Iberdrola Secures Fifth Consecutive CDP A List Ranking, Reinforcing Its Climate Transparency Leadership

Iberdrola has once again been recognised among the global leaders in environmental transparency, earning a place on the CDP Climate A List for the fifth consecutive year. The distinction places Iberdrola within the top four percent of more than 22,100 companies assessed worldwide, underscoring the scale and consistency of its climate disclosures and decarbonisation strategy.

CDP’s A List represents the highest possible score under its annual assessment, which evaluates companies on the quality of their environmental disclosures, governance and risk management, and the extent to which climate and environmental best practices are embedded across operations. The system has become a key reference point for investors, lenders, and public authorities seeking comparable and decision-useful climate data.

 

Recognition Built on Disclosure and Execution

 

CDP’s methodology goes beyond headline targets, examining how companies identify and manage climate risks, integrate environmental considerations into strategy, and report progress in a transparent and verifiable way. Iberdrola’s continued presence on the A List reflects both the depth of its reporting and the operational changes underpinning its disclosures.

The recognition extends beyond the group level. Iberdrola’s Brazilian subsidiary, Neoenergia, also achieved A List status for both climate and water management, highlighting the geographic reach of the group’s sustainability practices across regulated and emerging markets.

 

Scaling Renewables as a Core Strategy

 

Iberdrola’s climate credentials are closely tied to long-term investment in renewable energy infrastructure. The company has invested more than US$105 billion in renewables, building an operational renewable capacity of 45,263 megawatts by the end of the first nine months of 2025. This marks a steady increase from 41,246 megawatts in 2023, representing year-on-year growth of around 6.5 percent.

Its renewable portfolio spans offshore and onshore wind, solar photovoltaic, hydroelectric power, and emerging technologies such as green hydrogen. The group has set out a clear decarbonisation pathway, targeting carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and net zero emissions across all scopes before 2040.

In the United Kingdom, Iberdrola’s subsidiary ScottishPower became the country’s first integrated energy company to generate 100 percent green electricity, supported by more than 3,000 megawatts of installed wind capacity. This operational milestone reflects how renewable investment is being translated into system-level change rather than isolated assets.

 

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Green Bonds as a Financing Backbone

 

Alongside physical infrastructure, Iberdrola has played a defining role in shaping sustainable finance markets. The company is widely recognised as the world’s largest issuer of green bonds, using the instrument to fund renewable generation, smart grids, and energy storage.

Iberdrola issued Spain’s first green bond in 2014 and went on to complete the largest hybrid green bond issuance in history in early 2021, raising US$2.1 billion. During 2024 alone, the company raised US$7.19 billion through green bond issuances across multiple currencies and markets. This included a US$689 million 12-year green bond that attracted more than 140 investors, and a US$864 million hybrid green bond that was oversubscribed by nearly four times, drawing demand of over US$3.1 billion.

According to Executive Chairman Ignacio Galán, sustainable finance is central to accelerating the energy transition. Proceeds from Iberdrola’s green bonds are allocated to environmentally aligned projects and are subject to independent external validation, reinforcing credibility with capital markets.

 

Innovation and R&D as Long-Term Enablers

 

Iberdrola’s sustainability strategy is also supported by sustained investment in research and development. The company ranks as the leading private utility globally in R&D spending, according to the European Commission. In 2024, it invested more than US$420 million in innovation and has set a target to exceed US$7 billion in cumulative R&D investment by 2030.

Its innovation footprint includes hubs in Bilbao, Qatar, Curitiba, and San Agustín de Guadalix, focusing on smart grids, renewable integration, and power system digitalisation. Through its Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub in Bilbao, Iberdrola collaborates with more than 115 partner organisations, involving around 200 professionals and supporting over 120 active projects.

The company also maintains partnerships with academic institutions such as Yale, MIT, the University of Strathclyde, and the Tecnológico de Monterrey through its universities programme, linking research, talent development, and applied innovation.

 

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Positioning in a More Scrutinised Market

 

Beyond CDP, Iberdrola features consistently in leading sustainability indices including Dow Jones Best-in-Class World and Europe, MSCI, Sustainalytics, ISS-ESG, EcoVadis, and FTSE4Good. It is currently the largest electricity company in Europe by market capitalisation and the second largest globally.

The latest CDP recognition arrives at a time when investor scrutiny of environmental performance is intensifying and capital is increasingly directed toward companies with credible transition strategies and transparent reporting. Iberdrola’s fifth consecutive A List ranking signals continuity as well as scale, reinforcing its positioning as a benchmark for how climate disclosure, capital allocation, and operational execution can align within a large, regulated energy group.

As climate transparency becomes a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator, Iberdrola’s approach illustrates how sustained investment, financial innovation, and detailed disclosure can converge to support long-term competitiveness in a decarbonising global economy.