Companies in Company of Environmentalists

With gratitude for putting a right step.....
Whoever cares for this planet are our companions.
Wind is the answer for all questions. Let there be new winds...

Health, safety and the environment are core principles of Gamesa's Code of Conduct, underscoring the company's commitment to constant improvement and cooperation to achieve sustainable development by devising and implementing best practices. Said practices are geared towards safeguarding the environment based on a preventive approach, promoting information and training in the culture of sustainability.

Gamesa works on two fronts to mitigate the environmental impacts associated with energy use: minimising the negative impacts its own operations may have on the environment developing products that reduce CO₂ emissions and against this backdrop, Gamesa's business is crucial to the fight against climate change: its more than 26,000 MW of installed wind turbines prevent atmospheric emissions totalling 40 million tonnes of CO₂ every year.

For the 2013-2015 period, the company has targeted a series of strategic goals, which in 2013 focus on the following:

• Continue implementation of an environmental management system at the turnkey construction business.
• Make progress on the roll out of EMAS rules, an environmental management system whose standards exceed those of ISO 14001.
• Identify new ways of extracting value from wastes generated by company operations and curtail associated waste management costs.
• Continue a programme to cut waste management costs by 10% from 2012 levels. 
• Reduce waste disposal volumes by 10%, increasing recycling and waste value extraction. 
• Make progress towards shrinking Gamesa's carbon footprint to zero, working with operating divisions to cut energy consumption and costs by mandating energy efficiency measures.
• Complete the rollout of a chemical products application (Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals) based on a SAP system.
• Make in-house progress on ecodesign through research into the product life cycles and environmental impact statements of new multi-megawatt turbine systems. 
• Improve environmental risk assessments of new processes linked to both manufacturing and erection and maintenance of new multi-megawatt machines and upgrades of existing turbines.

Climate change

Gamesa uses its experience and initiatives to encourage the transition to a low-carbon economy, and is tackling the challenge of maintaining competitiveness by manufacturing as efficiently as possible. The company recently signed on to several agreements, including the Carbon Price Communiqué issued by corporate climate leaders at the University of Cambridge,  which follows support for the Cancun, Copenhagen and Poznan agreements signed in past years, and which strengthen the aforementioned commitment to action as part of efforts to achieve the following:

• Promote energy efficiency in all industries: including financial support and energy efficiency policies applicable to buildings, transport and industry.
• Promote low-carbon energy systems and development of infrastructure and research.
• Promote carbon capture and storage systems.
• Bolster efforts to combat emissions of other greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide.

Biodiversity

The company researches the potential impacts on biodiversity of its activities, products and services.  Accordingly, the projects Gamesa developed, built and operated in 2012 were assessed for their environmental impacts on their surroundings.

The company conducted 50 biodiversity studies in 2012, including environmental impact reports, research on bird and bat populations, noise and environmental monitoring studies, among others. The following are highlights of these efforts in 2012:

• Spain: brush clearing around power lines in accordance with Law 3/2007 on forest fire prevention and defence in Galicia. Monthly collision/electrocution accident surveys, seasonal review of flight interactions with power lines and towers, quarterly monitoring of bird of prey populations.
• Mexico: relocation of protected and/or ecologically significant plant life. Relocation of animal species threatened by construction work carried out at jobsites. Encouraging the proliferation of fauna associated with vegetation.
• Germany: installation of automatic ultrasound bat sensors to identify collision risk.