Fundación Cepsa celebrates World Environment Day through direct action and environmental education

• Fundación Cepsa maintains its commitment to its wetlands and adds more biodiversity protection projects
• Cepsa professionals, thanks to the corporate volunteer program Voluntas, cleaned the Puente Mayorga beach in San Roque and the banks of the Padre Santo canal in Palos, and they also went on a biodiversity walk in Tenerife.

The commemoration of World Environment Day, which is being observed this year under the slogan Only one Earth, as decided by the United Nations (UN), is being celebrated at Cepsa and its Fundación as one of the flagship initiatives in its comprehensive approach in the field of sustainability. In order to highlight its commitment to the environment and environmental care, Fundación Cepsa stresses the importance of awareness, outreach, energy efficiency, water saving, and the effective reduction of the footprint where Cepsa operates, as well as respect for biodiversity in a sustainable coexistence of industry and the environment.

Thanks to the actions of Fundación Cepsa, natural areas such as Marismas del Odiel and Laguna Primera de Palos (Huelva), the Madrevieja Environmental Station in San Roque, and Arroyo Negro in La Línea (Cadiz) are protected and enhanced. Wetlands are indispensable ecosystems, as they provide freshwater supply, food, biodiversity enhancement, flood control, groundwater recharge, and climate change mitigation.

To celebrate this day, Fundación Cepsa invited the municipal corporations of San Roque and Palos de la Frontera to visit and learn about the biodiversity projects being developed at the Madrevieja Environmental Station and the Laguna Primera de Palos, respectively.

In addition, Fundación Cepsa once again took part in the corporate volunteer program Voluntas, carrying out a day of activities in honor of World Environment Day. Professionals from the San Roque Energy Park, along with at-risk teenagers from the Sustainable Alternatives program, organized by the Coordinadora Antidroga Alternativas (Anti-drug Alternatives Coordinator), cleaned the Puente Mayorga beach, while in Palos de la Frontera, staff from the La Rábida Energy Park will clean the banks of the Padre Santo canal in coming days. In Tenerife, a biodiversity walk was organized in the Las Mesas Park, guided by Botany researchers from the University of La Laguna, followed by environmental awareness activities, such as sponsoring tress that will be planted during the rainy season.

In other areas, a virtual awareness day on the importance of nature protection was organized for all Cepsa professionals and led by Antonio Troya, director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), on the importance of responsible water management and consumption.

As for biodiversity protection initiatives, Fundación Cepsa, in collaboration with the Research Foundation of the University of Seville, is conducting a study on the impact of the Asian seaweed Rugulopteryx Okamurae in the Bay of Algeciras (Cadiz) and developing programs to protect species such as the Montagu's harrier and bats in Jerez de la Frontera; the barn owl recovery project in southern Spain in Madrevieja; and S.O.S. Caretta: Fishermen for Biodiversity on the coasts of Cadiz and Huelva, together with Asociación Hombre y Territorio (Man and Territory Association), which aims to train and promote the rescue of loggerhead turtles and other endangered species.

Environmental awareness actions and workshops have also been held through the educational programs Energy Campus, for high school students, and World Wetlands Day, a program aimed at children in primary school, as well as other actions in collaboration with public entities in the environmental field.

In the Canary Islands, the Fundación has collaborated with the City Council of the capital city of Tenerife to sustainably remodel a traffic circle located in the center of the city. The traffic circle is also dedicated to informing the population about the Sustainable Development Goals. And an outstanding research project on the impact of microplastics on the seabed ecosystem of the islands was carried out by the AChem Research Group of the University of La Laguna.

Other interventions are being carried out in natural areas such as the Las Mesas Park, together with the Sustainable Santa Cruz Foundation, and in sustainability outreach and awareness-raising activities such as guided walks in Anaga, aimed at demonstrating the importance of Anaga’s Biosphere Reserve. A signposted route of unique trees was also created in the capital of Tenerife, with guided activities to spread information about the trees and highlight the value of their biodiversity. In the same vein, on June 8, Cepsa will collaborate with the Santa Cruz Environmental Fair, which will be attended by 1,100 schoolchildren from 16 schools in the capital.

All these initiatives demonstrate the Fundación Cepsa's clear commitment to maintaining and increasing biodiversity in the natural areas where it is present, as well as showing its commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this area, the following stand out: 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities, 12. Responsible Consumption and Production, and 17. Partnerships to Achieve the Goal, without forgetting 7. Affordable and Clean Energy, 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth, and 13. Climate Action.