ACCIONA corporate volunteers explain sustainability to 7,000 schoolchildren in seven countries

ACCIONA held its annual Corporate Volunteering Day for the second year running. Company employees took part in Sustainability Workshops with primary school children aged between 7 and 11. This year's event drew 350 employees and reached out to more than 7,000 schoolchildren.

ACCIONA volunteers went into classrooms in hundreds of participating schools and engaged with pupils in two hour sessions aimed at giving youngsters a fun and practical grounding in a number of sustainability matters, such as water and energy saving, more effective use of natural resources, the basics of renewable energy and so on. To get a sound grasp of these issues, the schoolchildren carry out a number of activities such as working out how much water they use daily, as well as making their own mini wind generator and domestic solar oven.

Las year the event was held in Spain, Mexico and Chile; this year ACCIONA extended it to youngsters in Canada, Brazil, Australia and Poland.

ACCIONA's Volunteer day sets out not only to raise awareness among schoolchildren on how to play an active role in achieving sustainable development, but also to encourage employees to embrace ACCIONA's philosophy based on a commitment on low-carbon business models, business activities that avoid carbon emissions, lowering GHG emissions and achieving the greatest possible savings in water and energy.

This initiative joins the World Environment Day celebrations and is part of AQCCIONA's policy of disseminating sustainability values, which the Company put into practice in its Sustainability Workshop, a free training project for participating schools, featuring teacher training and guided tours of installations, e.g. wind farms, R&D centers and water treatment plants. This school year, the Sustainability Workshop has benefitted more than 3.000 schoolchildren.