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The Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, received the Euskadi Avanza Award for “Company of the Year”, which recognises Iberdrola's crucial contribution to Basque society through its leadership, innovation, job creation and wealth.

The prize, awarded by the Spanish newspaper El Correo which is part of the Vocento group, and Banco de Sabadell, this year celebrates its fourth anniversary recognising the important contribution of companies and entrepreneurs to this autonomous community in the north of Spain.

At the awards ceremony, Ignacio Galán expressed his gratitude for this award, which reflects “the common effort” of companies “to generate employment and well-being”.

The Chairman of Iberdrola said that “the unprecedented uncertainties and difficulties experienced in 2020 have forced us all to give the best of ourselves” and added that “the team that makes up Iberdrola has done so with total courage and determination.”

“As soon as the pandemic began, the Board [of Iberdrola] understood the risks that the shutdown of activity could have for thousands of companies and we decided to put the company's balance sheet at the service of economic and social recovery”, said the chairman of the electricity company.

In addition to reaching the historical record for investments, around 10,000 million euros in 2020, Iberdrola has awarded contracts to more than 22,000 suppliers, for 14,000 million euros, the highest figure in its history, according to Galán.

He added that this amount has benefited numerous companies which, instead of resorting to temporary or permanent redundancy plans, have worked overtime to meet the group's orders.

The Iberdrola Chairman reminded the audience that, together with the 75 billion euro investment programme planned until 2025 to boost the green recovery, Iberdrola has identified 150 initiatives within the framework of the Next Generation EU programme that could mobilise up to an additional 21 billion euros and generate 45,000 jobs in Spain.

With regard to Iberdrola's contribution to the autonomous community of the Basque Country, Galán highlighted the 2,000 million euros awarded annually in purchases from local companies, a fiscal contribution of 1,300 million euros, the creation of more than 17,000 jobs and a contribution of 2.2% to GDP.

The industrial group Mondragón Assembly, the wine company Bodegas Faustino and the biotech company Viralgen also received awards alongside Iberdrola.