ACCIONA wins the sustainable contractor of the year award

ACCIONA has won the Sustainable Contractor of the year award at the BIG Project ME Awards for its real commitment to reduce the carbon footprint in all the projects.

In order to achieve a decoupling between CO₂ emissions and the growth of the Group’s activity, last year ACCIONA implemented various emission abatement programmes, which have managed to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 3.3% and thereby reduce its intensity from 21 to 15 tonnes of CO2 per million euros of revenue to meet its net zero target by 2040.

The renowned jury also considered the value that ACCIONA's projects pursue a positive impact on the planet, through business models based on decarbonization, water and ecosystem conservation and the circular use of resources.

Some of the given real examples to achieve these results regarding water was that in 2022, the amount of water treated by ACCIONA was 1,149 hm3, which is more than the previous year, largely because of the opening and maintenance of the wastewater treatment plant in Gabal el Asfar, in Egypt, that grew the production of treated water by over 52%. On the other hand, the water distributed from primary networks and groundwater sources amounted to 113 hm3 compared to last year. This is a 23% increase.

In 2022, the amount of water treated by ACCIONA in water-stressed countries was 545 hm3, which makes up 47% out of the company’s total water treatment for customers. Water production processes in water-stressed countries focus on seawater desalination in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, (UAE) and the treatment and purification in Egypt.

Also, since 2021, ACCIONA has been following its Circular Economy Policy which establishes an action framework focused on regenerating environments and creating positive renewable energy balances by eliminating virgin materials.

ACCIONA aims to build the power of transforming infrastructures by going beyond the usual zero impact goal with a view to recovering what we have already lost. Our mission to make a positive impact force us to challenge today’s usual ways and find new ways of doing things. With this non-conformist spirit, we strive to lead a new sector that contributes sustainable solutions to the challenges faced by a development model that is depleting resources.

The Awards Ceremony took place at the Ritz Carlton of Dubai and more than 150 nominations were submitted across 31 categories by a diverse mix of organizations, including government departments and ministries, developers, operators, contractors, specialists and suppliers.