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Iberdrola has taken another step forward in its strategy of combining the development of emission-free renewable energy projects with the preservation of biodiversity by acquiring a stake in CO₂ Revolution, a Navarre-based company that is a benchmark in reforestation using drones and smart seeds. The operation has been carried out through its PERSEO International Startups Programme, which has been identifying and promoting future technologies in the energy sector for more than a decade.

Iberdrola’s participation in CO₂ Revolution will boost collaboration between the two companies, which are already developing joint projects to preserve ecosystems in areas and regions where Iberdrola operates.

With the technology developed by this company, it is also possible to repopulate up to 100 times faster than with traditional means and plant up to 100,000 tree seeds in a single day at a low cost. In fact, so far this year, it has reforested 1,000 hectares of land and prevented the emission of 150,000 tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere.

Iberdrola's Director of Innovation and Sustainability, Agustín Delgado, highlights the reasons for PERSEO's investment in CO₂ Revolution "the innovative approach with which they combine the use of drones and big data, effectively orienting their work towards improving biodiversity; one of the areas that presents the greatest challenges in the development of an energy production model based on renewables. Its actions also favour the local economy, through collaboration with local suppliers, as well as inclusion, through agreements with organisations".

Iberdrola is developing an ambitious reforestation strategy with its Tree Programme, which plans to plant 8 million trees by 2025 and up to 20 million by 2030. CO₂ Revolution will contribute to this goal with its revolutionary reforestation system, based on selective planting with drones and smart seeds. These plantations will always be carried out with native species — not just trees — including shrubs and grasses that contribute to the preservation of full ecosystems.

In 2020, the company has already promoted the planting of 768,000 trees, therefore advancing towards its short-term goal of replanting 2.5 million trees by 2022. It is estimated that the 20 million trees planted by the company by 2030 will capture approximately 6 million tonnes of CO₂ over 30 years.  
For Juan Carlos Sesma, CEO of CO₂ Revolution, the incorporation of Iberdrola as a partner is a national milestone as, on the one hand, it further boosts CO₂ Revolution’s ongoing commitment to R&D and, on the other, it demonstrates the real climate ambition of one of the largest and most important companies in our country, an engine of the Spanish economy that will place Spain at the forefront of the true Ecological Transition by leading the EU’s European Green Pact. The joint objective is to make CO₂ Revolution a world leader in forest biotechnology applied to reforestation, the fight against climate change and the carbon bonds market.

Iberdrola-PERSEO international startup programme  

Iberdrola has redoubled its efforts to promote biodiversity and the preservation of healthy ecosystems as key elements for sustainable growth. This has led the group — an international leader in the fight against climate change and a world leader in renewable energies — to set itself the goal of achieving zero net loss of biodiversity by 2030, committing, whenever possible, to a positive net impact in new infrastructure developments.

This line of action has been reinforced by Iberdrola's PERSEO International Startups Programme, which aims to facilitate the group's access to the technologies of the future and foster the creation and development of a global and dynamic ecosystem of technology companies and entrepreneurs in the electricity sector.

With a total budget of 125 million euros, the programme has invested 85 million euros in startups in just over a decade, focusing on those that can improve the sustainability of the energy sector through greater electrification and decarbonisation of the economy.

Through PERSEO, Iberdrola analyses around 300 companies each year helping it create an ecosystem of almost 3,000 entrepreneurial companies. This investment vehicle is currently involved in a portfolio of nine companies, including the recent acquisition in CO₂ Revolution.