In recent years there are two acronyms that are becoming increasingly important in large companies: CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and ESG criteria (Environmental, Social and Governance (i.e. environmental, social and governance). It is, first of all, the commitment that companies acquire to carry out their operations in an ethical manner, contributing to sustainable development and social well-being and taking into account environmental protection. For their part, ESG criteria evaluate the company’s impact on the environment, what its relationships are like with its employees and with society, and how responsible its corporate governance is. Both acronyms ultimately refer to the balance between business success and the positive impact on society and its habitat.
Furthermore, adopting sustainable and ethical practices also helps optimize costs by promoting energy efficiency, waste reduction and better resource management. However, the effect that these practices have on the corporate image means that concepts such as greenwashing or ecological posturing become a cause for concern. In this sense, the European directive already seeks to combat it to prevent companies that are not respectful of the environment from trying to capitalize on public concern and attract consumers to their products. It is also the organizations themselves that, with the aim of moving away from these concepts, begin to take action with ESG projects and strategies whose impact is real and tangible.
Figures such as long-term energy purchase contracts or PPAs thus take center stage. (Power Purchase Agreementfor its acronym in English). These types of contracts between companies and renewable energy suppliers have a term of between seven and 15 years, normally ten, thereby ensuring during that time a quantity of electricity generated by solar or wind farms at prices not subject to the volatility of the market.
In this way, companies can guarantee that the electricity they will consume within the framework of their activities in the next ten years will have a certified renewable origin. This not only helps to decarbonize corporate activity and provide predictability to energy costs, but these types of contracts are becoming a fundamental piece in the development of a clean energy infrastructure in addition to contributing to progress towards less external dependence.
Renewable consumption in 2025
In this sense, Cellnexas the main European operator of wireless telecommunications infrastructures, has signed a agree with Elawan for the supply of renewable electricity for ten years. In this way, it reinforces its commitment to the fact that its electricity consumption will be 100% renewable in 2025, in line with its Energy Transition Plan, included in the ESG Master Plan 2021-2025. In this way, Cellnex will receive more than 400,000 megawatts/hour of renewable energy per yearthus certifying that the electricity consumed comes from renewable sources.
“This long-term contract guarantees us that the renewable energy we consume will come from four specific wind and photovoltaic parks, and it also offers us that security in all the European countries in which we have direct energy consumption,” explains Mila Rey, Global Head of Energy at Cellnex, in reference to the development of three photovoltaic parks in Albacete and a wind farm in Cuenca, with a total capacity of 200 megawatts. “In addition to responding to one of our strategic commitments in terms of consumption, it contributes to the aspiration of substantially increasing the renewable generation capacity in Spain and, at the same time, to the global decarbonization objectives,” says Rey.
An ambitious Energy Transition Plan
Cellnex’s goal of ensuring that 100% of the electricity it consumes comes from renewable sources by 2025 is one of the essential levers for reducing its carbon footprint and is one of its three emissions reduction objectives validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Another of the pillars of its Energy Transition Plan is Energy 4.0which seeks to monitor, control and optimize energy consumption with intelligent measurement systems. “The bulk of our consumption is due to customer equipment, which also seeks the best efficiency, since it will result in lower consumption and energy costs,” explains Rey, who praises the monitoring platform that Cellnex has and that allows “Offering transparency and traceability on the energy cost and its origin to our clients, an absolutely priority issue,” says Rey.
After the measurement, the segment enters Energy Efficiency whose objective is to improve energy efficiency and to do so they are working on the deployment of ISO 50001 on Energy Management Systems. And finally, with the pillar Self-generation The aim is to increase self-consumption in the group itself, focusing on Italy and Spain, where almost 10% of its portfolio already includes photovoltaic installations.
In short, the company is committed to an energy policy that aspires to go beyond the mere purchase of clean energy, seeking carbon neutrality in 2035 and with the ultimate goal of reaching the Net Zero objective in 2050.
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