EDP manages a new, unprecedented achievement in the sustainability field as its electricity supply branch attains 99.7 points out of 100 in the GRESB index (Global Real State Sustainability Benchmark). This achievement turns EDP Network Spain into the electricity supply company that best integrates ESG criteria (Environmental, Social and Governmental) into its strategy, out of all those analysed by this independent index.

Furthermore, the supply company leads, both independently in the sector and at a worldwide scale, the Performance category in a competition against a total of 683 entities, proof of an excellent operative management and EDP Network Spain’s unwavering commitment to measurable and comparable aims in areas such as Diversity and Equity, Security and Health measures, Engagement with Employees and Energy Management, Emissions, Biodiversity and Habitat Management.

The GRESB index was created in 2009 and focuses on understanding how companies integrate ESG criteria. It is of use for private and institutional investment funds as a tool to evaluate and compare, measure and determine the quality of the infrastructure related to aspects of sustainability. This distinctive serves as GRESB acknowledgement of EDP Spain’s leading role and highlights the organisation as a point of reference in operative excellency.

Unlike other indexes that may evaluate isolated projects, GRESB measures the behaviour of companies holistically:

• Environmental footprint of the assets: efficiency actions and measures taken to track and reduce the environmental footprint of any assets.
• Direct social impact: relationship and impact of the entity over its target groups and what kind of impact its activities have on society.
• Governance of sustainability: policies, procedures and handling of sustainability at an entity or organisational level. Furthermore, it evaluates other aspects such as engagement with target groups, risks and opportunities including those pertaining to climate change and transitional ones, and how transparent the company proves to be.

“To receive such an acknowledgment by the hand of an index as rigorous as GRESB confirms our commitment to integrating sustainability effectively and in a transversal manner in all areas of our business”, underlined Yolanda Fernández Montes, director of Environmental Matters, Sustainability, Innovation and Climate Change at EDP Spain. “It is a result of a strategy we have spent years developing and it acknowledges our team’s efforts to promote a sustainable business. At the same time, it proves we are a point of reference in this field and it invites us to continue working down this road”, she pointed out.

This acknowledgement adds up to the one awarded by S&P Global CSA, setting EDP apart as the most sustainable electricity provider worldwide after getting the “best marks of its promotion” in climate strategies, ethics, innovation and trade opportunities among 256 businesses.