Rome, September 21st, 2020 – Enel Chief Financial Officer Alberto De Paoli participates today in the Global Launch of the CFO Principles for Integrated SDG Investments and Finance, during the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Private Sector Forum. The CFO Principles are a set of four values aimed at indicating how companies can align their corporate finance strategies to sustainability commitments in order to create a real-world impact towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The CFO Taskforce, which is co-chaired by Enel’s CFO, met on the margins of the 75th UN General Assembly, gathering all the members of the Taskforce, CFOs, investors, banks, credit rating agencies, development banks, key stakeholders, UN and external partners.
“CFOs play a leading role in establishing clear indications and setting best practices for making corporate finance and investments a real driver of social growth. As members of the CFO Taskforce, we are all committed to working at the service of a new stakeholder capitalism, creating sustainable value for people and the planet,” said Alberto De Paoli, CFO of Enel, and co-chair of the CFO Taskforce. "The UNGC CFO Principles for Integrated SDG Investments and Finance represent a solid first step to guide companies in the adoption of credible finance strategies that fully integrate sustainability towards the achievement of SDGs.”
The UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce launched the first integrated, UN-backed principles for integrated SDG finance and investment. The principles seek to guide companies in aligning their sustainability commitments with credible corporate finance strategies to create real-world impact on the SDGs. Members of the UN Global Compact’s CFO Taskforce pinpointed four key areas that are relatively underserved but critical for SDG-aligned investments: SDG impact and measurement, integrated SDG strategies and investments, integrated corporate SDG Finance and integrated SDG communication and reporting. The goal is to work with the investment value chain, including investors, banks, development finance institutions, credit ratings agencies and sustainability assessment firms to create a broad, liquid and efficient market for SDG investments and capital flows.
The CFO Principles have been developed by the Taskforce Secretariat and CFO members in consultation with more than 100 stakeholders worldwide. To help companies concretely implement the Principles, over the next two years, members of the Taskforce are committing to taking part in working groups which will focus on setting up concrete measures, targets and KPIs.
The CFO Taskforce is the first-ever global initiative involving CFOs with the aim to start a dialog among their peers, investors, financial institutions, and the United Nations to share ideas aimed at promoting sustainable corporate finance and scalable investments in pursuit of the UN SDGs. The initiative leverages on the nearly 10,000 companies committed to the UN Global Compact’s Principles and will include an annual survey to monitor the state of progress in the Global CFO community.
The UN Global Compact is the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative supporting the alignment of companies’ strategies and operations with the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact on human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption, and driving business awareness and action in support of achieving the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs.
Enel is at the forefront of integrating sustainability into its business strategies, as also testified by the company’s 2020-2022 Strategic Plan, which combines value creation and the accomplishment of SDGs. More than 90% of the Group’s 28.7 billion euro organic capex directly targets SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), all contributing to the achievement of SDG 13 (Climate Action). In early 2019, Enel launched, on the US dollar and euro markets, the first-ever general purpose bonds linked to the achievement of SDGs, and it expects to increase the share of sustainable finance sources on Enel’s gross debt to approx. 43% in 2022 and to around 77% in 2030 from around 22% in 2019. Finally, Enel is increasingly attracting the attention of Socially Responsible Investors, whose stake in the company is steadily growing, representing about 10.8% of the Group’s share capital in 2019, almost double compared to 2014 levels. This increase, which is in line with the growing recognition of the importance of non-financial elements in the creation of long-term sustainable value, reflects the bolstering of Enel’s global sustainability leadership.
Enel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global power, gas and renewables markets. It is the largest European utility by ordinary EBITDA, and is present in over 30 countries worldwide, producing energy with over 86 GW of installed capacity. Enel distributes electricity through a network of over 2.2 million kilometers, and with around 74 million business and household end users globally, the Group has the largest global customer base among its European peers. Enel’s renewables arm Enel Green Power is the world’s largest renewable private player, with around 46.4 GW of wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower plants installed in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Enel X, Enel's global advanced energy services business line, is the worldwide demand response leader, with a total capacity of over 6 GW managed globally; the company has installed 110 MW of storage capacity as well as, in the electric mobility sector, it has made available around 130,000 public and private EV charging points worldwide.