Under the theme ‘Reimagine. Recreate. Restore’, this year’s World Environment Day focuses on the restoration of ecosystems.
Every three seconds, the world loses an area of forest the size of a football field, and we have already lost half of our wetlands and coral reefs. Faced with this situation, which is close to being irreversible, we must take urgent measures.
It is time to stop wondering what the planet can offer us, and start thinking about what we can do for it. If each of us participates on a small scale, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while preserving the planet’s ecosystems will be to everyone’s credit.
Ecosystems, the nourishment of life
Ecosystems sustain life on earth, of their health depends the health of the planet and, by extension, our own health. For this reason, on the World’s Environment Day 2021, also starts the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, whose aim is to prevent and stop the degradation of ecosystems, as well as to reverse it as much as possible.
We cannot go back in time, but we can carry out a multitude of actions that help compensate for the damage that has already been done and, above all, not continue to harm the environment. Only with healthy ecosystems can we improve people’s lives, counteract climate change and stop the collapse of biodiversity, thus saving future generations.
Ecosystem restoration is a large-scale global endeavour. It involves, for example, repairing billions of hectares of land to guarantee decent living conditions for millions of people, or curbing the danger of extinction of countless species of plants and animals.
Ecosystem restoration brings tangible and substantial benefits for everyone. And that is why for Iberdrola the respect for the environment is one of its core values. To achieve this, it is committed to corporate sustainable development policies through its Biodiversity Policy, the ultimate objective of which is the conservation of biodiversity in the planning and subsequent development of all the company’s actions.
It has also pledged to be carbon neutral globally by 2050, and to reduce its emissions to 50g CO2 / kWh by 2030. To achieve this, it is necessary to rely on concrete actions such as the closure of all its coal plants, planting millions of trees that will capture 6 million tons of CO2 or having 79% of its own installed capacity from emission-free sources.
Renewable Energies are the key
The transition to an energy system based on renewable energy is essential for the future of the planet. Without them there is no possible future.
Renewable energies, unlike fossil fuels, not only do not produce greenhouse gases, responsible for climate change, but also have many more advantages.
In the first place, they are inexhaustible and show immense potential for use anywhere on the planet. In addition, its cost evolves downward, unlike that of fossil fuel derivatives, whose reserves are finite. This makes them more competitive every day not only environmentally, but also economically.
On the other hand, they reduce energy dependence, since renewable resources can be found anywhere and be transformed into a clean source of clean and native energy, without the need to depend on importing fossil fuels, with all the social, environmental and economic disadvantages associated with this.
For all this we reflect on this World Environment Day, to make sure that the message reaches the population; to spread the importance of our personal and professional actions; to, ultimately, improve our planet, that gives us life.