Madrid, Spain, 15 April 2021: His Majesty the King Felipe VI has received in Audience the Presidents and CEOs of the companies that are part of the Spanish Business Council for Sustainable Development, a body led by Forética who is the representative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Spain.
The Spanish Business Council for Sustainable Development – constituted at its first annual meeting by 25 major companies - is a high-level meeting space in which the highest representatives of the companies generate a joint strategic response to the important challenges we face in environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters.
The representatives of the Council have presented to His Majesty the King the joint declaration published by them, which includes the commitments assumed by its members with the aim of inspiring and accelerating business action towards sustainable development.
The declaration sets out the Council’s ambition to work towards raising the bar on its membership criteria in the coming two years along the following lines, and inspired by WBCSD’s recently announced new membership criteria:
- Set an ambition to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if possible within this decade and by 2050 at the latest, and have a science-based plan to achieve this
- Set ambitious short- and medium-term environmental targets that contribute to the restoration of nature and biodiversity by 2050
- Support the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by implementing a policy of respect for human rights and a due diligence process
- Support inclusion, equality, diversity and the elimination of all forms of discrimination
- Operate with the highest standards of corporate governance and transparency, through the disclosure of material sustainability information, and align Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) with environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related risks
The Spanish Business Council for Sustainable Development held its constitution meeting on February 10, honorably chaired by His Majesty the King, and inaugurated by the Fourth Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, and counting on the intervention of the President and CEO of the WBCSD, Peter Bakker.
Specifically, the Spanish Business Council for Sustainable Development is made up of the highest representatives of the companies promoting Forética. The audience with His Majesty the King was attended by: Raúl Grijalba, President of Forética and President of ManpowerGroup Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel; Isabel Pardo de Vera Posada, President of Adif and Adif AV; Luis Isasi Fernández de Bobadilla, President of Banco Santander Spain; Manuel Terroba, Executive President of the BMW Group Spain and Portugal; Eduardo Baamonde, President of Cajamar Caja Rural; Antonio Llardén, Executive President of Enagás; José D. Bogas Gálvez, CEO of Endesa; Loreto Ordóñez, CEO of ENGIE Spain; Francisco José Riberas Mera, Executive President of Gestamp; Cristina Henríquez de Luna, President and CEO of GSK in Spain; Guillaume Duverdier, Executive President of HEINEKEN Spain; Ángeles Santamaría, CEO of Iberdrola Spain; Horacio Morell Gálvez, President of IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel; Petra Axdorff, CEO & CSO of IKEA; Alejandro Oñoro, CEO of ILUNION; Ana Argelich Hesse, President and CEO of MSD; Luis Fernando Martín Amodio, Chairman of the OHL Group; Vanessa Prats, Vice President and General Manager of P&G Iberia; Iñaki Peralta, CEO of Sanitas and Bupa Europe & Latin America; and Jorge Oliveira, General Director of Solvay for Spain and Portugal.
Also on the Council are Alberto Gutiérrez, President of Airbus Spain; Pedro Guerrero, President of Bankinter; José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, President of CaixaBank; Ignacio Madridejos, CEO of Ferrovial; Francisco Reynés, President and CEO of Naturgy; and José Antonio Fernández Gallar, Second Vice President and CEO of OHL. The Council will continue to expand its scope of action with the incorporation of the Presidents and CEOs of the new companies promoting Forética.
