Achieving a sustainable environment is one of the most important global challenges. Ineco puts that challenge at the heart of its business, with its customers and staff, as well as with society in general. The company has extensive experience preparing strategic plans and other plans such as urban mobility plans, applying a global perspective and focusing on key aspects such as safety, resilience, equitable access, intermodality and efficiency. The Company’s contribution to the fight against climate change has strengthened in recent years. It has taken part in projects such as Adif’s Fight Against Climate Change Plan, Aena’s Climate Change Strategy and projects in railway energy supply and energy certification for buildings.

Some of the more important projects carried out to improve quality of life of society include strategic noise mapping, investigation of atmospheric and hydrological pollution and acting as technical management on civil engineering projects. It has also made an important contribution to the design of inclusive infrastructure and implementation of many projects involving public participation.

Each year Ineco awards the Environment Prize to the most pro-environment project in the company: 2019’s winning team, Agustín Roldán, Mirela Vladovic and Mirian Pinilla, with Deputy Director Bertrán Visedo. / PHOTO_ELVIRA VILA

Those actions respond to the growing concern within public authorities and the wider community regarding sustainability, in line with the Spanish Sustainable Mobility Strategy (EEMS) of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, which provides a country-wide framework to foster a low-carbon, lower-energy economic model, following principles of social justice and fair distribution of wealth.

Campaign to reduce the use of plastic cups. / PHOTO_INECO

Staff involvement

In this context, Ineco encourages its staff to care for the environment and be socially responsible, in line with the values and principles that govern the United Nations Global Compact, which it joined in 2008. One example of this are the activities that have taken place over recent years, such as the annual celebration of Environment Week to commemorate World Environment Day, on June 5, including workshops, round-tables, volunteering, competitions and other activities, all based on the themes chosen each year by the UN.

SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY. Ineco currently offers employees discounts on sustainable vehicles and bicycle racks with the intention of encouraging their use when travelling to the workplace. Marcos Moreno, one of the winners of a weekend with an all-electric Renault ZOE in Ineco’s Sustainable Mobility Week competition, which will be held annually. / PHOTO_INECO

Ineco also offers the Environment Prize, an annual award for the most pro-environment project in the company. Winners in recent years include: the installation of brake-energy converter-regenerators at several substations on the conventional rail network (2017), raffling of unneeded IT equipment among the staff (2018), and the creation of the ‘digital twin’ (A-76 Highway) to modernise the environmental management of infrastructure (2019).

Ineco’s environmental impact

Ineco’s Carbon Footprint (tCO2 eq).

In 2019, the company’s carbon footprint dropped to a total of 9,355 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents. That represents a reduction in our carbon footprint from 3.27 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents per employee in 2018 to 2.47 tonnes per employee in 2019, and a reduction against turnover from 34.77 tonnes to 30.71 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents per euro of turnover.

Reforestation in Gredos

To reduce its environmental impact, fight climate change and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs, Ineco offset part of its carbon footprint in 2019 through the planting of native species of tree such as pine, birch and rowan in Sierra de Gredos Regional Park (Ávila). The 750 trees planted on Monte Orzaduero will absorb a total of 135 tonnes of CO₂ over 40 years*.

*Using figures contained in the Register of Carbon Footprint, Offsetting and CO₂ Absorption Projects kept by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.

The environment, which takes centre stage on this autumn’s cover, increasingly influences our projects and activities in Spain and around the world. With the support of Ineco, Ecuador’s capital Quito has launched initiatives to reduce waste and foster a circular economy of resources; this will without a doubt translate into improved welfare and quality of life for the city’s inhabitants.

Public policy is key in the move towards more sustainable cities. We are honoured with the opinion of María Verónica Arias Cabanilla, Environment secretary for the Municipality of Quito, the highest authority for environmental policy in the Ecuadorian capital. The city’s environmental policy includes the ‘Cero Basura’ programme, based on the integrated management of resources; this is an ambitious project in which Ineco was responsible for the Master Plan for Comprehensive Waste Management and its legal framework. This coincides with Quito’s selection by the UN to host the Habitat III Sustainable Cities Conference in October 2016. In addition to this, as Verónica Arias points out in her interview, Quito is Ecuador’s most sustainable city and one of the 17 finalists for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) award for the world’s most sustainable city.

Optimal management of an environmental resource such as the sky is another area of interest that we will address in these pages. Specifically, we have a report dedicated to ENAIRE’s significant technical efforts and investment to guarantee air safety with the highest levels of efficiency. The high concentration of flights in Europe requires a complex new automated air traffic control system: SACTA (so-called for its initials in Spanish) is a series of systems and equipment which ENAIRE is investing over 16 million euros to renovate. Ineco engineers, who are collaborating in the project, offer us a detailed description of the function of these services and what they bring us.

Public policy is key in the necessary move towards more sustainable cities

Also worth highlighting is Ineco’s more than 20 years of experience in supervising the manufacture of trains. This issue features an in-depth article on rolling stock design validation, supervision and testing, particularly in Spain, Chile, Brazil and Colombia, where we have recently renewed our contract.

Finally, I am proud to present the new modernisation project at Chiclayo airport in Peru, where a new terminal is being designed. This large aeronautical project will complement our existing project at Lima’s Jorge Chávez airport. These are big jobs and big challenges in a globalised world where we want to demonstrate the skills and capabilities of Spanish engineering.