at the beginning of this event. Allow me to, apart from my reply, to lead you to the sustainability report that is available in the website, because some of the topics I'm going to tackle in my reply have even greater detail in this report. We're ready to go deeper into the reply through our sustainability department and through the Naturgy Foundation, of course, which one of its main goals is to manage and take care of initiatives that have to do with vulnerable families.
In this sense, let me recall that in the last years, more than 137,000 people have benefited from the initiatives stemming from our foundation, which is one of the three main objectives, the three main working axes that the foundation has. That's why the board of directors annually provides financial resources to the foundation, so that the foundation can carry out its activities. Let me also say, dear shareholders, that the act referred to by Mr. Babot is still has no regulation still. It's just a bill, and many of the specificities that should be covered by the law are still pending from being regulated.
As any act, of course, with any act, the company commits, and because it's, we have to do so to, act according to that act. Unfortunately speaking, that regulation is still not approved. Naturgy's commitment towards vulnerability is really well known by Mr. Babot, is real. Only in 2021, as you can read in this report I was referring to before, we've serviced 2,200 families. We have rehabilitated 270 homes with 700 volunteers. With the collaboration of the company, the company has collaborated with more than 18 companies or organizations such as Red Cross and Cáritas. Let me highlight that the company is really committed towards helping in energy vulnerability. In this sense, finding solutions for the families we do.
I do respect any initiative taken by any other energy company, such as the one Mr. Babot was alluding to solve energy poverty problems. There isn't a single way. Each company takes its path, the one we consider more adequate, socially speaking. As I said, whenever we have to abide by the law, we will do so, of course. I said it as an example before in my intervention, the Compromiso rate. We were the first one launching the fixed price tariff in September, at a time when the pool price was highly above the rate we provided to our clients. Not only our clients, but we offered it to the market. Of course, under our own possibilities, because you know that the electric generation is inframarginal.
Let me highlight here, Mr. Babot, these facts that just are proof of our commitment towards not only vulnerability, but towards society as a whole. We're a responsible energy company. We want to carry out our activity within what's adequate, fair, giving back to society some of our, what they give us. I don't know if the Secretary General has something to add to this question. No. Simply, I would just say that the law is pending to have its regulation as to the law that Mr. Babot was referring to. Just that note. Are there more questions? No more questions. From the attendees in the room, would you like to take the floor? Yes? Yes, go ahead. Can we please give the microphone to the gentleman? Tomás Escudero. Well, my question. Can you take your mask off so you can, we can hear you better? Thank you.
My question is about the policy that the company is going to follow before the new self-consumption strategies that we are seeing in the market. Self-consumption from solar panels for individuals, but also green hydrogen, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, the new energy streams that are requiring private investments by individuals. What's your policy that you're going to have with regards to this current phenomenon? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Escudero. I would like to highlight two parts in your question, if you allow me. As you've said, there are some new energy drivers that have appeared these past years that were not common in the traditional energy industry. One of them is self-consumption. The company clearly supports self-consumption. In an internal reorganization that took place at the end of 2021, we fostered a division for self-consumption, led by a very capable person. We have a woman who's in charge of developing self-consumption in residential customers. In this case, in the short term, and it's focused mainly in PV because it's the technology that's available.
The main advantage is that it allows private customers that live in houses or buildings with different flats, and the company provides a plan that they can carry out this investment and can benefit from the savings generated by self-consumption. Our strategic approach for self-consumption is significant, it's consolidated, and it's one of the commercial growth axes for the next years. Green hydrogen, as you were saying, it's just one of the new energy drivers looking forward. We've heard a lot about hydrogen these past months. We haven't heard as much about renewable gases. They have a faster ability or likelihood to become part of the energy mix. Perhaps you don't know this, but I would like to explain it to you. Other European countries are already adding renewable gases to natural gas, so they have a blend.
They can increase the volume of renewable gases up to 20% to reduce natural gas, traditional natural gas consumption. Therefore, first, the, we can reduce what we buy from third countries. Spain does not produce natural gas. We need to bring it from abroad. The increasing use of renewable gases would reduce the energy mix. Then we could reuse renewable gases that, as you were saying, they would be released to the atmosphere. That would be biomethane or biogases, biomass, et cetera. Hydrogen is another part, as you know, in Next Generation EU programs that are related to EU funding. Naturgy has presented more than EUR 12 billion in different projects. These projects were considered by the administration of around EUR 8 billion, and hydrogen is part of them. It's a midterm solution.
It's not a short-term solution, considering that it requires renewable electricity facilities to distribute and generate hydrogen at a low energy cost. As of today, well, as you know, renewable energies compete to be part of the traditional energy mix. Therefore, at some point, we will need to decide whether we invest this renewable energy to produce hydrogen or electricity that goes directly to families or companies. Naturgy has taken due note of this goal of using green hydrogen. As it was announced in 2021, we've launched projects, hubs for hydrogen generation, one in La Robla, together with Enagás. We've launched one of the most significant initiative, probably the most significant initiative in Spain today regarding hydrogen.
Obviously, we don't rule out continuing to do it, and therefore hydrogen is a point for growth in energy, and I would like to tell you that it's not just hydrogen, also ammonia, which is another way of generating hydrogen, or a fuel that does not release CO2 and which has its origin in producing hydrogen. In coming years, you'll hear us talk a lot about these energy drivers at the AGM, because they're clearly changing the traditional map of energy mix. What percentage of investment does the company expect for R&D in these new technologies? Well, the budget will increase as these new technologies consolidate the more theoretical aspect. We need to start with pilot plant. In our five-year investment plan, we haven't detailed it because the most important part is new generation technologies, renewable electricity.
If you remember, in July, we presented a plan in which more than EUR 8 billion were allocated to generation, to installing renewable energy sources, and part of them will be devoted to hydrogen. Is there any other question among the present shareholders? Well, if there are no other comments or questions, I would like to request the secretary that before moving on to the voting part, I would like him to explain the degree of compliance the company has regarding CNMV's recommendations on governance. The code includes 64 recommendations. six of them are not applicable to Naturgy. Out of the 58, the company at 31 December 2021 was in compliance with 47 of them. eight partial compliance, and the other three has explained why it's not reasonable to comply with them. I refer to these two last groups.
The last ones first. Those, regarding which we provide an explanation saying why we think they're not appropriate for Naturgy. 17, the number of independent board members. Based on the shareholders, if we complied with this recommendation, we'd be in breach of the law. First of all, we need to comply with the law instead of the recommendation. Then there's another recommendation, 48, that advises to split into the appointment nomination committee, but that goes against the idea of simplification Naturgy has. Regarding the recommendation that we comply with, but in a partial way, in some of them, their goals are achieved in a different way. It's such as the LTI approved by the AGM in 2019 that established a time horizon that is above what's usual. It was 5 years.
One of the proposals that's presented today is that its duration is going to be extended to 8 years. This is a normative system that does not fully fit the traditional remuneration models for recommendations 58 and 62. Another recommendation has to do with internal functioning of the board, and some of them say that we think that we cannot. We don't need to change it. For example, 25, which establishes the maximum number of boards of directors a board member can belong to. We have not considered this as necessary because they attend almost 100% of the meetings, even though there were 23 meetings in 2021, which is more than other companies in IBEX do. We don't consider appropriate to follow that recommendation. Thank you very much.
The secretary will read the proposals that will be submitted to the approval of the AGM. In order to do things faster as we did in the past, if there are comfortable majorities, we'll just say if it was approved based on votes that are at the table, regarding delegations and anticipated votes. If you're on site and you want to vote against or abstain, please raise your hand once the proposal is read. At the end of the vote of all the proposals, the shareholder, the notary public, and myself will go to the table to take due note of the number of shares and the identity of that person that decided to abstain or vote against.
If you wish to vote online, you can do it through the vote form that that's at your disposal, and those votes will be communicated to the notaries, so that they're included in the minutes. The results can be seen by all of you tomorrow in the company website in the section regarding AGM. Last but not least, I would like to inform you that the points of the agenda that have a long description, I'll just summarize them since the full text has been at your disposal since the day the AGM was convened. First of all, approving the annual accounts and the management report of the Naturgy Energy Group, S.A. for the year closed on the 31st of December 2021.
Approved. Second, approving the consolidated annual accounts and the management report of Naturgy Energy Group for the exercise closed on the thirty-first of December 2021. Do we approve? Approved. Third, approving the consolidated non-financial information report included in the consolidated management report of Naturgy Energy Group. Approved. Fourth, approving the following allocation of the profit for the year closed on thirty-first of December 2021. First of all, dividends. An amount with aggregate gross amount, which is the addition of following two amounts: EUR 675 million prepaid dividend that were previously paid, equivalent EUR 0.70 per share, times the number of shares that were not treasury stock on the corresponding date. We exclude this because they don't have the right to receive dividends.
Second, the supplementary dividend that's proposed now, which is the amount resulted from multiplying EUR 0.50 times the number of shares that are not considered treasury stock. From that dividend, EUR 679 million have previously been paid on the fourth of August and fifteenth of November. The proposal is paying the supplementary dividend starting on the twenty-second of March. We allow the board of directors to do all the necessary actions to do this allocation, and in particular, to appoint the institution that should be the payment agent. To the remnant, there's going to be an amount that will be the result to deduct from the distribution basis the amount allocated to the dividend, which is more than EUR 3 million. That's for the prepaid dividend and the one paid on the twenty-second of March. Approved.
Fifth, approving the management carried out by the board of directors during 2021. Approved. Sixth, approving the remuneration policy of Naturgy Energy Group board members applicable since it was approved in for the following three years. Approved. Seventh, approving to the effects of the Article 219 of the company statutes the changes proposed by the board of directors regarding the extension of the duration of the LTI of Naturgy Energy Group to make it match the strategic plan 2021-2025. Usually, it was supposed to finish in July 23, 2023, and that's going to finish in July 2025, and approving the actions of its implementation by the board. Approved. Eighth, approving the annual report of remuneration of the Naturgy's board members approved by the board on the first of February 2022.
The text of which is available to the shareholders together with the rest of the documents regarding the AGM. Approved. Ninth, board member appointments. Number one, confirming the appointment by co-optation of Mr. Enrique Alcántara-García-Irazoqui that took place on the 13th of April 2021 according to the company's Act, and appointing at the proposal of the board for four years starting from the moment on which this resolution is approved. This board member will be a Proprietary Director proposed by Criteria. He's present online in this act. He accepts the appointment and declares that there's no legal incompatibility. It's approved. Under same terms, confirming the appointment by co-optation of Mr. Jaime Siles that took place on the 10th of February 2022.
He will be appointed and, with the favorable report of the Remuneration Committee, will be appointed Board member, proprietary director. He is present. He has accepted the appointment, and states that there's no legal incompatibility. Approved. Also, approving the appointment of Mr. Ramón Adell that took place on the tenth of February 2022, and appointing them at the proposal of the Board and with the favorable report of the Remuneration Committee, Board member for four years, starting when the resolution is approved. He will be a proprietary director. He's present here. He accepts the appointment and declares that there's no legal incompatibility. Approved.
Tenth, authorizing and approving, according to Article 515 of the Corporate Enterprises Act, that the extraordinary AGMs of this company can be convened with a minimum period of 15 days as long as shareholders can vote online in a way that's acceptable for all of them. This authorization is granted until the next AGM, ordinary AGM is held. Approved. Next one, this is not for approval. This is just for information purposes. The internal regulation of the board has been changed. The different articles that has made available to the shareholders, and it's in order to cover the recommendations published by the CNMV regarding listed companies. Also, the materiality thresholds have been changed regarding the CEO and also the Sustainability Committee has been changed its composition. The AGM received this information.
Changing Article 6 of the bylaws to allow to hold 100% online AGM, including a new paragraph to Section 3 of said article. Approved. 13th. There are five sections here. This is a change in article 7, 9, 10, 11, and 13 of the AGM regulation. It requires a separate vote, so I request your approval for each section, but they have the same consideration. It's in order to allow online AGM. First of all, article 7 of the regulation. Approved. Second, article 9. Approved. Third, article 10. Approved. Fourth, article 11. Approved. And finally, article 13. Approved. The last two proposals are delegations in favor of the board. First one, 14th proposal. Approved. Delegating the board of directors the ability to increase share capital with the limits established by the company's Companies Act, within a period of five...
The legal period of five years according to what the law requires according to the limits established. Last proposal has to do with the ability to implement the resolutions approved by you. Delegating the board of directors with express powers of replacement in the Chairman, Secretary or Boards that are considered fit. All the powers are considered appropriate to supplement, develop, execute, interpret, or remedy any resolutions approved by the AGM, being able to carry out changes and additions that are necessary. Delegating and empowering the Chairman and the Secretary of the board so that any of you can sign private documents and grant before a notary public any public documents that are necessary or fit to execute the previous resolutions before the relevant registries. Approved.
Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. This is the end of this AGM, ordinary AGM for 2022. I would like to particularly thank shareholders that are here on site in Avenida de América, and also those of you who are online and including in particular the board of directors who's following this from a room in the same building. Next year, we'll see each other again, and I would like to thank you for being here. This is the end of this meeting and the sitting is over.