- The Real Betis sustainability platform aims to promote social awareness actions to care for the planet.
- Players from the first basketball team and 30 boys and girls from schools in Carmona, attended the event held at the Endesa solar plant in this town in the province of Seville and made a small contribution by planting aromatic species in the area destined for agricultural cultivation that has been renamed Calle Forever Green.
- Endesa's solar plant in Carmona has become a benchmark for sustainability in Spain as a result of the development of unique initiatives including the first solar apiary, agrivoltaic cultivation, grazing for natural land clearance, and the creation of an ecological island that serves as a refuge for birds.
Endesa and the Association of Basketball Clubs (ACB) today joined forces with Forever Green, Real Betis' environmental sustainability platform, for the maintenance and development of a more sustainable planet.
This collaboration took place in a very special setting: Las Corchas, Endesa's solar plant in Carmona that has become a benchmark for sustainability as a result of unique, pioneering initiatives including the first solar apiary, agrivoltaic cultivation, grazing for natural land clearance, and the creation of an ecological island that serves as a refuge for birds.
The event was attended by the Mayor of Carmona, Juan Ávila; the President of Real Betis Baloncesto, Fernando Moral; the General Manager for Sports Systems and Values of the Regional Government of Andalusia, María de Nova Pozuelo, the General Manager of Endesa in Andalusia, Extremadura, Ceuta and Melilla, Rafael Sánchez Durán, the General Manager of the ACB, José Miguel Calleja, and first team players for Real Betis Baloncesto, including the latest signing, Jeremy Pargo, Tyson Pérez, Pablo Almazán and Volodymyr Gerun. Betis Football Club legend Rafael Gordillo was also there.
They were accompanied by 30 boys and girls, young basketball promises for whom we need to leave a more sustainable planet. Moral reminded them all that "if we do not take care of the planet, there will be no basketball. Real Betis has always been committed to the environment through actions that have made us the second most sustainable club in the world. Today we would like to thank everyone, Carmona Town Council, the Regional Government, Endesa and the ACB for joining us in this commitment to a better world"
Sánchez Durán ensured us that "Endesa knows very well that basketball practises a good part of the values that society needs to meet a crucial challenge such as climate change: Teamwork, hard work and commitment. Today we have seen it again with the involvement of a club like Real Betis Baloncesto with a commitment to sustainability and young people. A job with which Endesa fully identifies and has our full support".
Along the same lines, Mr Calleja expressed the gratitude of the ACB, "to Betis for its fight against climate change through a project as beautiful as Forever Green, and to Endesa for its continuous commitment to sustainability. We did not hesitate, we wanted to join this project and do our bit".
After the signing ceremony, the Real Betis Baloncesto players and the 30 boys and girls from sports schools in Carmona planted aromatic species to favour the work of the bees in the solar apiary at a plant that has the latest technology and each year produces more than 500 kilos of solar honey.
This space will now be called Calle Forever Green as a tribute to this get-together between the three institutions to improve our environment.
The first collaboration between Endesa, Forever Green and the acb took place last September during the celebration of the Endesa Super Cup in Seville, where awareness actions were undertaken, as well as others to make the competition more environmentally friendly, including the use of re-usable bottles and providing containers for selective recycling. With today's event at the Las Corchas photovoltaic plant, a new collaborative step was taken that once again confirms the commitment of basketball and its community in the fight against climate change.
About Forever Green
Forever Green has just completed two years working in the fight against climate change, an action that has made Real Betis one of the most committed clubs to the environment in the world.
Since Forever Green was founded, 88 actions have been taken, including the cleaning of natural spaces, the installation of a fleet of electric scooters and bicycles for Club employees, as well as promoting their use by fans through discounts, recycling and awareness campaigns.
Forever Green has become globally recognised, reaching 598 million people in 75 countries. The Real Betis environment programme has been viewed in 195 media outlets.
Las corchas, a real example of sustainability
The solar plant belonging to Endesa's renewable subsidiary, Enel Green Power España (EGPE), in Carmona has already become an environmental benchmark as a result of including pioneering initiatives since its launch in 2019. These include the first solar apiary, agrivoltaic cultivation, grazing and the creation of an ecological island as a result of the recovery of 9 hectares of land to be used not only to provide vegetation for local birdlife, but also to give the bees in the Carmona solar apiary more sustenance to help them do their work.
It is precisely the bees owned by Juan Ignacio and his son, the fourth and fifth generation of Loramiel, that are also participating in an environmental study conducted by the El Rincón de la Abeja association, for which new sensors have been installed in the hives to digitalise them and apply environmental monitoring measures to identify the proliferation of animal species in the area around the solar plant.
Endesa, through its renewable subsidiary EGPE, is conducting a study of the bee population together with this association. This involved installing 3Bee monitoring systems to determine the number of specimens in the solar apiary, registering biophonies in the areas around the apiary, studying the floral load in the area and creating a map of ecological interaction. "All this is to study and publicise the positive impact of this coexistence," said Sr Vecino.
About Endesa
Endesa is the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. The company is also the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. Endesa operates an end-to-end generation, distribution and marketing business. Through Endesa X it also offers value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy usage in homes, companies, industries and Public Administrations. It has also created a new line of business. Endesa X Way is fully dedicated to electric mobility. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribución, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR. Our workforce numbers around 9,260 employees. Endesa is a division of Enel, the largest electricity group in Europe.