SUSTAINABILITY ceived as one of the five firms that con-tribute the most to sustainable develop-ment in the key markets,” the SMP sum-marizes. LONG TERM All of these policies discourage struc-tural vulnerability. “Many businesses don’t know if the new consumer hab-its or innovative technologies will car-ry them forward,” comments Fernández-Cuesta. “We know we’re here for the long term, the taxonomy supports this.” By focusing on this type of company, investors dilute their risk. Banks, insurers and individuals smell the opportunity. More investment, greater produc-tivity, growing social impact, equals greater revenues. The IPO of the Energy business confirms this trend. In addition, contracts have been signed for a total of 3.3 billion Euros in syndi-cated loans (800 million to the ACCIONA Group and 2.5 billion to its Energy division), backed by 23 banks, which creates the finan-cial structure for its debut on the market. It will involve at least 15% of the capital. “When it goes on the market, the Energy company becomes financially autonomous. With that separation, much of ACCIONA’s debt will be paid off,” Fernández-Cuesta explains. GLOBAL AND LOCAL IMPACT Both financial transactions have used an innovative “double impact” ESG scheme, which links cost reduction to the attainment of corpo-rate sustainability goals and, for the first time in an instrument of this AND IF WE DESIGN THE BRIDGE TO STORE RAINWATER? AND IF WE INSTALL A CULTURAL CENTER IN THE SPANS? AND IF WE HIRE PEOPLE FROM THE TRAINING CENTER ACROSS THE STREET THAT NO ONE SAW? WHY REGENERATION IS PROFITABILITY WHY REGENERATION IS PROFITABILITY José Luis Blasco, ACCIONA Global Sustainability Director, explains why. A pioneer in the sustainable concept (“it’s redundant, we all are, it’s like talking about a digitalization department at Google”), he was also a pioneer in resilience. But massive and accelerated decarbonization places the sustainable on the stage of opportunity. If it’s a good business, it’s sustainable. So resilience is not enough. Carbon neutrality is not enough. “A company like ACCIONA has to be a net positive contributor to the new economy.” You have to make up time to get there on time, restore the economic, environmental and social wounds of the old world. Regeneration is the strategic concept of the Sustainability Master Plan that lands on infrastructure. A bridge can’t be understood as an industrial product. Each job is unique, artistic. It is not the result of a chain, but rather of a value ecosystem, understood as the integral social service for a hundred years. “The Urban Planning Department is in charge because Urban Planning handles bridges. And Social Affairs has nothing to say? Or the Environmental Department either?” This regenerative bridge is imagined for its natural integration into its environment, the people, the neighborhood, the city. Its value is the benefit to the citizens. “And if we hire people from the training center just across the street that no one saw? And if we design it to store rainwater? And if we install a cultural center in the spans?” “It’s the view of the neighbor, the citizen, the future generations who will continue to pay.” The SMP provides the tools to reinvent infrastructure. You need thousands of volunteer hours for the community? Here they are. Or a million trees. Or job incentives. Regeneration spreads inward. A vision like this attracts professionals with a need to transcend and contribute to a better world from a company with that business goal. This talent prioritizes illusion, prefers to spend two years in Qatar or the Amazon building positive impact. “It’s not what you earn, it’s what you do. Our people as change agents. We know the transformative capacity of the structures because we have been building them for one hundred years, we know there is a better way to design them. That is the message.” And from that talent and those tools flow digitalization, automation, solutions, industrialization to increase productivity, profitability, the value system and investor interest. To regenerate business. “We have always sought to be a great company, more than a large company.”