New York Climate Week 2021

Commitments announced at New York Climate Week 2021

The announcements on climate finance and the closure of coal, as well as the road maps towards the energy transition were the highlights of Climate Week NYC.

• The United States had committed to quadruple its climate finance support to developing countries, taking it up to 11 billion dollars per year by 2024. This announcement stands alongside that previously made by the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, to increase the climate finance provided by the EU by 4 billion euros per year to 2027, which would be added to the yearly 25 billion that it is now contributing.
• China had announced that it will stop funding coal fired power stations beyond its frontiers. This commitment is especially relevant, as China is the principal financier of this type of power plants, followed by South Korea and Japan, which also announced a similar commitment a few months ago.
• Furthermore, seven countries (the UK, Germany, France, Chile, etc.) have formed an alliance External link, opens in new window. to halt the construction of new coal fired power plants. This initiative is in line with the speech given by the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, who stressed the key role played by this move.
• Within the framework of the High-level Dialogue on Energy External link, opens in new window., the UK, Brazil, Portugal and Germany, among other countries, formally presented the Energy Compacts External link, opens in new window., which reveal their plans for the energy transition and the decarbonisation of the economy. Iberdrola played a very active part in this section with the presentation of two Energy Compacts [PDF] External link, opens in new window., one on energy transition and the other on green hydrogen.

Iberdrola, at the forefront of climate action

Iberdrola has invested 120 billion euros in renewable energies, electricity grids and storage over the last two decades. A pioneering commitment to clean energy that has placed it in a leading position in terms of climate action, with CO₂ emissions that are already six times lower than those of its European competitors.

But the group's climate commitment does not end there: Iberdrola has pledged to invest an additional 150 billion euros by 2030 to continue to lead the energy transition facing the global economy. Its goal is to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe by 2030, 20 years before the horizon set by the Old Continent, and to be a carbon neutral company globally by 2040.

With its support for initiatives such as New York Climate Week, Iberdrola stresses the need to act urgently to keep global warming below 1.5 ºC and mitigate the effects of climate change on the planet. This will only be possible by joining efforts of all agents from all geographies and sectors to multiply the effectiveness of individual commitments and find new solutions.

In this respect, the electricity industry plays a key role. Renewable energies, smart grids and the electrification of energy uses will be the key vectors for the decarbonization of the economy. And Iberdrola group is working to remain at the forefront of this green transformation.