Endesa becomes the first Spanish energy company to sign up for the “Valuable 500” global disability inclusion initiative

• Endesa has made a public commitment to take action in the sphere of disability following the signing of the official agreement by our Chief Executive Officer, José Bogas.
• Valuable 500 is announcing the names of the companies around the world that now form part of its programme at the 75th General Assembly of the UN.
• Enel, the parent company of Endesa, signed up for the initiative at the end of last year.

Endesa has become the first Spanish energy company to join the “Valuable 500”, a global campaign to get 500 national and multinational private sector corporations to be the tipping-point for change and help unlock the social and economic value of people living with disabilities across the world. In this way the company, which already has disability on its Board of Directors' agenda, has made a public undertaking to take action in the sphere of disability.

José Bogas, Chief Executive Officer of Endesa, today ratified the electric utility's membership of Valuable 500. The Enel group, the parent company of Endesa, signed up to this international initiative last November. Endesa is the first energy company in Spain to join the programme and its presence, along with that of the other participating companies, is being announced today at the 75th UN General Assembly.

Endesa is deeply committed to promoting human rights, non-discrimination, equal opportunities and diversity, everywhere it operates. Namely, the promotion of diversity and inclusion is core to the company’s strategy focused on innovation and sustainability.

Endesa, in line with the Enel Group, is working to replace boundaries and obstacles with new opportunities leveraging on the unique mix of talents that everyone brings to work. Signing up to Valuable 500 commits Endesa to enhancing and expanding actions regarding digital accessibility, autonomy, mobility, development and employability of people with disabilities.

With regard to joining this initiative, José Bogas, Chief Executive Officer of Endesa, states: “Diversity is one of the key areas of Endesa's approach in its nurturing of a culture of total inclusion in the company, along with gender and age. This is why we are keen to be involved in the ambitious "Valuable 500" international initiative aimed at unlocking the potential of the inclusion of the 1.3 billion people living with disabilities worldwide. This is a decision we have taken in line with the view of Enel that sustainability is synonymous with value. Valuable 500 shows us that by opening the doors to people with disabilities, companies gain a number of advantages including a higher level of innovation, an increase in their customer base and improved productivity. With this in mind, we are stepping up our measures to overcome the obstacles faced by this group and including their perspectives in our business approach”.

When it comes to specific initiatives, Endesa was the first energy services utility to introduce Pedius to customers in Spain in 2019. This app aims to facilitate communication by using “speech to text” recognition and synthesis that converts a text message into an artificial voice and, likewise, the voice into a text message Endesa is also working on other significant inclusion programmes such as:

• Initiatives aimed at raising the awareness of employees with regard to diversity and inclusion through volunteering actions.
• Training initiatives to increase awareness and knowledge of disability management.
• Actions aimed at enabling the inclusion of people with disabilities through their involvement in certain work related to the rollout of new renewable energy facilities.
• Initiatives aimed at employees with disabilities or responsible for people with disabilities to provide them with support and advice.
• Assessment of aspects of disability inclusion in the contracting of services to suppliers.
• Social investment in projects focused on the inclusion of people with disabilities.

The Valuable 500 is a campaign working to ensure businesses globally recognise the value of people living with a disability. Companies and business leaders that have committed to putting disability inclusion on their agendas by joining the Valuable 500 include some of the foremost players in every sector.