- Conference organized by Madrid Foro Empresarial and Envera at the Ibercaja Business Center.
- Manuel Lamela, Airbus, GAM Investments, AT Valor, AT Valor, GAM Investments
- The Director General of Economy of the Community of Madrid closed the meeting.
Madrid | November 21, 2023
The Ibercaja Business Center hosted this Tuesday the conference 'Taxation and ESG: strategy for business competitiveness and inclusion', organized by the Madrid Business Forum's Competitive Social Responsibility Board, with the participation of Airbus, Acountax, GAM Investmets, AT Valor, Ibercaja and Envera, and with the closing speech of the Director General of Economy of the Community of Madrid, Juan Manuel López Zafra.
During the meeting, which was inaugurated by the general director of Madrid Foro Empresarial, Paloma García-Ramos, and moderated by the general director of Envera and coordinator of the CSR Committee, Enrique Grande, the speakers agreed on the importance of ESG criteria and sustainability as an added value when it comes to achieving business objectives, attracting investors and obtaining financing, as the moderator stated at the beginning of his speech: "Being sustainable is no longer an option for companies, it is an imperative need for their viability".
Manuel Lamela, managing partner of Acountax, explained the three parts that make up the ESG criteria (environmental, social and governance) and that "each is at a different point of evolution, as the economic and social reality is different from what was thought in 2015" when the criteria emerged.
As for the forecasts, Lamela himself acknowledged that, "given the current context, I am afraid that the objectives will be visible later than 2030".
Javier Arnaldo, Airbus national representative for Sustainability and Environment in Spain, and Javier Mendoza, managing director of AT Consultancy, agreed on the opportunity that sustainability and ESG criteria represent for companies to achieve their objectives.
For Arnaldo, it is important to "accommodate the company's growth and development needs to sustainability objectives", while Mendoza spoke of a paradigm shift because "we have gone from companies seeking to maximize profits to companies seeking to increase the value of the company for the benefit of shareholders", and recalled that Europe has already legislated on how companies should report on their sustainability activities(non-financial reports).
Envera's Director of Communication, Institutional Relations and CSR, Virginia Ródenas, highlighted the role of social organizations as "the best allies" for companies to develop ESG criteria and make the most of compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN's 2030 Agenda.
Ródenas also denounced the existence of "companies that prefer to pay fines rather than comply with the laws they break" and appealed for collaboration to "seek and offer our help (as an NGO) to companies so that they can make reports to be able to grow. It is a good opportunity for everyone".
For his part, Carlos Álvarez, Client Director of GAM Investments, speaks of the importance of sustainability as a key factor in attracting investment and financing, as in the case of the energy transition of companies, as long as it is done in a real way and without jeopardizing the company's activities.
From the point of view of Noemí Díez, head of Analysis of Corporate and Syndicated Transactions at Ibercaja, "the main aspect for assessing the financing risk of SMEs is the recoverability of that risk. If you grant transparency and sustainability, it is easier to achieve it."
The Director General of Economy of the Community of Madrid, Juan Manuel López Zafra, was in charge of closing the conference and defended "having the lowest possible taxes to attract investment", a tax reduction that allows companies to invest in ESG criteria.
