Annual Report 2010 - Enel.com

tainability and governance help business performance as
much as good financial management does. These considerations
led to the need for an annual event and a website
dedicated to debate between some of the leading international
experts in corporate responsibility, representative
of various categories of stakeholders, from businesses to
NGOs, from ethical funds to institutions to stimulate joint
reflection on how to integrate sustainability in business –
hence the subtitle of the project, “Business as Unusual”.
Climate strategy and the environment
Climate change
Enel recognizes that the fight against climate change is
chief among its responsibilities as a major global energy
company and has long initiated action to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions in all countries in which it operates.
Compliance with the obligations imposed by the European
emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) is a major priority.
Enel’s commitment is guided by a long-term vision. In
this context, the Group’s CEO has endorsed the Eurelectric
initiative that requires the 60 participating companies to
transform the European electricity sector into a carbonneutral
industry by 2050. The effort is ambitious and requires
not just a sharp increase in energy generation from
“zero emission” technologies (renewables and nuclear),
but also greater efficiency, the development of new technologies
and the use of emission trading markets.
Enel is therefore working on a wide range of options regarding
its different areas of activity, with a view to both the short
and the long term. The strategy is based on five points:
> use of the best technologies available: the entry into
operation of new high-efficiency and low-emission
power plants reduces the footprint of thermoelectric
facilities;
> development of zero-emission sources: renewables
and nuclear power make up an increasingly significant
share of the generation mix;
> energy efficiency: programs directed at both networks,
particularly through the development of smart
grids, and final customers to stimulate a change in consumption
patterns, also through after-meter services
and activities to promote electrical mobility;
> research and innovation: a growing commitment to
innovative solar technologies, carbon capture and storage,
smart grids, and electrical mobility;
> reducing emissions through projects in Eastern Europe
and developing countries, also taking advantage of the
flexible mechanisms introduced by the Kyoto Protocol
(Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation),
in which the Group is a world leader.
To address the last point, in 2010 Enel created a new organizational
unit that integrates the expertise of Enel and
Endesa and employs over 40 people in 6 countries. The
unit coordinates the ETS compliance strategies for the
Group and develops and manages its portfolio of carbon
credits in all relevant markets.
Looking ahead, we will continue to reduce our emissions
and, in the short term, partially offset them with international
credits. In the longer term we expect even more
significant emissions reductions when, presumably from
2025, zero-emissions generation capacity will be available
on a wider scale.
Such long-term development requires a stable regulatory
framework that provides reliable signals for directing important
and growing investments toward low-emission
technologies. To that end, Enel is committed to making its
contribution to forums for developing international and
national policy on combating climate change, so that the
most appropriate solutions can be found.
Nuclear power
The task of the energy industry is to ensure a safe, economical
and sustainable supply of electricity, using all
the best available technologies and investing in research
and innovation to make existing ones more efficient and
to develop new ones. These factors underlie Enel’s renewed
interest, both internationally and nationally, in
nuclear power. More specifically, this renewed interest is
based on the strategic reasons of energy independence
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