associations of women and even retirees, talking with the employees of ACCIONA Energía who managed the rollout of the three facilities. What did they talk about in their meetings? About mutually benefi-cial cooperation. About how the project would minimize environmental impact while maximizing social impact. About the biggest challenges and how the company could help tackle them. They didn’t hesitate: all of the towns stressed a need for jobs. That’s why, among other initiatives, ACCIONA Energía is allocating a percentage of its initial investment and annual sales over a period of at least ten years for the purpose of revitalizing the Cooperativa del Campo San Sebastián, an oil press that’s important to the local economy. The company hired a rural development firm to do a SWOT analy-sis and devise a strategy that includes a business model and improve-ment measures which are already yielding positive results. And that’s how solar panels came to “produce” oil thanks to the company’s Social Impact Management (SIM). A certain resistance to renewable facilities, however, has been evi- REGENERATION OF RURAL LIFE The PV plant in Bolarque is designed to coexist with cropland. REGENERATION OF RURAL LIFE ACCIONA Energía’s SIM is based on the philosophy of re-generation: going beyond legal obligations and foster-ing development in areas that are often depressed. The company voluntarily allocates at least 0.3% of the in-vestment made during construction and 0.2% of gross sales each year for a minimum of 10 years to achieve this end. It performs sociodemographic risk analyses with over 70 ESG indicators that assess a project’s impact in terms of the economy, employment, emissions prevented, conser-vation of biodiversity, illness-related cost savings, reduc-tion of fire risk, and water savings, among other factors. It works with all relevant interest groups—town halls, farmers, breed-ers, citizens’ associations, companies, ecologists, etc.—to jointly define social investment measures such as the provision of technical support to farming cooperatives and sustainable ventures, and training to boost employment in such activities or those associated with the facilities. It carries out two annual audits to assess how needs are evolving. The company invests in researching crops that are compat-ible with the land used for its facilities, artificial intelligence in wind turbines to project birds, and bifacial solar panels that gen-erate more power in less space, among other innovations. It supports projects around the world, such as the Hon-ey Farmer Incubator in South Africa, investment in local busi-nesses and industrial job, sales, and entrepreneurial training in Costa Rica, and a STEM program to foster education in technolo-gies for science, robotics, and engineering projects in the USA. In 2022, the SIM used in 114 projects benefited some 200,000 people via 212 social initiatives in 13 countries.