Engagement
About this Report
02
Who are
we?
03
Qualitas Energy at
a Glance
04
Senior Management
05
A Diversified Strategy
06
Looking
Back
07
ESG at
Qualitas Energy
08
Enviroment
(E)
09
Social
(S)
10
Governance
(G)
11
Case
Study
12
Looking
Forward
Click on each section of our ESG report to learn more or download the full report here.
* All data provided in this report is for the year ended December 31, 2020.
01. About this Report
This report consolidates Qualitas Energy’s business processes and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts. It reflects on 2020 and how Qualitas Energy has integrated ESG into its investment processes as well as into its office culture. As Qualitas Energy builds on its ESG capabilities and achievements, we will produce and deliver an Annual Report to disclose performance and changes across our platform.
We are excited to present this year’s progress and look forward to enhancing our capabilities and improve disclosures year after year.
Over the last decade, Qualitas Energy has been facilitating investor’s access to real assets in the renewable energy sector to participate in and promote the transition to a low carbon economy.
Qualitas Energy is a company that is motivated by its mission of “Powering Change.” Through the way we run our business, we aim to provide sustainable investment opportunities for our clients, colleagues, and investors. More broadly, we aim to expand our impact on society as a whole. It is our responsibility to be open and transparent regarding our ambitions and progress in the environmental, social, and governance aspects of our business.
03. Qualitas Energy at a Glance (2020)
~ € 1 bn* AUM
Assets Under Management
> € 8 bn*
Asset footprint across Qualitas Energy investments
2
Offices based in two cities: Madrid and Berlin
6
Countries where we have realized investments
> 550 MW
Qualitas Energy’s portfolio consist of approximately > 550 megawatts of renewable energy
> 275*
Team includes large in-house O&M, AM, Development & Construction and Energy Management team
* Data shown in U.S. billions.
* Employee numbers including field workers.
04. Senior Management
Founder & Managing Partner
Iñigo Olaguíbel Amich
CIO & Financing
Daniel Parejo
Investment & Origination
M&A
Financing
CBDO
Oscar Pérez
New Countries, New Business Models and Technologies
Wind, Battery, Merchant Market
Country Head of German Office
CTO
Pablo Giménez
AM/OM
Development
Construction
R&D
New Technology, Efficiency and Innovation Origination
CFO
Vicente Asuero
Accounting & Reporting
Financial Controlling and Investor Relations
COO
Rocío López
Human Resources
IT & Processes
Digital Operations
Marketing and Operations
General Counsel
Juan Pablo del Río
Legal & Compliance
Head of QEAM
Jose Ramón Fernández
Asset Management
Operations & Maintenance
05. A Diversified Strategy
1
Spain Solar Brownfield
Leading independent solar platform in Spain with close to 400 MWp under ownership.
3
Spain Solar Greenfield
Development portfolio of >3 GW unsubsidized Solar PV projects to be built between 2021 and 2023.
2
Spain Solar Brownfield
494 MWp Mula Project developed, put into operation, and managed, forming the largest development project in Europe until April 2020.
4
German Wind Repowering
Unique and innovative business model to capture the repowering opportunities in Germany with over 180 MW fully operational assets.
5
Asset Management & Operations & Maintenance
Highly skilled team providing Asset Management and O&M services. Currently provides asset management services to >1.3 GW across Spain, Germany, and Italy, and operations and maintenance services to >650 MW in Spain.
06. Looking Back
2020, more than any other year in recent memory, has been characterized by loss, disruption, and economic crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended all facets of life, and certainly, across the 2020 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
By the end of last year, countries were supposed to present their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement on climate change, which would have otherwise led to significant investment into the renewables space.
Though the devastating consequences of COVID-19 have indeed affected the SDGs, it has also shown the world a common enemy, the climate crisis.
2020 could be considered a ‘missed’ year, however, one could also note the positive shift of mindset toward sustainability. With significant lifestyle changes, a spotlight has been shone on unsustainable habits and their effect on the environment and society. Travel, consumption, and production have come to fore as major areas for change and the most prominent energy production, being an area where Qualitas Energy wishes to position itself.
Qualitas Energy is committed to using the SDGs as guiding principles not only in our investment strategy but also in our goal of ‘Powering Change’ through the transition to a low carbon economy.
To meet the demands presented by climate change and global warming, investors, governments, businesses, and individuals must allocate their capital responsibly. Impact and sustainable investments have never been so prevalent, with ESG drivers serving as a force for change.
For many companies, the integration of sustainable ESG practices is becoming a competitive advantage. In fact, a recent report by the non-profit, Carbon Disclosure Project, shows that S&P 500 companies who build sustainability into their core strategies are outperforming those that fail to report their progress. Corporations that are actively managing climate change risks secure an average of 18% higher ROI than companies who do not incorporate this.
As such, renewable energy investments have hit centre stage. Trends of decarbonization and electrification, in addition to the declining oil and gas sector, have attracted many new investors to the sector over the last year.
For Qualitas Energy, the integration of ESG is already embedded into our business strategy. From sourcing to acquisition to management and final sale, our investments strive to create impact whilst also achieving high returns. As a company, we have seen constant and significant growth over the past 14 years with regards to both the procurement of assets as well as increased investor participation and capital invested.
This movement has been reflected broadly across the entire sustainable investment market. In 2019, global sustainable investments reached $30 trillion, a 68% increase from 2014 metrics4. What is more, approximately 44% of investors have said they will divest from companies that do not incorporate appropriate ESG practices into their investment decisions and operations4. Qualitas Energy is well placed to create meaningful change whilst still offering enhanced returns to its investors. More than ever before, clean power companies are seen as a financial opportunity, not just good public relations.
A major shift is occurring. Investments are no longer solely focused on return but are also aware of the subsequent impact of allocating large amounts of capital to unsustainable practices. Investors now want transparency and to fully understand how their money is being invested. This market transition is being encapsulated by incoming legislative change and participation by the largest financial market leaders. In the coming years, renewable energy and other impactful business models will see greater investment by individuals and widescale governmental support, allowing for the transition to a more conscious and efficient society.
Build Back Better
In 2020, the world has come to recognize the need to work together and rebuild an economy that is more resilient and sustainable. In the wake of social, economic, and political disruption, Qualitas Energy has chosen to follow the slogan “Build Back Better”, and to reflect on how this theme plays a role in our strategies.
The following themes have consistently been a part of Qualitas Energy’s thinking as we contemplate the future of our asset class.
Build Back Greener
Qualitas Energy allocates 100% of its capital to renewable energy investments. This is directly in-line with our strategy to create a low carbon economy. To date, Qualitas Energy’s investments have powered over 500,000 homes across Europe.
Build Back Stronger
Qualitas Energy integrates ESG into its investment decisions. Qualitas Energy takes into account all adverse impacts and provides remedies to address them, thus ensuring a stronger and more sustainable investment outcome.
Build Back Together
Qualitas Energy is expanding beyond the borders of Spain and participating in a global economy. With offices in Germany and previous investments across six different countries, Qualitas Energy is targeting a common goal of an energy transition on a global scale.
Build Back Inclusively
Qualitas Energy prides itself on encouraging diversity and inclusion within its offices. Qualitas Energy encourages its employees to support and encourage each other to foster an environment of acceptance. Qualitas Energy will continue to set targets and aim big in this space.
07. ESG at Qualitas Energy
Our five pillars of impact are integrated and embedded into the work we do and help steer us in the right direction. Through these pillars, we have been able to augment our impact and enhance our operations internally.
01. Community
To create a sense of community, office culture should reflect the interests of its employees. With all of our employees committed to a mutual goal and shared interest in the renewable energy sector, Qualitas Energy can benefit from a community bonded by its commitment of powering change. Qualitas Energy values the well-being of its employees and works to cultivate an environment built on a strong sense of community.
02. Growth
Qualitas Energy is committed to balancing growth in our sector whilst also minimising negative harm to the environment. Developing a sustainable growth strategy is essential for Qualitas Energy as it will allow us to achieve our goal of a renewables-based system efficiently and at the lowest cost possible. Through our expertise in the sector and operations and management capabilities, Qualitas Energy can maintain healthy growth while optimizing its assets with ESG considerations.
03. Decarbonisation
Qualitas Energy’s participation in the transition to a renewables-based system will contribute to the decarbonisation of the planet and slow global warming. The energy transition is generating significant investment opportunities and thus unlocking large amounts of capital focused on further decarbonisation. As such, with increased private market interest, supranational and government support can be refocused elsewhere to combat other pressing global issues.
04. Diversification
Qualitas Energy is an industry leader in renewable energy and continuously looks for diversified opportunities in its asset classes and investment locations. Having successfully managed assets across six countries, Qualitas Energy is focused on finding opportunities for future expansion into promising regions and technologies.
05. Circular Economy
A circular economy is an ecosystem where components, products, and byproducts do not lose the majority of their value. As such, Qualitas Energy exists within a circular economy by using natural, unlimited resources as inputs to generate and sell electricity to society, thus reducing carbon emissions and supporting the transition to a circular economy. As new technologies emerge, Qualitas Energy will consider how the circularity of assets can be integrated into its approach, thus deepening its commitment to this pillar.
Carbon conscious and carbon neutral
Diversity and Inclusion
Company ESG Engagement
EU Regulation
Qualitas Energy has already begun its journey to becoming carbon neutral and aims to offset all of its carbon emissions for the year 2021. We will analyze our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, not only to be able to offset them, but also to better understand how to improve our systems and reduce emissions where they can be further reduced. We will be transparent about our footprint and actively work to reduce it to meet, or go beyond, industry standards.
Though Qualitas Energy’s gender diversity quota is almost two times as high as average private equity standards, the level of Qualitas Energy’s diversity begins to fall at more senior positions and in other diversity metrics. One of Qualitas Energy’s goals is to increase the level of gender diversity at a senior level within the company, which will be achieved by defining key targets in 2021 for the coming years. These targets will define how we may achieve this through enhanced hiring processes and promotion practices. Qualitas Energy will also be working to increase its understanding of how to better control biases in the hiring processes and how to better manage other diversity metrics for our region.
Qualitas Energy will increase company engagement on ESG issues in 2021. This will better educate our employees on the importance of ESG integration not only in our investment process but across all the work that we do. In 2020, we have started to develop systems where employees can be included in ESG policy discussions through our internal initiatives. We recognize that a diverse workforce means unique ideas on how to integrate ESG more holistically and we believe our employees can help us achieve this. Each team will soon be responsible for ESG integration into their work and actions, which will help Qualitas Energy transition into a more conscious, diverse, inclusive, and efficient business.
The European Union is developing a set of regulatory standards that require investment firms to demonstrate the provenance of their ESG claims through robust data and analytic disclosures. Regulatory change is needed due to market fragmentation, opacity, and heterogeneity in the quality between and among the current voluntary standards and associated offerings. Depending on the size, product, and location of a company, the aforementioned regulations will apply. In 2021, Qualitas Energy will be adhering to and implementing the standards set out by the Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
In addition, the EU Taxonomy applies to any company that defines itself as “green” or “sustainable.” The Taxonomy defines what activities are environmentally sustainable to help guide companies, investors, and policymakers. Qualitas Energy will be making its first disclosures against the Taxonomy by the end of 2021.
Qualitas Energy will ensure alignment with the EU and incoming ESG regulations.
ESG is an evaluation of the non-financial aspects of a company. For Qualitas Energy, ESG is about making environmental, social, and governance concerns an integral part of the investment process through due diligence and post-investment monitoring.
Qualitas Energy endeavours to apply ESG on two levels: internally amongst its employees and office management, and externally across its investments. We believe that this will result in the assessment of ESG considerations at all levels, therefore allowing us to responsibly allocate our capital.
Given the nature of our portfolio of renewable energy assets, Qualitas Energy inherently integrates environmental considerations into its investment process. Our contribution to the production of clean energy facilitates the transition to a low carbon economy. Whilst this is at the heart of what we do, we understand that this is just one piece of the puzzle.
To this end, our ESG approach is based on ambitious yet realistic steps to ensure our contribution to creating a low carbon economy is successful. This approach was created in tandem with the United Nations Principles on Responsible Investment (UNPRI), the Task Force for Climate Related Disclosures (TCFD) and the Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulations (SFDR). We believe the integration of these standards and principles will allow us to reach all necessary considerations of ESG and go beyond this to create concrete change.
Qualitas Energy also aligns itself with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal’s (UNSDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement, in order to show its support for multi-level action and global initiatives to enact change. Using these frameworks, Qualitas Energy prioritizes ESG issues that are considered relevant and important to our business and our community. As such, we have created an investment process that integrates ESG at all levels and is tailored to the investments that we make.
Oversight of ESG
Qualitas Energy ensures systematic, structured, and disciplined implementation of ESG processes and procedures across its business and holds all employees responsible to understand and implement ESG principles where applicable to their role. ESG oversight will commence at Board level and flow down to each level from there, ensuring interaction with ESG in every step of the investment process.
01. Due Diligence
Investment teams, with the support of the ESG Manager, are responsible for evaluating ESG through the use of pre-defined ESG KPIs and SFDR adverse material impact indicators. Identified adverse material impacts are then described, rated, and given a proposed remedy in the next investment stage.
02. Scoring
Qualitas Energy uses adverse material impact indicators and sector-specific KPIs for each investment as a component of a KPI analysis and scoring process. At the end of each due diligence document, an average ESG risk rating will be determined with an explanation of the overall opportunity with regards to ESG.
03. Approval
The ESG risk rating will be presented to the Investment Committee with a summary of key ESG matters identified. The Investment Committee will provide final feedback and approval for overall risk ratings and proposed remedies.
04. Implementation
Previously approved remedies of ESG risks will be implemented by our Asset Management and Operations and Maintenance teams, with support of our ESG Manager. Post-implementation, they will be responsible for reporting back success of implementation and any key qualitative or quantitative metrics produced.
05. Exit strategy
Finally, upon exit of an investment ESG data and metrics will be reported to key stakeholders and kept in record as examples of ESG best practice at Qualitas Energy, which are then discussed in Qualitas Energy’s quarterly ESG reviews.
08. Environment (E)
In order to better understand our carbon footprint, Qualitas Energy has contracted a third party consultant, to help us determine our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
For 2020, Qualitas Energy focused on the calculation of emissions and offset of our internal operations, such as business travel and office consumption. Through completing this exercise Qualitas Energy’s offices have become carbon neutral.
Qualitas Energy has identified its carbon emissions per tonne, per sector of its business. Our calculations have been split into three business sectors including: building related emissions, employee related emissions and procurement related emissions. As such, Qualitas Energy has determined the following total carbon footprint for its internal operations:
Offsetting Projects
As per carbon offsetting standards, Qualitas Energy has selected projects in developing nations to offset its emissions. Qualitas Energy has chosen both social and environmental impact projects and split its emissions calculations equally across all the projects.
Land Measures
Qualitas Energy invests in assets that may have a direct effect on the environment. Whilst our assets are helping to transition into a low carbon economy, Qualitas Energy also ensures that other environmental concerns are addressed at all levels.
In order to ensure the preservation of the physical environment, Qualitas Energy maintains the land on which its assets reside, by protecting and controlling its vegetation and observing local regulations.
For instance, Qualitas Energy has introduced sheep and cow herds into multiple project areas in order to control vegetation and help prevent land degradation. We have implemented this change in seven different locations across Spain this past year.
Our Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) projects have an extensive water filtration system which is crucial for the operation of the plants. A dedicated chemist specialized in this area is present in each plant to perform audits on water quality on a weekly basis. Qualitas Energy understands the importance of land preservation and takes measures in order to ensure that land resources are protected and maintained at a high standard.
Wildlife Measures
Qualitas Energy also observes wildlife regulations in the areas in which we operate. If a plant is located in a ZEPA zone (Zona de Especial Protección para las Aves) or near to a protected species, Qualitas Energy submits a EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) which establishes protective measures in order to ensure species healthy cohabitation. This includes the implementation of nest boxes and birdlife protections near power lines, and in several locations we have contracted animal control organizations in order to monitor the compliance with DIA protective measures. This has occurred in over ten locations this past year.
Qualitas Energy takes these precautions seriously and believes it goes hand-in-hand with the work that we do. We want our work to continue to positively impact the environment and all those who inhabit it, therefore we will continue to diligence and implement any necessary protocols in order to ensure both land and species health.
The management of waste in an office is an integral part of the solution to reduce CO2 emissions and pollution of the planet. It is estimated that an average office worker generates about ~1kg worth of paper products every day and uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year. Plastic bottles, bags, and packaging also largely contribute to office waste with the average person using approximately 156 plastic bottles per year. Qualitas Energy is working to reduce these numbers within its offices and is educating its employees on the best way to handle their waste not only in the office but also in their daily lives.
Recycling
Qualitas Energy has installed office-grade recycling systems around its offices to ensure that any waste is being disposed of properly. Recycling bins are located in kitchens and individual desk bins have been eliminated for employees. This has encouraged employees to make the effort to recycle properly and be conscious of how they dispose of their waste. Qualitas Energy has educated its employees on correct recycling practices for the region and thus contributed to the reduction of paper, plastic, and food waste in our office environment.
Food Waste
Qualitas Energy has switched to using sustainable fruit and vegetable delivery for its offices. Roughly a third of the world’s food is wasted, which equates to approximately 1.3 billion tons of food waste each year8.By switching to a food that has been sustainably produced and does not have to meet cosmetic standards, Qualitas Energy is contributing to the global reduction of food waste.
Plastic Waste
Qualitas Energy has eliminated the use of single-use plastic bottles amongst its employees by supplying reusable water bottles. Qualitas Energy has partnered with Ocean Bottle to not only eliminate plastic use, but through these bottles, to offset the equivalent of 300,000 plastic bottles, whilst supporting impoverished coastal communities. The annual consumption of plastic bottles is set to top half a trillion in 2021, which equates to roughly 20,000 bottles being bought every second. Through this initiative, Qualitas Energy is helping to reduce plastic use and avoid consequential emissions.
Education
Company-wide education on the reduction of waste and waste management is essential. Qualitas Energy engages employees by sending out company-wide e-mails when waste management changes occur and continuous reminders as to how waste is successfully reduced. Qualitas Energy has installed helpful tutorials around the office on how to best dispose of and avoid waste, such as recycling instructions above bins and paper disposal in printing rooms.
Looking Forward
Qualitas Energy will constantly try to improve our management of waste in our offices. We will endeavour to implement further changes where necessary and continue to educate our employees on the importance of waste disposal and management.
09. Social (S)
“Our employees are our biggest asset and the reason for our success, and therefore their happiness is of the upmost importance. We want our team members to thoroughly enjoy their employment here at Qualitas Energy and help drive them toward new goals and aspirations. We are excited to build a sustainable and diverse future for our company, our employees, and the planet.”
Iñigo Olaguíbel Amich, Founder and Managing Partner
Core principles to guide employee action:
01. Treat everyone – employees, customers, and business partners – with dignity, integrity, and respect.
02. Behave honestly and fairly.
03. Strive for mutual respect and trust in relationships.
04. Use good judgment and high ethical standards in all business dealings.
05. Ensure a safe and healthy work environment.
06. Promptly address any violation of the Employee Handbook.
Knowledge
As a part of Qualitas Energy´s goal to foster an intellectual and stimulating work environment, we have launched Q-Knowledge. Q-Knowledge is an initiative to promote office-wide education and the sharing of information. The Q-Knowledge initiative is used to share market updates and engage the company in topics such as economic and political news, sustainability trends, business developments, new technologies and other interesting topics. In doing so, we will help to keep our employees informed and educated about important topics that affect our business.
Q-Knowledge will also endeavour to organise training for employees on overall professional development and skills, and leadership growth. The goal of this initiative is for employees to be well informed and to encourage interest in relevant project areas.
Diversity
Qualitas Energy is proud of its gender diversity quota and has launched Q-Diversity in order to strengthen other facets of diversity and inclusion, and to encourage employee involvement and discussion within this theme.
Through Q-Diversity we help to educate our employees on diversity and inclusion, develop reports and organise social events to raise awareness.
Q-Diversity fosters a forum for employees to talk about and take action on issues of diversity and inclusion with support and participation across all levels, including senior leadership.
Community
Qualitas Energy is committed to creating a strong community. To do so, we have launched Q-Community, an initiative aimed at organizing social events and philanthropic iniatives to bring our employees together. In 2020, Covid permitting, Q-Community attended cultural activities such as art exhibitions and musical events.
Q-Community also participated in philanthropic initiatives such as Christmas food donations for those in need. Q-Community´s goal is to encourage employees to practice and participate in socially engaging activities that give back and to help develop a friendly and happy environment for our teams.
Qualitas Energy prides itself on our gender diversity ratios in our offices. While only 19% of private equity employees worldwide are women, Qualitas Energy has reached a 49% gender split.
Female Employees at Private Equity Firms as a Proportion of Total employees by Seniority.*
Qualitas Energy has an above average gender ratio for the financial sector:
Qualitas Energy strives to support local communities in the work that we do. Qualitas Energy’s assets are located in different regions of Spain and Germany, and we recognise the importance of supporting the communities in which we operate. As such, we employ all field workers and personnel from the local areas.
Qualitas Energy is contributing to rural development in Spain and Germany through providing job opportunities and increasing average local salaries of those employees who operate our wind and solar assets.
Qualitas Energy has hired more than 200 local personnel in Spain and Germany to help support their assets ‘on the ground’, who are all recruited from local villages.
Qualitas Energy is committed to providing a workplace that is productive, happy and safe for all its employees. Qualitas Energy understands the importance of health and safety both within the workplace as well as in the field. In keeping with this commitment, Qualitas Energy has maintained a safe working environment and developed a process to prevent any workplace injury.
Health and safety is essential to the maintenance and operation of all of our projects, whether it be CSP, Wind or PV plants. To ensure the well-being of all of our workers, we have employed a safety specialist who is responsible for developing security plans for each plant. This specialist produces yearly updates to survey all updated installations or devices that require attention and consideration.
10. Governance (G)
At Qualitas Energy we choose to be transparent and upfront about how we operate. We create policies regarding our employees, operations, and investment management using both internal and external resources.
Qualitas Energy follows all necessary local and regional legislative authorities to help govern its actions appropriately. Qualitas Energy prioritises all local labour laws and ensures full compliance with local standards and regulations.
Qualitas Energy’s governing entities provide guidance on internal operations as well as ensuring that the investments we make are of top quality and following high moral standards. These entities are held responsible to approve and support all policies that Qualitas Energy implements.
Employees must adhere to the Code of Conduct, which acts as a directive of how employees and representatives of the company should behave at work, toward others, and with any external third parties. Employees review and certify this document upon accepting employment at Qualitas Energy.
In 2020, Qualitas Energy has updated and improved the Code of Conduct to highlight more topics that we deem important to the operations and management of our employees and the work we do today.
UNPRI
United Nations Principes for Responsible Investing
As signatories of the UNPRI, Qualitas Energy commits to incorporating ESG issues into its investment analysis and decision-making processes. Qualitas Energy’s investment team is responsible for screening, identifying, and offering solutions for any ESG risks or opportunities found in a prospective investment.
Following the closing of an acquisition, Qualitas Energy strives to be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices. Our Asset Management and Operations and Maintenance teams work to implement all ESG related changes necessary for the management of our assets. If we sub-contract any activity, we will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG related issues by any third party that we employ.
Finally, Qualitas Energy promotes and will continue to implement the Principles of Responsible Investment within our sector and works to constantly improve our analysis and implementation of ESG in accordance with the UNPRI principles.
TCFD
Task force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures
As a supporter of the TCFD, we commit to disclosing our governance strategy, risk management, metrics and targets that underscore our ESG policy. Qualitas Energy believes this will aid us with the integration of ESG further into our business and help us to identify where there is room for improvement.
Governance
ESG has been integrated into the Board’s discussions and recorded in the minutes. Senior leadership approves and helps drive all ESG implementation to manage climate-related risks and opportunities.
Strategy
Qualitas Energy’s ESG policy identifies how to address climate-related risks throughout the investment lifecycle. Qualitas Energy will be reporting on any discovered climate-related risks in 2021 as part of TCFD voluntary requirements. Any identified risks and opportunities have and will be analysed and remedied throughout Qualitas Energy’s ownership of the assets. If we deem a risk to be too great, Qualitas Energy will alter its investment decision accordingly.
Management
Qualitas Energy invests 100% of its capital into renewable energy, thus supporting the transition to a low carbon economy. Qualitas Energy will consider how different climate-related scenarios will affect the maintenance of our assets and adjust management accordingly.
Metrics and Targets
Qualitas Energy has set out comprehensive goals to better manage our environmental impact. For the year 2021, Qualitas Energy plans to disclose its Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions and will create a plan that is in line with the TCFD, GHG Protocol and the Paris Climate Agreement.
Qualitas Energy will voluntarily align itself with incoming and current EU regulation, completing all of its necessary requirements.
Qualitas Energy recognises the need to eliminate market fragmentation and wants to continue to meet its clients needs.
Whilst Qualitas Energy has already begun its analysis and fulfilment of the SFDR and EU Taxonomy, we aim to finalise our reporting on these standards in 2021.
11. Qualitas Energy Case Study
In 2019, Qualitas Energy invested in the largest solar PV development project in Europe at that time: Project Mula. Project Mula has 494 MW of peak power and covers an area of approximately 1,000 hectares that belong to the municipality of Mula, in the province of Murcia.
Mula’s commissioning date was in June of 2019 and has an annual output of 805 GWh. Qualitas Energy’s asset management and operations teams service the project and ensure efficient and ESG compliant management of the plant, its workers, and the environment surrounding it.
Land and Wildlife Measures
Project Mula implemented several land and wildlife protection measures. Sheep were used to control land vegetation naturally and several species of flora and fauna were introduced to encourage biodiversity. This included the plantation of 16,930 flora of over 12 different species of plants, with the majority being Almendro, Quercus Coccifera, and Reama Sphaerocarcpa.
Qualitas Energy’s asset management team continues to conduct extensive environmental follow-ups to ensure land and wildlife species are thriving. These included controls and checks of flora and fauna, land erosion, water run-off, and waste management. These reviews are completed by an external expert consultant who continues to visit the site up to 50-60 times per year to ensure proper environmental upkeep.
Follow-ups are also made by Qualitas Energy’s teams. Ongoing on-site and remote supervision is carried out to improve and boost the production of our plants. Our team has placed an onsite supervisor on a full-time basis for this purpose.
In 2020, Mula has produced 788,738 MWh of renewable energy electricity thus avoiding CO2e emissions and contributing to the movement toward a low carbon economy.
Social and Governance Measures
When acquiring Mula, our teams ensured the addition and improvement of all health and safety measures for its workers, increased local salary rates and ensured correct licensing and permitting across all operations. Resulting in improved social and governance structures for our assets.
12. Looking Forward
2021 at Qualitas Energy
We have set out comprehensive targets and goals which we aim to tackle in 2021 and the proceeding years going forward. Our vision for a more sustainable, prosperous world means creating ambitious goals across several categories:
1. Partnerships
2. Carbon reduction
3. Waste
4. Community
5. Disclosure
For the year 2021, we are looking to create new partnerships with initiatives that will improve employee work life. This includes initiatives to inspire and encourage our female employees, show awareness for men´s mental health, address unconscious racial biases, and form collaborations with organisations to better ourselves and continue our messaging on diversity and inclusion and waste management initiatives.
Furthermore, one of our focus is areas is to become a carbon neutral company. Qualitas Energy is committed to taking action in ways that are currently available to us. This involves calculating, reducing, and offsetting our emissions to become a carbon-neutral organisation. This will require the disclosure and analysis of our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in the year 2021, consequently also fulfilling our commitment to the TCFD.
Additionally, we want to place a greater emphasis on building stronger communities within our workplace. By increasing engagement through our internal initiatives, we aim to create an environment that fosters an overall strong, happy and inclusive community.
Finally, we will continue to enhance our reporting and disclosure standards. We will follow new incoming regulations and continue to adhere to reporting obligations from the initiatives that we have joined.
We are excited for 2021 and what’s to come for Qualitas Energy and look forward to reporting again on our progress for this coming year.