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In an article in the Harvard Business Review, Iberdrola group chairman Ignacio Galán remembers how he joined the company, when it was Spain's number two utility, to lead the transition to more sustainable energy sources.

In those days, he explains, Iberdrola’s assets, “unlike those of many other energy companies at the time, were primarily sustainable: hydro and nuclear. But it also had some oil- and coal-fired power-generation plants, and its footprint was limited to Spain and a bit of Latin America”.

Galán says that the last two decades have been “the most rewarding” of his career, because during this period the company has expanded into dozens of countries on four continents, supply more than 100 million people with power, create one of the world's largest wind energy companies and close all its oil and coal plants.

This growth is based on clean energy and reducing operating emissions by 50 % by 2030, which has been no easy task. “But it was the right decision”, he insists.

Galán is sure that “our story should be instructive for any company interested in remaking its strategy in a way that benefits all stakeholders and promotes more-sustainable living”.