The mobility sector faces two great challenges: decarbonization and digitalization. Getting society to move with zero emissions and in a connected and safe environment requires great efforts and the involvement of all countries, but it also requires the investment commitment of the actors involved, public and private. For more than 60 years, Abertis has been working to be a key ally in the sustainable and safe management of infrastructure for the future.
The company operates thousands of kilometers of high-capacity, high-quality highways around the world. Thanks to innovation in management, it offers smarter, safer, sustainable and decongested mobility, working to accommodate not only electric cars, but also connected and autonomous vehicles. In order to comply with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal, the company has identified those areas in which it can contribute most substantially, and has integrated them into its sustainability strategy. Its objective is to promote, through mobility, a more inclusive, modern and progressive society, with fair, green, well-structured and connected mobility, and to adapt Spanish infrastructure – among the best in the European Union – to the challenge of decarbonization.
Abertis’ participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project initiative, on a public basis, and the annual calculation of the carbon footprint following international reference standards, allow it to monitor and communicate the impact of its activities on climate change, thus responding to the expectations of the different interest groups, in addition to facilitating the monitoring of the established objectives. The data recorded in the Carbon Disclosure Project has allowed the Group to work on a plan of sustainability initiatives that offers the possibility of planning each of its actions to comply with environmental regulations, reduce pollution and its impacts caused by activity and the use of infrastructure.
For this reason, it also implements an energy management and decarbonization plan, which includes a green fleet of vehicles, the change of lighting to LED technology in the road network, the renewal of the ventilation system in the tunnels, and the installation of a network of electric stations on its roads, among other strategies to decongest and decarbonize traffic in our country. Specifically, Abertis, through its company Autopistas, is implementing ultra-fast charging of electric vehicles to all its service areas. This initiative is part of the company’s ESG (environmental, social and governance) Plan, which makes available to users an initial deployment of 76 electric stations, 24 of which in Catalonia, which allow vehicles to be supplied with clean energy. Of these charging stations, more than 50 are already operational, located mainly in communities such as Catalonia, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Navarra, Aragón and Madrid.
The deployment of these charging points for electric vehicles is carried out by expert operators in the sector and the installations that are launched have a power greater than 150 KW, capable of charging the battery in just 20 minutes. Likewise, on the highways of Italy and France, Abertis also has highly implemented rapid charging points every 80 kilometers, electric charging stations that can charge 80% of a vehicle’s battery in 30 minutes. In addition, the possibility of developing an electric corridor that offers a wireless charging solution for electric vehicles is being studied, in which the highways themselves are responsible for recharging the vehicles. Abertis also develops other sustainable solutions based on technology and innovation.
In France, for example, the company is testing hydrogen cars as service vehicles. For its part, in Brazil and Puerto Rico it has installed photovoltaic panels on the roofs of toll plazas and rest area buildings to generate electricity, which is consumed locally. In turn, to find innovative and effective solutions, Abertis launches the “Drone Challenge”, a call to entities and startups around the world with the aim of identifying disruptive solutions to the challenges of current mobility based on the use of drones to improve road operations and infrastructure maintenance. This call – open until January 30 – is part of Beyond Roads, Abertis’ innovation hub for the transformation of high-capacity roads.