ENDESA unveiled its pioneering initiative for purchasing emissions credits generated by Clean Development Mechanisms under the umbrella of the Kyoto Treaty in Peking today in the presence of the Spanish Ambassador to China.

 

Endesa Climate Initiative, presented by the Company in November 2005, contemplates the purchase of 15 million CO2 emissions rights through to 2012 generated by Joint Application Mechanisms and Clean Development Mechanisms projects implemented in countries not included in Annex I of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change.

 

The carbon credit purchasing contract between Endesa and the Chinese electric utility, Huaneng, was signed during the ceremony, at which over 180 Chinese companies from a wide range of manufacturing industries assisted. The agreement calls for the acquisition by Endesa of 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 generated by three wind energy farms (with a total capacity of 195 MW) operated by the Chinese utility.

 

The agreement forms part of Endesa's strategy for meeting its emissions rights requirements to fulfil its Kyoto Treaty commitments.

 

The Spanish Ambassador (José Pedro Sebastián de Erice) opened the event, followed by Dr. Gao Guansheng (Director of the Chinese government's Office for Climate Change) and José Casas Marín (Endesa's Deputy General Manager of Strategy, Regulation, Environment and Sustainable Development). In his speech, the Ambassador referred to the initiative and agreement reached between the Spanish and Chinese utilities as an example of the good relations between both countries' governments.

 

Endesa, the leading Spanish electric utility, a multinational with a significant presence in Europe and the number one private utility in Latin America, presented its sustainable development strategy profiling itself as an ideal partner in the development of greenhouse gas emission reduction initiatives, capitalising on the challenges thrown up by this issue.

 

Throughout the day, Endesa held meetings with 50 companies in the process of developing such projects. Negotiations on the terms of potential emissions reduction purchasing agreements will now begin with these companies.

 

Endesa Climate Initiative will be next presented in India and Mexico in February, closing the cycle of events kicked off with its launch in Madrid on 10 November 2005. The initiative will by then have been presented in the markets with greatest potential for developing emission reduction projects.