As a model in the fight against climate change and committed to a management model based on the circular economy, Hidralia has spent years calculating and reducing its carbon footprint, having finally achieved complete neutrality throughout Andalusia

Hidralia, an environmental company dedicated to the management of the integral water cycle, has achieved carbon neutrality throughout Andalusia. This has been possible thanks to the reduction of its emissions and to participating in compensation projects for those that it is impossible to reduce. The company, located in 53 Andalusian municipalities, has carried out significant work and effort in all its facilities to calculate, reduce and offset its emissions and maintains its firm commitment to the circular economy that has led it to achieve carbon neutrality in 2019.

In this way, the company, a model in the fight against climate change, continues its firm commitment to the circular economy and energy self-sufficiency, which was recognized last year by the Andalusian Government with the Andalusian Environment Award in the Climate Change modality and with the Andalucía + Social Award for best practices linked to the SDGs.

Hidralia has been working for years to reduce its carbon footprint and to achieve the goal of Zero Emissions. To do this, it has been working on several lines, such as energy and water efficiency, to reduce energy consumption in processes directly related to its activity; green energy generation leading to self-sufficiency; or the purchase of green energy originating from renewable or sustainable sources of that which is not capable of producing.

In addition, the company maintains a firm commitment to the circular economy, having changed the paradigm in the wastewater treatment model, and promoting the circular biofactory model in all its wastewater treatment plants. This means zero energy consumption, zero waste and 100% reuse of treated water.

Neutrality as a commitment to the future

In order to neutralize its carbon footprint, the first thing the company has had to do is get to know it, once analyzed it has taken different measures to be able to reduce it even more and, finally, it has offset those emissions that it has not been possible to avoid.

Hidralia has calculated and registered its carbon footprint for 2017, 2018 and 2019 at the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITERD). It has been a project that began more than a decade ago and has culminated in the neutralization of its carbon footprint in 2019; scope 1 and 2. This refers to its direct emissions, which come mainly from the processes related to its activity and the consumption of its fleet of vehicles, and the indirect ones, produced by the consumption of electrical energy.

Emasagra, the company in which Hidralia works together with the Granada City Council, already did it last year and now the rest of the companies in which Hidralia participates have achieved it. The city of Granada also has the triple seal “I calculate + I reduce + I compensate”, granted by the Spanish Office for Climate Change (OECC) of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITERD).

Something to which Hidralia also aspires at the Andalusian level. For this reason, the company has taken the first steps, presenting its carbon footprint in the MITERD registry, which has culminated in obtaining the “Calculation” seal, for knowing and reducing its footprint as much as possible from 2017 to 2019.

After this commitment, the next step is the compensation of those emissions that Hidralia cannot avoid. To do this, the company collaborates in two projects: one in Spain, for reforestation, and another in Brazil, the latter sponsored by the United Nations related to the production of hydroelectric energy

Thanks to this work, it has also applied for the “Compensation” seal for 2019. In addition, due to the progressive reduction of its footprint since 2017, it also hopes to achieve the last seal, “Reduction”, at the end of this year, when it registers its footprint for the year. 2020, since it is necessary for its achievement to calculate and reduce the footprint for four years in a row.

It should be noted that Hidralia's foundation, the Aquae Foundation, has also achieved the triple seal 'Calculation + Reduction + Compensation', thus being the only foundation in Spain to have this year with the triple seal, which reflects that the commitment to sustainable development is well rooted in its strategy as a group.

Energy efficiency, key to neutrality

Energy efficiency is one of the fundamental pillars on which Hidralia has based its strategy to achieve carbon neutrality. As an example, only in the 12 Andalusian municipalities with a direct presence of the company, it has reduced its carbon footprint in the last three years by 250 equivalent tons of CO2 (TeqCO2).

To do this, it has opted for the generation of green energy in order to achieve energy self-sufficiency. Thus, throughout Andalusia, including its joint ventures, it has a total green energy generation capacity of 13 GWh/year at its facilities. In the last year, despite the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was able to generate 8 gigawatt-hours (GWh). Or what is the same, the energy with which some 2,000 homes are supplied annually, according to IDAE data. This represents around 13.5% of the total energy consumption of the company in Andalusia.

The latest actions carried out by the company have made it possible to expand the green energy production capacity by 500 MWh/year. Here, the Torremolinos Photovoltaic Solar Park stands out, which provides the vast majority of this figure.

In addition, the company has made an effort to reduce its emissions through measures that lead to savings in energy consumption. In this way, since 2017, Hidralia has achieved a total reduction in consumption equivalent to more than 7.44 GWh/year. In other words, the emission of more than 2,300 TCO2eq/year has been avoided. During 2020, the savings have meant the equivalent of a consumption of 352 MWh/year; or what is the same, the non-emission of 109 TCO2eq/year.

Figures that it has been able to achieve, fundamentally, thanks to specific measures for the renovation of its facilities. Among them, the implementation of intelligent aeration control systems in treatment plants; the substitution of pumping equipment for more modern and efficient ones; and lighting changes for LED systems, with much lower consumption.

In addition, in its commitment to sustainable mobility, Hidralia, together with its affiliated companies, has 76 hybrid vehicles (5 more than in 2020) and 55 electric vehicles (5 more than in 2020. A fleet that will continue to be renewed this year and the years to come, since the company's medium-term objective is for 100% of its vehicles to be sustainable.

Referente en la lucha contra el cambio climático

An example of the company's commitment to the environment and in the fight against climate change is the reforestation project carried out in Manilva, together with Fundación Aquae and the local council, and which will allow the recovery of more than 20,000 m2 of vegetation in the natural area of ​​El Calvario.

This reforestation includes the planting of 800 trees of seven native species. Specifically, 240 Aleppo pine trees will be planted, one of the species that absorbs the most CO2; 160 oak, 120 almond, 80 cypress and wild olive, respectively, 40 cork oak and the same number of carob trees. In total, this new forest is expected to have the capacity to absorb 80 tons of CO2 over the next three decades.

Likewise, Hidralia has been the main promoter of the Andalusian Network against Climate Change (REDAC), which it manages together with the Hidralia + UGR Chair, an initiative for which Hidralia was recognized last year by the Junta de Andalucía with the Andalucía Prize for Environment in the Climate Change modality and with the Andalucía + Social Award for best practices linked to the SDGs.

REDAC today has almost 600 member entities and all of them can calculate their carbon footprint free of charge, as well as exchange experiences, value their good practices and collect shared information on mitigation and adaptation to climate change while creating business, institutional alliances and public-private. The goal of the network is to promote sustainability and communication among all its members.

Lastly, Hidralia, together with its investee company Aguas de Torremolinos, is a voluntary member of the Andalusian Emissions Compensation System (SACE) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development of the Junta de Andalucía, and participates with the same presenting the calculation of its carbon footprint, as well as an action plan to reduce its emissions.

Information published in: Diario de Sevilla y ABC.