She has earned the nickname of "the woman who solves everything" in terms of environmental management and energy efficiency of companies and it is an accurate nickname. Elvira Carles, a pharmacist by training and with two master's degrees from the UPC in Occupational Risk Prevention and Water Engineering, has accumulated more than 30 years of experience against the climate emergency, even when she was barely part of the business agenda. After having led international projects in the United States, Chile and Argentina, in 2000 she was responsible for the environment and sustainability area at the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. In 2007 she had a vision: to create a foundation that would advise SMEs and multinationals against climate change that was already making the planet sick.
With the tenacity of an environmental guardian and, as the good daughter of farmers from Tortosa that she is, in 2008 she created the Fundación Empresa y Clima (FEC), the sustainable benchmark for all Spanish companies, in response to the needs and doubts caused by climate change and its direct and indirect effects. After 14 years of hard work and accompanied by a small technical team, the FEC – totally private and independent – will close 2022 with more than 100 associated companies, from very diverse sectors and sizes. "Many of them are B Corps, companies with the highest North American certificate for promoting a more inclusive and sustainable economy, with the highest social and environmental standards, public transparency and legal responsibility," says Carles.
In September 2010, the foundation was named an Observer Member of the United Nations. Its director details that this seal has allowed her "direct participation and the possibility of being able to register our business representatives in all the meetings and conferences of the parties (COP) organized by the United Nations". The scope of action of the FEC is national and international, thanks to which alliances have been created and closed with collaborators that allow it to project its challenges in the five continents.
In fact, from today until November 18, the FEC participates and accompanies 29 Spanish and international companies and entities during the COP27 climate summit, which is held in Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) and organized by the UN. More than 190 countries attend and it is the main forum where the future of the fight against the climate emergency is decided.
Some of the firms represented are Fluidra, Celsa, Puig, Global Omnium, Baleària, Epson, Acciona, Ferrovial, Cementos Molins, Vertis, Strive, Ferrer, Eurecat, Tennders or Roca. “One more year it will be the largest Spanish business delegation, and one of the most powerful in southern Europe. This allows us to have representatives in practically all the negotiating tables, halls and plenary sessions”. Carles shows muscle and insists on the "great climate awareness" of the associated firms, although he regrets that, sometimes, "they do not communicate all the investments and strategies that they apply to reduce CO2 emissions, the commitment to the circular economy or the energies renewable”.
Spain "continues to reduce its total CO2 emissions, a decrease that began in 2017 and which places them at -6.4%, if we compare it with 1990". Elvira Carles points out two causes: “The first is due to the desire of companies to be carbon neutral; The second is the application of the policies of the European Union to eliminate coal-fired electricity generation, as well as the stoppage experienced during the first half of 2020 due to covid, which has helped maintain the rate of decline.
Carles is a very practical woman who always travels with two bags, a small one for the office, and a larger one where she wears safety boots and everything she needs to visit factories and fields. When her work gives her a break, she enjoys picking mushrooms. "I fill baskets of many varieties," she says, with the pride of a woman rooted in the land.
