To the € 3.250 billion raised with the bond issues carried out so far, Telefónica will add new green and sustainable bonds, loans and bank financing. This was the central axis of the message of Ángel Vilá, CEO of the Spanish company, yesterday during the 12th Global Workshop on Energy and Climate Change.
Telefónica launched a green bond in January 2019, another green hybrid in 2020 and the first sustainable hybrid bond in 2021: “Investor support plays a fundamental role in deploying the necessary infrastructure and developing cutting-edge technologies. Their interest in our potential to decarbonize the economy places us as the largest green emitter in the ICT sector,” said Vilá.
In terms of reducing the footprint of the rest of the ecosystem, Telefónica's goal is to help its customers avoid 12 million tons of CO2 per year. The firm's commitment is to achieve zero net emissions in 2025 in its key markets and in 2040 in its entire footprint, including the value chain. To achieve these objectives, it will seek to continue reducing direct and indirect emissions with the 1.5ºC scenario, 70% on a global scale in 2025. As an intermediate goal, in that same year it will begin to neutralize the remaining emissions in its main markets.
As part of the transformation strategy towards zero carbon, the axes in terms of operation will be the transformation of the grid, energy efficiency, the renewable energy plan, carbon pricing, circularity, neutralization of emissions and adaptation to climate risks, according to Maya Ormazabal, director of Environment and Human Rights.
Regarding CO2 emissions, in 2020 they totaled 734 kt, compared to 1,912 kt in 2015, and it is estimated that by 2021 the figure will have dropped to 650 kt. Juan Manuel Caro, Director of Operations Transformation at Telefónica, said that emissions are higher in Hispam markets because there is still no access to renewable energy in the same way as in other markets. Thus, while the United Kingdom generated 66.1 kt in 2020 and Germany 25.8 kt, Brazil reported 78.1 kt and the countries gathered in Hispam, 487.7 kt.