Abstract

Enel is fully aware of the value of ecosystems and of their associated services, which is why a great deal in effort has always gone into responsible management of natural resources.

Currently, 129 projects are underway to protect different species and natural habitats, across Europe (83), Latin America (29), United States (12) and Russia (5).

The Group is highly interested in the development of parameters of quantification and valorisation of ecosystem services and, despite these, Enel considers biodiversity to be an intrinsic value of its countries of operation that must be safeguarded and fostered by means of a business model based on the creation of lasting value for both the countries and the communities in which it operates.

The Experience

Protection of biodiversity is one of the most indicative values for measuring the sustainability of a Company. Preservation of ecosystems and species translates in respect for the life, places and symbols of local communities. Ecosystems are also associated with so-called “ecosystem services”. Though these are still difficult to be quantified in economic terms, they bear intrinsic value as they represent the benefits that the communities receive in return for the existence of the ecosystems themselves.

Enel considers biodiversity as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), that revolves around the concept of “Creating Shared Value (CSV)” in order to openly express the vocation of its strategy for the creation of lasting and shared value for communities in which we install out plants and grids.

The Group’s recent internal organisation has made sustainability a founding principle of the organisational and business model. The new “Innovation and Sustainability” Department, which reports directly to the CEO, was created and it works closely with the central business units and in the countries served by the Group to ensure the full integration of sustainability in different points on the value chain, also through innovative business models.

As mainly concerns biodiversity, Enel’s new approach draws experience from its lengthy knowledge of plant installation and maintenance, whether power plants or distribution and transmission lines.

Currently, 129 projects are underway to protect different species and natural habitats, distributed in Europe (83), Latin America (29), United States (12) and Russia (5).

 The business practice for biodiversity that Enel has consolidated throughout the years envisages the environmental impact assessment of any given project on ecosystems and animal and plant species during the pre-feasibility study of the project. Whenever necessary and if the project passes the initial screenings, alternatives having minor impact are evaluated and strategies, actions and modes of implementation are shared with the country of interest.

The projects and work plans arise from mostly voluntary initiatives and/or from the provisions of the authorisation processes. These initiatives cover a wide range of activities such as studies, inventories and monitoring plans of endangered species, programs for the reintroduction of native species and re-foresting.

The interventions are planned by assigning priority to protected areas in relation to ecosystems, and country specificities for species on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources(IUCN) are then treated with utmost attention.

Project classification is centralised, following a classification matrix that also accounts for, aside from the typical environmental parameters (type of species and habitats that are scope of the protection/enhancement project), the scientific aspects of the project, social consequences and area of influence. Therefore, project results are monitored in time, and upon conclusion the information is disclosed to the business units so that it can be used for similar projects.

Enel has recently provided for a Group policy for the respect and protection of biodiversity as integration of its Environmental Policy, which already encompasses biodiversity as one of its 10 strategic goals (see box page 16). The goal is to establish various founding principles and to express a common view on this topic, furthered by the intent to help select the initiatives proposed by the country. This policy also sets out to overcome the logic of compensation as sole possibility of intervention: the impacts must be mitigated at their origin, turning to their appropriate compensation only when the former is impossible.

In consideration of the projects currently in progress, notable mentions go to the initiatives developed in Latin America in collaboration with local communities and bodies of research. The first, in the region of Huinay in Chile, extends approximately 34,000 hectares from the Comau or Leptepu Fjord, in the province of Palena, up to Argentina and constitutes a privileged area in terms of biodiversity. This characteristic has made it a full-fledged research laboratory for a specific science foundation, Fundación San Ignacio del Huinay supported by Enel and its subsidiary Endesa. Active since 1998, the Foundation has contributed to the discovery of 50 new species including one, EndesaTethocyathus, which is the first species to be named after a company.

The second initiative regards the Fortuna forest reserve, a site of outstanding naturalistic value that extends for about 19,500 hectares near the Pacific coast of Panama. The area is part of the UNESCO “World Biosphere Reserve” network and it is considered among the most important in the world for the wealth of biodiversity.

In Europe, the broad scope of the project for the preservation of wildlife (chamois, Alpine marmot, European lynx, grey wolf, peregrine falcon, golden eagle and salmon trout) in the National Park of High Tatras, one of Slovakia’s most important wildlife areas, has been acknowledged with the European Union’s “Business & Biodiversity Award”.

In Italy, EnelDistribuzione recently concluded its “Save the flyers” LIFE project aimed at the conservation of chiroptera and Red Kits that inhabit the AmiataGrossetano area (Grosseto) and the GoladellaRossa and Frasassi Regional Natural Park. Furthermore, EnelProduzione is committed to the LIFE+ “Aqualife” project up to 2018 with the goal of developing and disseminating the “Aqualife Package”, an innovative and easy to use system of indicators to evaluate the biodiversity condition of groundwater dependent ecosystems. In Lombardy, Enel Green Power takes part in the regional project LIFE+ “Conflupo” in order to restore the longitudinal continuity of the Po River near the hydropower plant of the Serafini Island.

Enel has ventured down a path that has led to many acknowledgements, also in economic terms. Enel is present among the main Indexes of Sustainability (Dow Jones, Carbon Disclosure Project, FSTE4good, STOXX Global ESG Leaders index) and it accounted for 134 socially responsible investors as of December 2014 (117 in 2013) for a total of 5.9% of the Group’s share capital. 

Brandishing this awareness, the Group is constantly committed to the improvement of its social and environmental performance.

In particular, with regard to biodiversity, Enel has a great deal of interest in the development of parameters to quantify and valorise ecosystem services, of which biodiversity constitutes one of the most important values. We are aware of the difficulties that a company traditionally attributes an economic value to these services. While awaiting greater maturity of the scientific debate on these issues, we continue to apply the model of Creating Shared Value, based on the recognition of biodiversity as one of the essential dimensions required to forge a relationship of mutual respect and to create lasting value for the communities in which we install out plants.