ACCIONA urges the treasury ministers of the G20 to make a commitment against climate change in the COP21

ACCIONA has signed a letter from the Corporate Leaders Group and nine other international business organizations asking the Treasury Ministers of the G20 to promote a legal, fiscal and financial framework to favor a low-carbon economy. To achieve this, the business leaders highlighted the importance of making progress towards setting a strong price for CO2 and the removal of “perverse subsidies such as those for fossil fuels”.

The Corporate Leaders Group has stressed to the Treasury Ministers of the G20 that the agreement reached in the COP21 needs to set long-term objectives to reduce global emissions aimed at achieving zero emissions (net) by the end of this century, setting up measures to review national commitments to reduce emissions every five years and creating clear control mechanisms to make the countries’ commitments comparable and reliable.


As ACCIONA President José Manuel Entrecanales points out,

"the companies have spoken out clearly. We have the vision, the commitment and the technologies – such as renewable energy – to mark the beginning of a new era of low-carbon prosperity. Achieving a strong treaty on the climate in Paris will allow us to work, together with the governments, to put an end to global warming”.

The Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, driven by Charles, Prince of Wales, brings together 23 multinational companies – among them ACCIONA, Coca-Cola, Philips or Tesco - that are convinced of the urgent need to apply new policies with a long-term vision to combat climate change. In addition to the Corporate Leaders Group, the letter is supported by nine international business associations (We Mean Business partners BSR, Ceres, CDP, The B Team, The Climate Group, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Japan Climate Leaders Partnership, and the Brazilian Business Organizations ECP and CEBDS).

In the letter, the business leaders draw attention to the major advances made by the business community in investing in technologies and business models with lower CO2 emissions, highlighting, as a paradigmatic example, that investment in clean energies worldwide reached 27 billion dollars last year. However, they point out that in order to maintain this growth and the new jobs and investments it brings, “effective national policies aimed at a strong low-carbon economy are needed to ensure adaptation to the impacts of climate change”.

The signatories also underline the importance of creating a suitable fiscal framework to bring about the transition to a low-carbon economy. To do this, clear commitments and timescales are needed to achievea strong price for carbon and the elimination of perverse subsidies such as those for fossil fuels, plus an orientation of national finance policies to support climate change objectives.

The business leaders have also asked the Treasury Ministers to guarantee public finance to combat climate change, thereby reducing the risk of investing in the industries and infrastructures of the future. This institutional support, according to the signatories, will attract private capital flows.

In this sense, Corporate Leaders Group President and former President of Alstom Power Philippe Joubert points out that

“strong leadership by the Treasury Ministers is vital in order to implement effective national policies to help a low-carbon economy prosper".

Through this letter, the private sector has addressed the Treasury Ministers given their key role in driving a solid agreement in the Paris Climate Summit (COP21) and their capacity to implement – in their respective countries – measures aimed at achieving the objectives on the climate by making a commitment to reduce polluting emissions.

This letter joins another sent last Monday to the Environment Ministers of the EU requesting reforms to the Carbon Emissions Trading Market to encourage companies to invest in less contaminating technologies.

ACCIONA has been part of Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change since 2009. As an active member, it works on the Groups’ projects and subscribes to its stance to combat climate change.

Letter to G20 and EU Finance Ministers            

To learn more, read The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group press release.