Good morning, ladies and gentlemen shareholders. I'd like to begin this general shareholders' meeting by thanking all of you for taking part in our ordinary general shareholders' meeting of Red Eléctrica Corporación for the year 2020, which is being held on second call. One more year, the pandemic requires that we hold this shareholders' meeting via exclusively telematic means in order to protect the health and interests of all our shareholders, as well as everyone involved in the organization and all stakeholders. Even though, thanks to the development in record time of vaccines and their distribution, is happening, we are still far from closing this difficult phase in our history. We would like to remember everyone who has suffered the serious consequences of this pandemic. Seated next to me, we have our CEO, Roberto García Merino, and the Secretary of the Board of Directors, Carlos Méndez-Trelles.
The other members of the board are attending this AGM via a video conferencing link in accordance with the legislation, which the Secretary will refer to in a minute. Attending via video conference link, we have Directors Carmen Gómez de Barreda, María José García Beato, Socorro Fernández Larrea, Antonio Gómez Ciria, Arsenio Fernández de Mesa, Alberto Carbajo Josa, Mercedes Real Rodrigo, María Teresa Costa Campi, José Juan Ruiz Gómez, and Ricardo García Herrera. In order to certify the minutes of this AGM, we have, one more year, the Madrid Notary, Eduardo Martín Alcalde, who is in this room next to our panel. Welcome. I am now going to give the floor to our Secretary.
Thank you, Chair. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen shareholders.
As we said in the official call notice, the Board of Directors of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A., in its session held on May 25th, 2021, agreed to call this AGM that would be held exclusively via telematic means, that is, without any of the shareholders or the representatives being present here in person. All of it in accordance with Royal Decree 5/2021 of March 12th on extraordinary measures to support business solvency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In any case, the AGM is understood to be held for legal purposes at the company's registered office located at Paseo del Conde de los Gaitanes 177, Alcobendas, Madrid. Of the members of the board, we only have present physically in this room the Chairwoman of the Board, our CEO, and myself as Secretary of the Board. All other directors are attending via a video conference link, as our Chairwoman has just pointed out.
In order to participate in this general shareholders' meeting, the company has offered shareholders the possibility of using the ordinary procedure for remote voting and proxy voting before this meeting. You're also allowed to vote via telematic means during this general shareholders' meeting in the terms approved by the Board of Directors and according to the telematic attendance procedures published in the call notice and in the company's website. Without the other elements for a general shareholders' meeting held by exclusively telematic means, we will hold this meeting in accordance with all the general provisions of the regulations of the general shareholders' meetings of this company. As usual, you may follow this meeting through our corporate website live or see the recording once the meeting is concluded.
We also have simultaneous translation into English and also translation into Spanish sign language in order to facilitate attendance and participation for people with hearing disabilities. We will now proceed to formally constitute this general shareholders' meeting according to legal requirements and the requirements of our general shareholders' meeting, and we will read out the proposed resolutions. After that, our CEO, Roberto García Merino, and myself will cover the most relevant highlights of Red Eléctrica's strategy and activities in 2020, whose results are being presented to this general shareholders' meeting today. We will then move on to the Q&A session for shareholders, and we will answer any questions that might come in, and we will conclude with information on the results of the votes on the proposed resolutions that we are submitting for your approval.
During the Q&A session, the Chair of the Committee of Appointments and Remuneration, Socorro Fernández Larrea, will be available, as well as the Chair of the Audit Committee, Carmen Gómez de Barreda, and the Chairman of our Sustainability Committee, just in case you wish to ask them some questions within the scope of the responsibilities of their respective committees. Both the call and the proposed resolutions and reports have been made available to all of you in the company's website through our Shareholder Support Office and in our company headquarters, and the full text has been provided to all shareholders who've requested it free of charge. Given their length, we will take those documents as read in full for everything required for the proper procedures in this general shareholders' meeting.
I'd like to inform you that, as usual, there has been an external audit of the organization of this general shareholders' meeting in order to reinforce its transparency and reliability, including the process of vote counting and proxy voting. Preliminary results of that audit will be posted immediately on the company's website as soon as this meeting is over, and once all the procedures are completed, we will also announce the final results of that audit. In order to guarantee the proper exercise of the rights of our shareholders, those who wish so can request the certification of the direction of their vote, which will be sent to them with the appropriate certification by this auditor.
Without any further ado, I'm giving the floor to the Secretary.
Thank you very much, Chairwoman.
First, I'd like to point out that according to our bylaws and the regulations of our general shareholders' meeting, we have chairing this shareholders' meeting Mrs. Beatriz Corredor Sierra, who is the Chair of our Board of Directors, and I am acting as Secretary in my position as Secretary of the Board of Directors. This general shareholders' meeting of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. was called by the Board of Directors through a notice published in the corporate website of the Spanish National Securities and Market Commission and in the company's website on May 26th, 2021, and the El País and Expansión newspapers on May 27th, 2021. I'd like to point out that the shareholders have not proposed any additional items for the agenda of this general shareholders' meeting, nor any proposed resolutions other than those approved by the Board of Directors.
The general shareholders' meeting is being held on second call since on the first there wasn't enough sufficient legal quorum. According to the applicable legislation and as stated in the call notice, this general shareholders' meeting may be attended by shareholders that have demonstrated their ownership through certification of the registration in their name of the accounting registry. I'd like to remind you that both shareholders that have chosen to vote remotely before this general shareholders' meeting and those that have decided to attend via telematic means and vote during the meeting will be considered to all intents and purposes as shareholders present in this general shareholders' meeting, all of it in accordance with current legal provisions, the regulations of this general shareholders' meeting, and the specific procedure approved by the Board of Directors for telematic attendance of this shareholders' meeting.
In order to exercise voting rights, we've taken into account the limitations to shareholder participation defined by the law of the electricity sector and the company bylaws. If any shareholders or their proxy would like to reflect their abstention or their vote against in the minutes, you may do so by notifying the notary through the telematic attendance platform on the corporate website. In order to do so, you will have to identify yourself and demonstrate the number of shares you own or represent, as well as the condition of your voting, whether you act as shareholder or as proxy, and your vote, and now the Secretary will report on the attendance list for this general shareholders' meeting. Ladies and gentlemen shareholders, the attendance list is as follows. We have present 226 shareholders owning 113,267,749 shares. Unrepresented, we have 1,187 shareholders owning 222,314,818 shares.
In total, we have in this general shareholders' meeting present unrepresented through remote voting or remote proxy voting procedures plus telematic attendance, 1,413 shareholders owning 335,582,567 shares or 62.021% of the company's share capital. After applying the legal limitations that we referred to above, the company shares with voting rights are 538,998,673 shares. As a result, in order to exercise voting rights of the 113,267,749 shares held by shareholders present, 111,186,422 shares have voting rights. And of the 222,314,818 shares held by shareholders represented, 222,314,818 shares have voting rights. In total, we have in this general shareholders' meeting 333,501,240 shares with voting rights, which is the equivalent of 61.874% of the aforementioned 539,998,673 company shares with voting rights.
We'd like to point out that the company's treasury stock is of 2,081,327 shares have been counted in order to estimate the necessary quorum for this general shareholders' meeting, but we have not counted them in the total of shares with voting rights as defined by applicable legislation. Therefore, we have the quorum required by the Capital Companies Act and the company's bylaws in order to hold this general shareholders' meeting on second call and to discuss all items in the agenda given their nature. In order to include it in the notary's minutes, I'd like to inform our shareholders that the attendance list has been drafted and registered in an IT support, which will be certified and receive the Chairwoman's approval. And now I'm going to give the floor to the notary so he can give you the legal notice with respect to the quorum.
In accordance with the current legislation, I would like to ask if any of the attendees have any reservations or any protests to make with regard to the number of shareholders present or the figure for the capital present or represented. If that is the case, please let us know by writing to us through the corresponding section that has been set up for you on our telematic assistance platform. That's on the company's corporate website, and that means I will include that in the minutes of proceedings of the shareholders' meeting. In accordance with the attendance data, the figures that have been announced by the Secretary, this ordinary general shareholders' meeting for Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. corresponding to financial year 2020 is considered quorate and validly constituted to be able to deliberate on and resolve the matters contained on the agenda.
I'd like to tell you that according to the rules that have been approved for holding this shareholders' meeting by telematic means, if any shareholder would like to intervene or would like to ask for information or any clarification with regard to the matters on the agenda submitted to the meeting or the information accessible to the public that the company has made available to the CNMV since the holding of the last general shareholders' meetings or about the auditor's report or to make any proposals allowed by the law, they had to do it by 10:30 A.M. today or in writing through our telematic assistance platform in our corporate website following the procedures that have been set up and have been included in the call for this shareholder meeting and on our website.
If you'd like to intervene or the content of your intervention to be literally transcribed, then you should do that also by writing to us through the telematic assistance platform on our corporate website and give us the full content of your intervention. I'd like to remind you too that according to the information that was given to you in the notice of the call of this meeting, shareholders or the representatives who are attending telematically can issue their votes on the proposals that are contained under the matters on the agenda through the voting sheet that has been set up for you on the telematic assistance platform on our corporate website. It's been available since 8:45 A.M. today according to the functioning rules that we have set out for the meeting.
The voting process will end when I will indicate to you it has ended once the Secretary has read all of the proposed resolutions today. Let me give the floor now to the Secretary to read out all of those proposals for resolutions that have been submitted to the meeting by the board. Thank you very much, Chairperson. As the Chairperson has already informed you, the content of the proposed resolutions that will be submitted to you for approval today and the matters for information purposes included on the agenda today have been made available in the documentation to all shareholders. And so we're assuming that you have all read them, and we will simply summarize the highlights of each one. So, item one on the agenda today is the proposal to approve the individual annual accounts and the Management Report for Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A.
corresponding to financial year 2020 filed by the Board of Directors at its meeting on the 23rd of February, 2021, and these have been duly audited by KPMG auditors. Item two on the agenda: proposal for the approval of the consolidated annual accounts and the management report for Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A.'s consolidated report that is for 2020 financial year filed by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 23rd of February, 2021, also duly audited by KPMG auditors. Item three on the agenda: proposal for the approval of the allocation of the results of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. filed by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 23rd of February, 2021, and as a consequence, the distribution of profit for 2020 financial year.
Let me tell you that in accordance with the resolution that was approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 25th of May, 2021, the payment of the dividend will be made on 2nd of July, 2021. So, item four on the agenda: this is the proposal to approve the report on non-financial information published by the consolidated group of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. corresponding to financial year 2020. Let me inform you that the non-financial information statement contained in that report has been verified by Ernst & Young S.L. Item five, which is the proposal to approve the management performance of the Board of Directors of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. during the 2020 financial year. Item six on our agenda: proposals for the appointment of directors of the company.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 197-B of the Capital Companies Law, this item actually is divided into four proposals to be voted on separately as follows. Firstly, this is 6.1 to appoint Mr. Marcos Vaquer Caballería as an independent director on the proposal of the Appointments and Remuneration Committee for the four-year term set out in our bylaws. 6.2 is the appointment of Ms. Elisenda Malaret García as an independent board member on the proposal of the Appointment and Remuneration Commission for the four-year term set out in our bylaws. 6.3 is the appointment of José María Abad Hernández as an independent director on the proposal of the Appointments and Remuneration Committee for the four-year term set out in our bylaws. 6.4 is for the ratification appointment as a proprietary director of Mr.
Ricardo García Herrera, representing Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales, and therefore his appointment will be for the four-year term set out in our bylaws. Item seven on our agenda is the proposal to amend our bylaws to adapt them to Law 5/2021 of 12th of April, which amends the consolidated text of the Capital Companies Act with regard to the proposal to promote the long-term involvement of shareholders in listed companies and the partial modification of the Good Governance Code approved on 26th of June. We've also introduced into our bylaws some nuances and supplementary information that we need, technical mainly, in accordance with the provisions of Article 197-B of our Capital Companies Act. This has also been divided into six different sub-items to be voted on separately.
Item 7.1 is the proposal to amend the Bylaws Title I named Purpose, Registered Office, Corporate Purpose and Nationality. 7.2 is the proposals to modify the Title II, capital stock and shares bylaws or capital stock and shareholders' preemptive right. We also have 7.3, which is amendments with regard to Article 11, which is the general shareholders' meeting, 12, the types of meetings, 14, quorum. We also have 15, which is the right to information, 17, presiding board, mode of deliberation, 17 bis, voting by remote means of communication prior to the meeting. 7.4 is the amendment for the addition of a new Article 15 bis, rights of attendance and representations.
Item 7.5 is the amendments registered section two management body, Title III company bodies, the bylaws, Article 20 board of directors, 23 Audit Committee appointments and remuneration committee, and the new 24-B, which is on the Sustainability Committee, and lastly, under item 7, 7.6, the amendments registered to Title IV, which is Articles 28, formulation of accounts, 29, auditing of accounts. Item eight on our agenda: this is the proposal to amend the Regulations of the General Shareholders' Meeting to adapt them to law 5/2021 of April 12, and also the partial amendment of the Code of Good Governance approved by the CNMV on June 26, 2020, which I've just mentioned. We've also introduced into the Regulations of the General Shareholders' Meeting some nuances and supplementary information with regard to technical details and formal details in accordance with the provisions of Article 197-B of our Capital Companies Act.
This item is divided into five different sub-items also to be voted on separately. So, first of all, 8.1, there's a proposal to amend Article 1, purpose and entry into force of the regulations, and Article 19, publication of the regulations of the meeting. Item 8.2 is the proposal to amend Article 2, company website. Item 8.3 is the proposal to amend Article 3, competences of the meeting, and four types of meetings. In item 8.4, there was a proposal to amend Article 6, shareholders' rights, 7, shareholders' rights of participation, 8, shareholders' right of information, 9, right of attendance, and 10, proxies, and there's also a proposal under this sub-item to incorporate a new Article 9-B, which would be remote attendance by electronic or telematic means.
And lastly, under item 8, 8.5, the proposal to amend Articles 11, quorum, 12, chair of the general meeting, 15, constitution, deliberation and adoption of resolutions, and 17, publicity. Item 9 on our agenda: proposals regarding the remuneration of the company's board of directors. This item is divided up into four different sub-items to be voted on separately. So, under 9.1, we are submitting for your approval the Annual Report on Remuneration of the Directors of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. approved by the board of directors at its meeting held on 23rd of February, 2021. Under item 9.2, we are submitting to this meeting the approval of the remuneration of the board of directors of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. for the 2020 financial year following a report from the appointment and remuneration committee.
With this proposal, the remuneration for the board is to be maintained under the same headings and with the same amounts as for financial year 2020 and previous years. Under item 9.3, we're proposing to the general shareholder meeting the approval of the remuneration through the delivery of shares of the company provided for in the new long-term incentive plan for the motion of the energy transition, reduction of digital divide and diversification. This is for executive directors and members of the management team of the company and companies belonging to Red Eléctrica Group, but in the terms that have been given to you in the proposal made available to shareholders since the day of the publication of the notice of the call of this meeting, which I would refer to so as not to read it out fully.
Then finally, under item 9, 9.4, we're submitting to the meeting the approval of the remuneration policy for the directors of the Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. 2022 to 2024. Now, this proposal is fully adapted to Law 5/2021, which I mentioned also earlier, and I would encourage you to consult the details in this law. We have made available all of the details on our corporate website since the day of the publication of the notice of this meeting. Item 10 on our agenda is the proposal for the reappointment of the statutory auditor of the parent company and of the consolidated group. The proposal is to re-elect KPMG auditors as the company's auditors for the parent company Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. and its consolidated group for a two-year period, including financial years 2021 and 2022.
Item 11 on the agenda is the proposal to delegate for the full implementation of resolutions adopted at the general shareholders' meeting. The proposal is to delegate to the board of directors, to the chair of the board of directors, and to the other members of the board of directors with all of the terms and scope necessary by law to ensure that all of the previous resolutions can be made official and registered as needed. Exposición.
Now that we have heard all the items on the agenda that require a vote, our secretary will briefly report on matters that will be reported to this general shareholders' meeting. Item 12 of the agenda: information to the general shareholders on the Annual Corporate Governance Report of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. for the 2020 financial year.
The report was approved by the board of directors in its session of February 23rd and reported to the National Securities and Market Commission together with other relevant information. This report has followed a format proprietary of Red Eléctrica and with all the additional information required by the CNMV's regulations. It has been drafted according to the best international practices of comparable companies, and it includes direct links to the company website in order to complement the information and facilitate its reading. As usual in the report, we include all the most significant principles and practices followed by the company in the year in the area of good governance. This year, we can point out the inclusion of an initial executive summary and the modernization of the whole format.
In the report, once again, we summarize the most relevant aspects of the annual self-assessment process of the Board of Directors and also the next actions that will be carried out by the company in the corporate governance area. The Annual Corporate Governance Report is available in Spanish and English in the company's website under the chapter with the documentation for the general shareholders' meeting that has been made available to all of you. And now, following the Chairwoman's indications and in compliance with the Code of Good Governance for listed companies, I'd like to inform you that Red Eléctrica in 2020 complied with all the recommendations of that code that were applicable with the following exceptions. We have not complied with recommendation number 48, which suggests that large-cap companies should have separate appointments and remuneration committees.
As we've explained in the Annual Corporate Governance Report, the board has not deemed it appropriate to have separate committees because of the small size of this board in comparison with that of other large-caps, and also because it has decided that a single committee can fully discharge all the responsibilities required by the law and the recommendations of the Code of Good Governance for separate committees, and also with the exception of recommendation number 62, which has only been complied with partially since currently it is not possible for the CEO of this company to receive at least twice his fixed annual remuneration in shares since the executive director was appointed in 2019. We do comply, however, with the recommendation that the CEO retain the ownership of the shares received as remuneration for at least three years.
13th, report to the shareholders' meeting on the amendment of the Board of Directors' Regulations of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. The board of directors in its session of May 25th, 2021, has agreed to modify the board's regulations in order to adapt it to the reform of the Capital Companies Act that I referred to earlier. Amendments which include, amongst other things, the connected parties regime, remuneration of directors, due diligence of directors, and the contents of the Annual Corporate Governance Report and the Annual Report on Director Remuneration. Also, this amendment has served to adapt the Board of Directors' Regulations to the letter of some of the recommendations of the Code of Good Governance amended in June 2020 by the CNMV. Finally, we've introduced some new wording into the regulations as well as some technical and formal additions. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary.
I'd like to inform you that since we opened the voting period at 8:45 A.M. this morning and the secretary has now completed the reading of all the proposed resolutions, we will now close the time available for voting on these proposed resolutions. I'd now like to speak briefly about some of the highlights of the company's strategy and activities during the year 2020 and how we've been managing the COVID-19 crisis during this period. Later, our CEO will give you more details about these same matters. In this last year, the pandemic has forced us to face unforeseen circumstances which we've had to respond to by trying to adapt and express the greatest possible solidarity, and we've been able to do so because we have solid social structures, resilient infrastructures, and a workforce that has been there at all critical times responding to the innumerable challenges generated by this crisis.
I would like to mention the over 2,000 professionals at Red Eléctrica whose work guarantees that the essential services we provide, electricity supply and connectivity, are available 24/7 and who have played a crucial role in this pandemic. Thanks to their efforts, Red Eléctrica implemented a contingency plan in record time, which our CEO will explain in detail later, which allowed it to successfully deal with a completely unexpected situation. Electricity demand fell by almost 21.4%, the worst times of the crisis, and then on the other hand, telecommunications networks saw an extraordinary growth in the demand for data volumes. In our response to the pandemic, we also went a step further joining various social initiatives in order to support people who were struggling as well as our own suppliers.
In short, these were unexpected challenges that I think we overcame successfully thanks to all those who make up the great Red Eléctrica team. I'd like to thank all of you for being the best example of the values of excellence and public service that define our mission and purpose. Once again, as I emphasize in each of my speeches, you are the soul of this company. In the current context, over a year since the original outbreak of the new coronavirus, the mass vaccination campaigns are giving us hope for economic and social recovery, and in this process, the speed with which we act will be as important as the way in which we achieve this recovery. This will determine whether this moment will be a turning point in our history in which we will lay the foundations for a better future.
Europe and Spain have already taken a step forward on this path by boosting a true renaissance supported by two major pillars: the green transition and the digital transformation, two processes that were already on the way before the pandemic but which will be the driving forces behind this goal: a more prosperous, just, and sustainable world. Clearly, the climate emergency requires an urgent push since it's a global crisis that waits for no one and affects everyone. In Spain, the most recent climate data indicate that in the last 60 years, there has been a cumulative increase in temperature of 1.3 degrees Celsius. Everyone's aware of the seriousness of these figures, which urges us to take faster steps towards a decarbonized economy so that we can reduce emissions but maintain sustained growth and well-being.
And the main tool to achieve that is the ecological transition, a transformation process with which we will create a new energy model whose main components will be electrification, the integration of renewable energies, and energy efficiency. 2020 data and the latest peaks in wind and solar generation in 2021 are a good sign that we are on the right track, but we certainly need to redouble our efforts. In the future, the goal is for 74% of electricity generation in Spain to come from renewable sources as defined by the Spanish government in its targets for 2030. This is one of the ambitious goals that, in line with the European Green Deal, have been set in the recently approved Climate Change Law and also in the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan which our country has announced. The roadmap is therefore clear.
We have a sector which is well-prepared, enviable natural resources, and a solid regulatory framework following an intense reform agenda in which the next 2021-2026 plan for the transmission grid will play a crucial role, a plan which we hope will be approved by the end of the year and which will be one of the main tools in order to successfully implement this change because without a grid, there can be no ecological transition. On the other hand, the digital transformation, which has been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, is also an undeniable process which includes obvious benefits in terms of prosperity to our economy as recognized by the Digital Spain 2025 agenda. It will boost economic growth, mobilize public and private investment, and strengthen our productive fabric. But if we talk about digitization, we must talk about connectivity, which is one of its main drivers.
We will need to deploy this new connectivity. The main component will be 5G, but we also have to make a special effort to ensure that this deployment will be just, making the opportunities of digitization equally accessible to all. This will make it into an essential tool for tackling the unpostponable demographic challenge since 42% of our country's municipalities are at risk of depopulation. Therefore, we face two major trends: the green economy and the digital economy, which are converging to help us overcome this crisis in which, together with social and territorial cohesion and gender equality, constitute a unique opportunity to develop a new economic model, as has been recognized by 100 researchers in Spain 2050, which is a collective exercise in strategic foresight that has been recently presented, and in our own strategy, we include these conclusions.
Processes that will be boosted by the national plan for recovery, transformation, and resilience, which will be channeling the NextGenerationEU funds. Spain will receive EUR 19 billion this year from this source. The European Commission approved the plan just a few days ago on June 16th in a historic event that took place at our headquarters in Red Eléctrica with the attendance of our president, Pedro Sánchez, as well as the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the second and fourth vice presidents of the Spanish government, Nadia Calviño and Teresa Ribera, and it was no coincidence that they chose this company and this hall to host that event. It was chosen as a venue because it was the headquarters of the company that the president of the government defined as the backbone of the energy transition.
There can be no greater recognition or greater challenge for us. What will be our role and our roadmap? I think the path has already been laid out, and in order to travel it, we will count on unprecedented resources and also significant political consensus. I don't think we have ever faced such challenging times as a country, as a company, and individually, also as citizens, but it is also unlikely that we will ever again have such an extraordinary opportunity to drive change, the chance to become the makers of a more sustainable future, and to leave behind once and for all the outdated assumption that growth must inevitably be linked to the destruction of our planet's natural resources. We can and we must do better.
As we stand in this crossroad, I can assure you that Red Eléctrica will be on the right side of history, working every day to make this desired future scenario a reality. After all, that has always been our mission. Since our founding in 1985, Red Eléctrica's purpose has been to promote the country's social and economic development through our electricity and telecommunication grids. Red Eléctrica has supported every advance we have made but has also been there with every difficulty we have faced. Red Eléctrica is there when nothing happens, but also when everything happens: before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and in spite of extreme meteorological phenomena like Filomena, Hortensia, or Ignacio.
In short, Spain has always been able to count on Red Eléctrica, and now it will also be able to count on us as one of the main actors of this green and digital future and of our recovery after this pandemic, and we will do so by working the way we know best, dedicating all of our resources and the talent of our teams and our over 36 years of expertise. We have defined a roadmap for the next five years, our 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, which we launched last February, a plan that combines preparedness, necessity, and opportunity.
It's a plan that defines a transparent, realistic, and honest roadmap through which we will be investing EUR 4.4 billion in order to promote this green and digital shift, enabling the transformation of Spain's energy system and guaranteeing, as always, a continuous and secure electricity supply, expanding connectivity in the field of telecommunications while consolidating our presence in Latin America. And we will do all this based on sustainability criteria, emphasizing our carbon neutrality, promoting innovation, talent, and technological development, and contributing to social and territorial cohesion in this country. These investments will create a virtuous circle that will boost economic activity. We want to stimulate production, restore our economic fabric, and create employment, wealth, and well-being for all our citizens. And it will certainly be a valuable contribution in this urgent recovery process.
75% of our investment plan will be destined to achieve the first of these goals: to speed up the ecological transition in Spain, and Red Eléctrica will definitely be the backbone of this process, facilitating the mass integration of renewables in the electricity system and guaranteeing secure supply with the highest quality levels required by our public. We've been working on this mission for years. I'd like to quote, as an example, the over 4,700 megawatts of new power that we incorporated last year with a peninsular grid availability rate of 98.6%. We are actually a global benchmark thanks to our Electricity System Control Center and the Renewable Energy Control center, which, by the way, celebrated its 15th anniversary just a few days ago. When it was created in 2006, the center of renewable energies was a pioneer globally.
It was a strategic and courageous decision by a group of visionary Red Eléctrica executives who were able to see the future importance of renewable energies and the crucial role they would play in the not-too-distant future. It's only been 15 years, and it has been well proven. In this spirit of leadership that also drives us today, we aim to continue on this path to maintain Spain as one of the leading players in green energy. We will develop the necessary infrastructures to have a smarter, meshed, resilient, and more interconnected grid with Europe in line with this 2021-2025 Strategic Plan. I'd like to highlight several interconnection projects between systems since they have an extreme technical complexity, and they will be crucial not only to improve the quality of supply but also to maximize the penetration of renewables in the Spanish electricity system.
For example, there's the new link between the mainland and the Balearic Islands, the interconnection between the mainland and Ceuta, the new submarine link between Ibiza and Formentera, or the interconnection project between the Tenerife and La Gomera Islands in the Canaries. Other links I'd like to refer to are international links, particularly those that connect us with our neighbor France, which are the only route for Spain to avoid the waste of green generation so that Spain will not remain an energy island and contribute to the creation of a single energy market in Europe. In line with our Integrated Energy and Climate Plan and our 2026 plan, we're already considering the development of the interconnection with France via the Bay of Biscay project, which is currently in the public information phase and which we estimate will be commissioned between 2026 and 2027.
In this plan, we will also focus on energy storage and its current main technology, which is hydraulic pumping, which is critical for isolated small systems, particularly for the islands, in order to avoid wasting a very high and ever-increasing percentage of renewable energy and to make it available to consumers when the sun and the wind are not present. A good example of this, which I'd like to mention, is the construction of the Salto de Chira pumping station in Gran Canaria, and finally, we will have new tools for system operations so that we can successfully address this more dynamic, complex, and interconnected scenario with the whole European continent. Red Eléctrica's leadership has long been acknowledged in the telecommunication sector as well. Through Reintel, we are the largest dark optical fiber operator in Spain.
And through Hispasat, with its fleet of nine satellites, we are a benchmark satellite operator. These assets and this expertise put us in a privileged position to make the deployment of a new generation of connectivity possible and also to make it accessible to all, bringing it to the most rural or remote areas where terrestrial networks cannot reach or do not have the level of quality or speed required in the 21st century. Thus, enabling greater economic and social development in these places and allowing their citizens to fully exercise their digital rights. Because only through inclusive connectivity accessible to all, we will be able to do away with the digital divide that still affects a significant part of rural Spain and many areas in Latin America.
Finally, we will make progress in the consolidation of our international business in Latin America, where we've been operating for 20 years. We are managing over 4,400 kilometers of power lines in Brazil, Chile, and Peru, countries in which we are now strengthening our commitment and our permanence. Apart from the strategic plan, we've also presented a series of projects that are consistent with the objectives of the EU's Next Generation EU, projects that supplement our activity and resources, which, beyond those, are already included in our roadmap. These are proposals that will contribute to economic recovery and which are focused on achieving the goals of the National Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan announced by the government.
The programs we're proposing are focused on island storage capacity, the introduction and integration of renewable energies, conservation and increase of biodiversity, the development of new technologies, and the increase of coverage in telecommunications, as well as innovation and digitization through the introduction and development of new technologies. All of these proposals, as well as contributing to our ecological transitions, we hope will act as catalysts since they will facilitate additional investments in the electrical system and will have a multiplier effect in our economy since it will be based on local suppliers and systems, which will strengthen our industrial fabric, accelerate its growth, and improve its competitiveness.
Permítanme. Let me now talk to you about our defining features.
The path before us is not without its challenges, but we are absolutely sure that we can overcome those challenges with values that define us: the constant quest for excellence, our heartfelt devotion to public service. And we will also have the support of our defining features, which are our strengths and the guiding principles for our strategic plan 21-25: innovation, good governance, sustainability, and a focus on people and talent. In the group, we've always known that innovation cannot take place without causing disruption. This has always been the main lever of change in the major upheavals that we've lived through, and it'll also be true in this case. It will be an essential tool to respond to the challenges raised by both the ecological transition and by the transformation of the telecommunication sector.
At Red Eléctrica, we are going to drive this disruptive but necessary innovation through our subsidiary, Elewit. That's our technology platform that we presented in 2020, and it is a catalyst for the innovative work of the group, positioning us as a reference point in Spain's business ecosystem. In 2020, we've run more than 120 innovation projects through Elewit, using the most advanced technologies, AI, the Internet of Things, and blockchain, for example. We've also been supporting entrepreneurs and startups that are offering solutions that are rocking the boat in the Spanish ecosystem and beyond Spain. We're therefore adopting an approach of open innovation that is accelerating the application of the latest technological advances in our group, and recently, in 2021, we have joined the Spain Entrepreneurship Strategy.
We've joined it because we are absolutely convinced that it's only through innovation that our country can become more competitive, more modern, and above all, cohesive. On top of that, innovation is in our DNA. Our excellent results are no more than a reflection of a culture of anticipation and entrepreneurship that's been rooted in the company from its earliest days. It's our professionals, our employees, who, with their passion, knowledge, experience, and dedication, always go that extra mile and promote these innovative processes. One example for you is SAGA, which is a tech solution developed by Red Eléctrica. It's based on IBM's artificial intelligence, and it enables companies that are transmitting and distributing electricity to adapt their maintenance of their assets. SAGA has attracted the interest of the Belgian TSO Elia, which, from now on, will be taking part in its development.
This is an example to show you that innovation with the RED seal is setting the pace and crossing borders. Our dedication to innovation, along with the constant striving for excellence, a focus on integrity and transparency, are the foundations of our organizational and business model. It's a model based on environmental, social, and governance criteria, ESG criteria, that makes our business compatible with the care for the environment and the creation of shared values through alliances with our peers. At this point, I would like to restate the board of directors' full commitment to sustainability. And in this commitment, we have the support of the Sustainability Committee and all of the other board committees. In addition, this model is also a response to the enormous growth of this company since its foundation.
It was the very first TSO in the world, and it has now become the major group that it is today as an outcome of the expansion and diversification of the core business and the integration of Hispasat Group into Red Eléctrica. To make the operation of the RE Group even more efficient and reinforce even further the functional independence of the electricity system operator, which, as you know, is a role that has been legally assigned to Red Eléctrica. In 2020, we implemented the process of incorporation approved by the board of directors in September 2019. It was actually on November the 1st when we transferred the corporate services of Red Eléctrica Spain to the Red Eléctrica Corporación, which is a corporation then that includes all of the units that provide the corporate services.
Now, this new organization model will guarantee the separation of our business and enable us to grow as a group. It will limit our risks and offer us synergies while encouraging further efficiency in our operations. Moreover, this business model that we have been consolidating in all of these years stands out above all for its reliance on a robust and transparent system of corporate governance that makes use of the best practices and recommendations from all around the world to ensure that a company benefits from good governance. I've already been discussing some of the main advances in this area during my talk to you today, and I'd like to complete this with detailed up-to-date information as recommended in the Code of Good Governance for listed companies. Nevertheless, you can still find more details in the company's Annual Corporate Governance Report.
As the secretary has already mentioned today, it's available on our website, and I invite you to read it if you'd like further information on the subject. To consolidate our commitment to sustainability among our shareholders, we have set up the usual roadshows with proxy advisors, all led by our independent lead director, and we've updated our criteria for communication with shareholders, institutional investors, and proxy advisors. We've also reviewed, as you've heard, our company bylaws, the regulations for this shareholders' general meeting and board meetings to adapt them to the amendments that have been made to the company's law and the Code of Good Governance approved by the CNMV in June 2020. All of these proposals are submitted to you today at this general meeting, as you've heard from the secretary.
We've also prepared a new remuneration policy for the board members, and that's for the period 2022-2024 in accordance with the new law and fully compliant with our current policy, which is also submitted to you today at this general meeting. In addition, the board has also approved a protocol for relations between the board and the employees of the companies of the group in line with the best practices of corporate governance in order to contribute to the cultural transformation of this company and in order to nurture the talent of the people in our group. As usual, in order to continue improving our corporate governance procedures here in the board, the board of directors has already carried out an annual self-assessment process with external guidance.
Lastly, among other decisions that have just taken, the board has updated the company's corporate governance policy, the contingency plans for the succession of the chairperson and CEO, and the annual program for the board's activities, as well as the plan for incorporating new directors. I'd just like to stop for a moment at this point because the board is entering a new phase today and is welcoming, if the general meeting approves their appointments, three new members, Marcos Vaquer, Elisenda Malaret, and José María Abad. All three have the necessary experience and the knowledge to help this company face the challenges of the present and the future. This meeting will also decide on whether to ratify the appointment of Ricardo García to our board last December.
I'd like to offer my personal thanks to María José García, Roberto García Merino, and Arsenio Fernández de Mesa for their dedication, their endeavors over all of these years, which have been vital to the success of Red Eléctrica. Thanks to you from the bottom of my heart. As I was explaining earlier, one of Red Eléctrica's defining features is its choice of a governance model based on a commitment to sustainability. So I'd like to devote special attention to this point, if I could, because it's no longer simply an option. It's definitely not an option for Red Eléctrica. For us, being sustainable means that our work will usher in a more ecological future, one which is fairer and more cohesive and diverse. Our business can make the world a better place than when we found it.
Above all else, we understand that our role as a social entity, a company that is active in its care and responsibility for the times we're living in. We're absolutely convinced that this is the right path, and it's the only way to ensure our future. Now, this firm commitment to sustainability is expressed in 11 targets that are fully aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and they're included in our risk assessment policy, and also, they cascade down through all of our business. One obvious example is this general meeting, which, like last year, is in the process of being certified as a sustainable event by AENOR. Our sustainable leadership is acknowledged and recognized. It's been certified by the key international indexes for sustainability, which rate our company as excellent in sustainability every single year.
Now, those indices include the prestigious Dow Jones and the MSCI indices that have classified us as one of the most sustainable companies in the world. In 2020, we have confirmed this commitment with tangible advances. These include, for instance, the fight against climate change, protection for biodiversity, and natural capital. We have met those targets that we set out in our own action plan by reducing our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gases by 47%, and this year, we are setting ourselves even more ambitious targets. Now, through this effort, we have included it in the A List. This is the most demanding list in the prestigious CDP Leadership Index. We have also restated and reconfirmed our commitment to biodiversity, spending more than EUR 23 million last year on projects to protect and conserve the ecosystems and natural capital in the environment where our installations are located.
Among these, I'd like to focus on those dealing with the conservation of threatened bird species in the Red Eléctrica Forest, which consists of 860 hectares of replanted land and the Marine Forest, where we have recovered two hectares of Posidonia oceanica in the Balearics. Under this heading, as part of this activity, I'd like to mention the study we have carried out in collaboration with the CSIC because it shows that our transmission grid can become ecological corridors in channels of biodiversity that serve to join together populations instead of dividing them. Moreover, we see sustainability as a necessary and urgent part of our progress towards a more diverse future. In 2020, we have continued to make those efforts under the supervision of the board of directors necessary to promote gender equality in our company and in our whole supply chain.
In fact, we are the only IBEX 35 company with equality on our board of directors, gender equality in 2021. Furthermore, we have joined the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index. At the moment, there are 17 Spanish companies on that index, and we have agreed to the principles for female empowerment promoted by UN Women and the United Nations Global Compact. However, we know that this is not enough, and we continue to apply positive discrimination for women in our selection processes. We're strengthening our training plans too, and we have set ourselves the target of achieving equality in our senior management by 2030. At the moment, this figure is 32.4%. Last year, 2020, we also continued to work hard to ensure that our responsible business model is extended out to all of our stakeholders.
We've updated our code of ethics and behavior to adapt it to the best practices in ethics and compliance, and we've reviewed our specific behavior code for suppliers. At the same time, we've continued to contribute to society through our transparent and responsible fiscal strategy. We have chosen sustainable financing as an essential factor to build up that model of a society that is greener and fairer. In 2020, EUR 48 out of every 100 euros was paid in tax with an effective business tax rate of 24.16%. We are leaders in the IBEX companies for the transparency of our fiscal responsibility. In June this month, we repeated our leading position in the ranking of contribution and transparency for the Commitment and Transparency Foundation in accordance with our green financing framework. In June 2020, we made our first issue of green bonds, as you know, for a total of EUR 700 million.
In the last month, we beat our own record with a new green bond with the lowest credit margin in the last decade. Recently, we've joined the network of sustainable bonds of the NASDAQ Index, the NASDAQ Sustainable Bond Network, it's called. So thanks to this commitment to sustainable finance, we have joined the Spanish Observatory for Sustainable Finance. Finally, I'd like to pause for a moment to focus on our support for social innovation as part of our commitment to sustainability. 2020 has been a turning point for us under this heading in which we want to build a country that's more integrated with real effective equality and opportunities for all of us. During this year, we've reinforced the work we've been doing to counter events and phenomena that are destroying our rural communities like depopulation and the digital divide.
Our way of handling it is to promote innovative projects that rely on the support of local agents to ensure that their inhabitants can develop fully the same citizenship rights as people living in urban areas. So with this in mind, and I just refer to some of our social innovation projects, our Holap ueblo project connects entrepreneurs with villages that need new residents. We're setting up the very first rural energy community, and we're working to overcome the digital divide by offering our surplus optical fiber to a pilot community project that aims to provide ultra-high-speed internet access for the whole community. With Hispasat, we're also taking full advantage of its potential for satellite connectivity. We're offering the Internet of Things solutions as part of the Smart Agro area, which aims to offer universal digitalization in the rural environment and boost the primary sector.
And we're also exploring solutions that can carry the e-government, the electronic administration anywhere, and extend universal rights such as health or education through remote medicine applications and virtual classrooms. Of course, this dedication to social innovation is a true reflection of our conviction that guides our activity, and that is that there are people running our infrastructures. These people have their own life projects and ambitions, but they also have their own needs and, of course, their own worries. That is why we are proud to be a company that does more than just cover our country. We work with it. We join forces with the people in the country to improve the quality of their life. The vital ingredient for this is permanent, transparent dialogue that is open to all, to institutions, to organizations, and to citizens.
This dialogue is seeking to convey the importance of our installations for the social economic growth of these areas and how they will be more important if we want to bring about a greener energy model. It's a dialogue with the community that expresses our conviction about the need to respect ecosystems and natural capital and our efforts to avoid biodiversity-rich areas when deciding on where to locate our installations. Above all else, though, it's a dialogue that is seeking to understand the concerns, the preferences, and the needs of citizens, the authorities, and the productive sector so that we can design and develop infrastructures that are useful and valuable for everyone.
So this commitment to dialogue is more necessary now than ever before, and it has to define our business and our way of understanding the important mission that we are entrusted with of guaranteeing telecommunications and electricity supply to all with the highest quality. We're living through crucial times, and the best way to ensure our success in the future is to decide together how we are going to live together, what kind of country and society we want to live in. We will be an ally on this path to the future with loyalty to our institutions and social responsibility. Red Eléctrica is looking forward to 2025, and we are doing that by preparing a transparent, realistic, and honest plan.
This plan will enable the green digital transformation of the country, and it's an honest reflection of the ideas behind the founding of the group 36 years ago to build a more sustainable, connected world through services that are essential for our daily lives. They are also the foundations for the economic rebuilding task that we are facing now as we head to the future. If there's one company that can do this, it is Red Eléctrica. As a neutral operator of electricity and telecommunications infrastructure, it is in our part to open the door to a better future. I can tell you that we are for the challenge because we are prepared, and we can rely on the experience, the professionalism, and passion of over 2,000 talented individuals who are watching over this connectivity that we rely on 24/7.
The dedication to service has always characterized us, an unshakable commitment to green, fair, diverse, and cohesive development. We are Red Eléctrica, and we are looking to the future. Thank you very much.
Y quiero darle la palabra. Thank you very much. And now I'd like to give the floor to our CEO, Roberto García Merino, who will tell you about the highlights of the company's management and strategy in 2020. Roberto, thank you very much, Chairwoman.
Good day, everyone. Dear shareholders, it is my pleasure to address you all in this general meeting in which, as well as talking about the highlights of the last year from a management perspective, I'd like to share with all of you my view on how the company will change over the coming years as reflected in our strategic plan 2021-2025, which was recently approved.
2020 was a difficult year affected by the health crisis and the economic recession caused by the pandemic globally. In this highly complex situation, we at Red Eléctrica Group have focused all our efforts into protecting our employees' health while guaranteeing the essential services we provide for society, such as power supply and connectivity, through an efficient use of electricity and telecommunications infrastructures in the countries where we operate. In these challenging times, everyone's commitment is more vital than ever. This is why at the Red Eléctrica Group, we believe that the only way to get through this crisis is to aim for a green and digital recovery, which will be fair and inclusive as an essential condition for rebuilding our economy, generating business, and creating jobs.
To do so, we as TSO in the Spanish electricity system have an essential role to play in achieving the goals set out in the European Green Deal and in the National Energy and Climate Plan in our country. Besides, our contribution will be vital in order to achieve the roadmap of the National Plan for Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience that the Spanish government has presented in order to organize this sustainable solution to the crisis. A plan within which Red Eléctrica has submitted proposals aimed at reactivating the economy and contributing to the goals that have been set at the national level. Before I analyze the highlights of 2020, let me just share some thoughts on our response to this pandemic, which we're still experiencing, although the end seems to be increasingly in sight.
In this very difficult context for our health and our economy, we have responded in a fantastic way. We have succeeded in managing an absolutely exceptional situation, working with full normality, operating the system, managing the electricity infrastructures, providing telecommunication services, and providing all the necessary support from corporate areas to keep everything working. Hard work and commitment we have demonstrated have meant that the situation caused by COVID has not had a significant impact on the business of the group. Nonetheless, from the beginning of the crisis, the company established a crisis management committee in order to implement a comprehensive contingency plan. A series of extraordinary measures were taken with the aim of meeting our obligation to guarantee the continuity and security of electricity supply and telecommunication services.
Thus, we were able in record time to set up a third electricity control center and to isolate critical personnel that run the system and maintain the transmission grid. Also, in order to guarantee and protect the care and health of our employees, we instituted remote work for non-essential tasks immediately so that 80% of the group's staff was working from home. This was considerably helped by the digital transformation that the company had been carrying out with extraordinary foresight whilst always being focused on cybersecurity. Besides these measures, the company has also contributed to various social actions to support people and households who are suffering the most due to the economic fallout from the pandemic.
At the same time, we've paid special attention to our suppliers and maintaining constant communication with those who represent 80% of our expenditure, being concerned for the health of their employees and their overall financial position. After the experiences of this last year, we will continue to work and demonstrate our commitment to society, assuming our responsibility in encouraging a return to normality as soon as possible for all sectors. Moving on to our management of 2020, I will start by looking at the most significant highlights of the year before analyzing the results and the most significant aspects of our new strategic plan 2021-2025.
In 2020, despite the effects of the pandemic, as we have seen in the demand for electricity in the country, which fell 5.6%, we've also seen significant advances this year, which makes us think that we're on the right track to achieve our energy and climate targets, although we still have a long way to go. In this sense, the Red Eléctrica Group has played a crucial role in making 2020 the greenest year in our history, with 44% penetration of renewable energy in the generation mix in Spain, with landmarks such as 75.9% coverage of immediate demand through wind power generation, which was achieved on November 3rd last year. Challenges which we have been able to rise to, thanks to a large extent to our energy control center, which celebrated its 15th anniversary this June.
It was the first center in the world of its kind designed to integrate the largest possible portion of energy from renewable sources with the same quality and security of supply. I have to say that these percentages of renewable energy integration have been achieved with unrelated loss of quality in the electricity supply and with a high level of security and grid availability. Our target, which we achieved even in the exceptional circumstances of the last year, which have been a tremendous challenge for the operation of the system. Alongside all of these efforts, in 2020, we have continued to move forward with the sustainable development of the national transmission grid, which at the end of the last year measured 44,453 km.
In the year, we've invested EUR 383 million, which has enabled us to commission an additional 116 km of power lines and 93 substations, with particularly significant projects such as the Mallorca-Menorca link, which was achieved in a record 18 months and which will play a substantial role in the decarbonization of our energy system in the Balearic Islands. We've also increased the system's transformation capacity by 1,430 MVAs. Looking towards the future, one of the most relevant challenges for the company in the coming years will be the development of the electricity transmission grid planning for the 2021-2026 period, a plan which is, as you know, binding for Red Eléctrica.
At the end of 2019, Red Eléctrica system operators submitted its initial proposal for this plan to the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, and later the CNMC issued a report on this initial proposal with a series of recommendations mainly to do with providing more detail on certain methodologies used for the proposed actions and their assessment. Finally, in February this year, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge raised the proposed plan for the transmission grid to the public consultation stage together with its strategic environmental study. In this proposal, the Ministry foresees a total investment of EUR 6.6 billion in transmission grids, of which just over a billion would be aimed to strengthen international interconnections with France, Portugal, and Morocco, and EUR 5.6 billion reinforcing the transmission grids that make up the national electricity system.
This greater investment effort will have the aim of integrating renewable energies as well as solving technical constraints, as well as promoting the use and improvement of the existing grid, new technologies, and the reduction of their environmental impact. Focusing on the rest of the group's activities, internationally, the company has taken a significant step towards the consolidation of its international energy business in 2020 by acquiring 50% of the Brazilian company Argo Energia, which manages high-voltage electricity transmission grids for EUR 374 million. This is an acquisition which signals the beginning of Red Eléctrica's activities in Brazil, where it will be managing 1,430 kilometers of high-voltage power lines for a period of 30 years.
The management of this new concession in Brazil is being added to the 1,471 kilometers we operate in Chile and the 1,558 kilometers that Red Eléctrica manages in Peru, strengthening our efforts towards the consolidation of our electricity business in Latin America as a source of diversification and growth. As for our satellite business, 2020 was a challenging year because of the COVID pandemic, which had an impact on the demand for satellite services, particularly in the mobility market due to the reduction in traveling, as well as other market sectors such as government connectivity projects, which have been significantly delayed in their deployment, or satellite television services due to the reduction in the number of sports and cultural events. In 2020, we've also seen confirmation of trends such as the vertical integration of some satellite operators who are increasingly acting as service providers in some segments and regions.
These circumstances have led us to embark upon an update of Hispasat's assets and to redouble our efforts to capture the opportunities that will develop in the future. In this sense, Hispasat has carried out a strategic review, which concluded last year in the approval of a new strategic plan 2021-2025. The new strategy has the aim of repositioning Hispasat from infrastructure operator to satellite service operator. As for the fiber optic business, Reintel has continued to strengthen its position as the largest neutral dark fiber operator in Spain. We're currently managing a network of over 52,000 kilometers of fiber optic deployed over the electricity transmission grid and the railway network, a fiber network which has become an excellent tool in order to contribute to society's digital transformation.
Finally, with the goal of driving technological innovation and generating new business opportunities, thanks to our technology subsidiary Elewit, we'll be able to take full advantage of innovation as a driver for transformation and new prospects. We will contribute to the energy transition and the development of telecommunications through the design, incubation, and acceleration of innovative ideas, attracting and integrating internal and external talent. In 2020, Elewit has worked on 125 technology innovation projects and two venture client programs with 12 startups with an investment of EUR 16.9 million.
I will now move on to talk to you about the key financial highlights of 2020. In this regard, I'd like to point out that the financial results have also been affected by a new regulatory context and also by the exceptional circumstances associated with the financial crisis that was caused by the pandemic.
Our revenue totaled just over EUR 1.98 billion, reflecting a decline in income from the transmission business in Spain as a result of the application of new remuneration parameters. This has been largely offset by high income from the telecoms business due to the incorporation of Hispasat, which has contributed income totaling EUR 155 million during the year. The EBITDA totaled EUR 1.568 billion, down 1% on 2019. Now, this amount includes the EUR 118.8 million earned by Hispasat. As regards operating results, I'd like to highlight the efforts that the group has made to reduce costs. This effort is more visible if we look at the cost of provisions and other operating costs, which, despite including the expenses associated with Hispasat now, rose by only 4% compared to the previous financial year.
Our net operating profit, our EBIT figure, was EUR 929 million, and this figure includes the provision that was made for the impairment in the value of Hispasat's fixed assets, EUR 122 million, as a result of the need to adjust the value of assets to its new business situation caused by the pandemic, and especially in the second half of the year. In turn, earnings for the year were EUR 621.2 million, down 13% compared to the previous year. Now, without that provision I've just mentioned, our recurring result would have been EUR 703 million. That's only 1.8% down compared to 2019. The group's investments during the year amounted to EUR 895 million. Now, out of that sum, EUR 383 million were used to develop the national transmission grid and EUR 16.8 million to running the system.
As regards the development of our international electricity transmission business, now that accounted for EUR 417.5 million, EUR 374.3 million were used to acquire a 50% share in the Brazilian company Argo. And lastly, EUR 60.1 million were spent on developing the telecoms business and other projects, including the projects that were carried out by our tech subsidiary Elewit. With regard to debt, please note that the net financial debt at 31st December totals EUR 6.11 billion, and we maintained optimum solvency ratios. In this regard, the net debt to EBITDA coverage ratio stands at 3.9 times and our operating funds to debt ratio at 20.2%. That's well above the levels required to maintain our current credit rating. Let me focus now on our financial structure. The average life of our debt currently stands at 5.3 years, with an average cost of 1.74%.
And the sums due to be paid off over the next three years are covered by our liquid assets, which at present amount to over EUR 2.4 billion. If we look at the debt structure more closely with an instrument breakdown, we have a well-diversified debt with 82% at a fixed rate until maturity, with the euro predominating over other currencies. It should also be noted that we gained access to the capital market in 2020 when we issued our first green bond in January last year for a total of EUR 700 million, which means that 23% of all of our financing acquired at the end of last year met ESG criteria. Likewise, I'd like to point out that in May of this year, we made an issue of 12-year green bonds with EUR 600 million at 0.625%.
The credit margin for this operation is the lowest that has been seen on the Spanish market in the last decade, and at the same time, this operation shows our desire to have green financing, which is earmarked to support our projects to speed up the ecological transition in Spain. Let me also highlight that the credit rating agency, Standard & Poor's, affirmed last March to maintain the long-term rating for the Red Eléctrica operation at A minus with a stable outlook, and finally, the board of directors is proposing to this general meeting for its approvals a preliminary dividend. That's the final dividend from the results of 2020 of EUR 0.7273. This final dividend, plus the interim dividend payable in January 2021, comes to a total amount of EUR 1 per share in accordance with the commitment made to our shareholders and to the market.
Please allow me to spend just a few minutes now reviewing for you our strategic plan 2021-2025. That plan contains a series of strategic guidelines to guide our path forward as we seek to achieve the efficient transformation of the energy model. In this sense, the plan budgets for volume of investment amounting to EUR 4.4 billion in the 2021-2025 period, of which more than EUR 3.3 billion, or 75%, will be targeted at making the energy transition possible. The remaining investments will be devoted to consolidating position in significant growth areas such as international business and the telecommunication sector. We will undertake all of this while promoting a corporate culture of innovation, talent, and commitment to sustainability. All in all, what we are going to do is empower a fair ecological transition under sustainable criteria, highlighting our neutrality and making a contribution to social and territorial cohesion.
In order to achieve a carbon-neutral economy, the company is developing all of the necessary infrastructures, including the new energy plan 2021 to 2026, such as the interconnects between Spain and France, the third connection with the Balearic Islands projects to reinforce the transmission grid or to evacuate renewable energy to the grid, so that the strategic plan is envisaging investments amounting to more than EUR 2.8 billion. In addition, EUR 411 million will be earmarked for energy storage projects. These are essential for the integration of renewable energy sources. In particular, I'd like to highlight the Salto de Chira pumping station on Gran Canaria, on the island of Gran Canaria. It's currently at the environmental impact review stage, and it's expected to become up and running and to service in 2027, as well as a project for Tenerife.
Finally, with regard to system operations, there are plans to invest EUR 92 million in this period to progress in the preparations for operating a system that will be more complex, with more renewable input, and it will be the most integrated one in Europe. In total, the investments to make Spain's energy transition possible will total EUR 3.349 billion during this period, in which the investment in the transition grid will account for 85% of the regulated investments. The volume of investment currently committed, which will take us up to the end of 2025, is particularly notable as it will not enter service until the following remuneration period begins in 2026. Another strategic area for the group is the consolidation of our international business. We've been present in South America for 20 years now. We are operating 4,449 kilometers of power lines there with excellent levels of availability.
We've invested more than EUR 1.3 billion in international assets in Peru, Chile, and Brazil, too. The remuneration models in these countries provide us with stable and predictable revenue flows over time, and new business opportunities have arisen over recent years as a result of our footprint in that area. In the future, therefore, we're going to look to consolidate and grow our electricity business organically in Peru, Chile, and Brazil by strengthening our presence in our existing businesses, as well as looking for opportunities for business that can generate new revenues. So, to this end, the investments planned for the period 2021 to 2025 will amount to approximately EUR 225 million, and we're expecting a very positive performance in EBITDA terms with annual growth in excess of 6% up until 2025.
As regards our telecommunications business, the sector itself is operating in a world that is becoming more intricately connected with the need to handle growing amounts of data that will ensure increasing demand for telecommunications infrastructures. Therefore, we're going to continue to strengthen our optical fiber business and develop new opportunities in relation to 5G technology, which offers enormous growth potential. We'll continue to work in this area. Our investments represent a figure of EUR 115 million for the period, and we hope our EBITDA will grow between 2 and 5% annually during that period.
In the satellite sector, we've been working to prepare a new strategic plan since we acquired Hispasat in 2019, and that would allow us to transform the company, optimize our current business, and take full advantage of the opportunities arising in a sector that is undergoing technological change now and is moving towards a sector that will be offering services more directly to the general public. In view of this expected growth for the market in the coming years, this plan has been devised on the basis of a steady and orderly realignment, combining commercial exploitation of Hispasat's legacy business tied to audiovisual services via broadcasting, at the same time adopting a new vertical orientation and services with greater upside for future growth, such as connectivity and mobility based on the application of new technologies and new alliances.
Likewise, the growing demand for connectivity in all fields, especially in rural areas, to reduce the digital divide makes the combination of different technologies like fiber and satellites a necessity. This option to combine them represents an opportunity for us that will enable Hispasat to bolster its leadership in this sector. So, to achieve this goal, an investment of EUR 620 million we've made in satellite infrastructures, which the company will finance with its own cash flows, no need for outside resources. Mainly, we're going to focus on the new Amazonas Nexus satellite and on supporting the transformation of the company from a company that's geared more towards managing telecommunication infrastructures to one that will have a larger proportion of land-based and mobility services, and that will lead to annual growth well above 5% in EBITDA terms during this period. Efficiency is another strategic pillar of the new plan.
In this regard, to provide the investments derived from energy transition and the preparation of the new activities included in the strategic plan, there will be a need to make changes to our capital structure. Our commitment to financial discipline and credible solvency will not change, but we will be improving operating efficiency by generating synergies and optimizing our processes and resources in order to guarantee the resilience of our business and its continuity. We're also continuing to take on the challenge of consolidating our role in the innovation ecosystem by boosting our leadership in the energy and telecommunication sectors. We're also preparing entrepreneurship programs, sorry, for open innovation and cultural transformation using tools like Elewit as our driver. We also want to drive the transformation of the group by fostering a culture of innovation, agility, and collaboration to attract the best professionals and build our talent.
And all of this is aligned with our commitment to sustainability as a lever to consolidate a business model that will allow us to take on those future challenges and take full advantage of any opportunities arising from those challenges. The development of this strategic plan is based, therefore, on achieving a series of financial targets in the 2021-2025 period. The most important target is the completion of planned investments worth EUR 4.4 billion, supported by management based on operative and financial efficiency, with a target 70% EBIT margin in 2025, and at the same time maintaining our solvency ratios for net debt to EBIT below 5 times and operating funds to debt ratio above 15%. All of this with the goal of retaining a solid credit rating throughout that period.
We shall also be considering how to take full advantage of the company's strategic assets with a collaboration of minority partners who can enable us to fully develop these assets and extract their full potential for value. Lastly, we'll ensure shareholder remuneration of EUR 1 per share in the period 2020 to 2022 and at least EUR 0.8 per share in the 2023 to 2025 period. To sum up, the 2021-2025 Strategic Plan is seeking to take us efficiently forward towards a decarbonized economy to make Spain's energy transition a reality, consolidate our position in major areas of expansion such as our international business and telecommunications activities, drive a corporate culture based on efficiency, innovation, and talent, and to maintain that ongoing commitment to sustainability as a guarantee of the group's continued existence.
This is our commitment, and we are going to work very hard to meet all of those targets that we've set for ourselves and affirm the strength of the principles on which our strategic plan has been created. Thank you very much. Muchas gracias.
Thank you very much, Roberto. Thank you very much to our CEO. Thank you very much to all of you for your attention during these speeches in this General Shareholders' Meeting. I've been told that there have been no requests for the floor from our shareholders or any questions, and so we will now report on the result of the votes on the proposed resolutions.
I'd like to inform you that according to the regulations of this shareholders meeting, we will consider as votes in favor those for all the shares present or represented except for those votes expressly cast as votes against or abstention in the voting cards or proxies received, as well as those expressly cast against or abstentions expressly cast by those attending during this meeting. For those of you who have voted remotely before this General Shareholders' Meeting in compliance with the requirements approved by the board, as well as those who will be voting during this General Shareholders' Meeting through the telematic attendance means, will be considered as present as established by the Capital Companies Act, the Social Bylaws, and the regulations of this General Shareholders' Meeting, as the secretary announced.
So, the secretary will now refer to the results of the voting of the proposed resolutions for this General Shareholders' Meeting.
Secretary, yes, I will report that we have voted separately on each proposed resolution in the agenda that I read a few minutes ago. Since most of the shareholders present have not raised any objections, we will take those proposed resolutions as read.
Well, thank you very much, Secretary. In view of the information that has been provided on the voting by the shareholders, I am happy to announce that all the proposed resolutions have been approved with a sufficient majority according to the nature of each of the resolutions that were submitted for your approval separately.
I would also like to point out that today we'll be posting on our corporate website the exact voting percentages and numbers in favor against and abstentions for each of the proposed resolutions that have just been approved by this General Shareholders' Meeting. Now that we have completed all the items of our agenda, the notary will certify the minutes, which will be made available to all the shareholders who might wish to consult them. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I'd like to just thank our team, our interpreters, both for sign language and English, and everyone and all the shareholders who've been kind enough to attend this meeting, which, again, we've had to hold via telematic means because of the pandemic.
And it has been possible thanks to the help of all the people I've mentioned, but also to a large extent thanks to the telecommunications network that we have in this country, for which we are largely responsible because the combination of our dark fiber optic network as well as our satellite are an essential backbone of this universal connectivity, as well as our roles as TSOs in the energy grid. And so, the Red Eléctrica group will be at the center of this digital and green transformation, which will set the basis for a more just, inclusive, and environmental future, a more sustainable future. In summary, a future that will be based on the neutral infrastructures that Red Eléctrica has always made available to society to recovery and progress, as we will do with the next Electricity Transmission Plan, 2021-2026, which we trust will be approved this same year.
We will carry out all the work included in that plan with rigor, quality, innovation, active listening, and social institutional dialogue. There can be no transition without a grid, but you can't have a transition if those renewable energy infrastructures are not respectful for the environment and biodiversity. With all of these components, we will implement our new strategy because we are a socially responsible company, not just because of our public service vocation, but also because that's what you, our shareholders, require. A company cannot be sustainable if it does not contribute to society and leave things better than we found them, and that is our essential commitment. With that, I will adjourn this General Shareholders' Meeting of Red Eléctrica Corporación S.A. for the year 2020. Thank you very much, everyone.