Fundación Finanzas Éticas engages Endesa on energy poverty
Fundación Finanzas Éticas, founding member of SfC – Shareholders for Change is engaging the Spanish power company Endesa on energy poverty
On 15 April 2019, Fundación Finanzas Éticas (on behalf of SfC – Shareholders for Change, of which it is one of the seven founding members), Greenpeace Spain and IIDMA (International Institute for Law & the Environment) have attended Endesa’s Annual General Meeting, engaging the company for a real commitment on energy poverty and the following issues:
– decarbonisation, accelerating the process of closing down of Spanish coal-fired power stations and promoting processes of just transition for workers and communities towards the production of renewable energies;
– denuclearisation, anticipating the closure of nuclear power plants in Spain;
– energy poverty, i.e. the lack of access to modern energy services for some part of the population, both in developing and developed countries, due to their increasing costs. Endesa has been asked to adopt a policy to encourage price reductions in Spain;
– labour rights. The company annually allocates all profits to dividends to shareholders while workers consider that it does not comply with their agreements and there is no willingness to renew the collective agreement;
– equal opportunities. Women working at Endesa earns on average 30% less than their male colleagues; only 18% of board members are women.
«The company’s answers have been unsatisfying on all issues», says Jordi Ibáñez, managing director of Fundación Finanzas Éticas. «In particular, there hasn’t been any answer on energy poverty. The company insists on having signed mediation agreements with municipalities, but this was not the subject of the question. Regarding labour rights, Endesa has said that it regrets the situation and will make every effort to change it, without specifying which specific strategies it will adopt. For all these reasons we will continue engaging Endesa in cooperation with Shareholders for Change’s members, some of which have been engaging Endesa’s controlling company Enel for more than 10 years».
The video of Fundación’s intervention can be viewed >>HERE<<