Iberdrola USA's parent company, Iberdrola, announced its chairman, Ignacio Galan, along with the CEOs of 42 other companies has signed an open letter to world leaders urging them to reach an ambitious agreement at December's Paris Climate Summit.

Joining forces under the auspices of the World Economic Forum, the signatories, which operate in 150 countries and had more than $1.2 trillion of combined revenue in 2014, believe the private sector has an ethical responsibility to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Iberdrola's chairman Ignacio Galan said: "This initiative being launched today (4/16) is a significant commitment in efforts to combat climate change. As businesses, we have the obligation to contribute to sustainable development by fully integrating the environmental dimension in our strategy and management."

All of the signatories committed their companies to:

• reducing their carbon footprints,
• setting targets to reduce emissions,
• raising public awareness of the consequences of climate change, and
• incorporating climate risk management into their business plans.

Iberdrola first implemented its corporate policy to fight climate change in 2009, and has cut its CO(2) emissions ever since. In 2014, Iberdrola reduced its global CO(2) emissions by 6% to 212 grams per kilowatt hour. In the U.S., Iberdrola USA is the nation's second largest wind energy company with nearly 5,700 MW of renewable generation capacity.

Last September during the UN summit in New York, Iberdrola ratified its commitment to fighting climate change by subscribing to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and incorporating its objectives into their Road to Paris 2015 project.

By signing the letter, Iberdrola continues its support of the CEO Climate Leadership Group created in Davos last January. Other global companies who signed the letter included Philips, Akzo Nobel, Swiss Re, HSBC, Dow Chemical and ING.

To help secure a global climate change agreement in Paris, the group believes it will be necessary to adopt policies that set carbon prices through market mechanisms and thereby trigger lower carbon investment. It also urges consistent policy-making, robust monitoring and verification to complement business efforts that stimulate innovation and development of new alternative and renewable energy sources.

See the full content of the letter here: https://medium.com/@ClimateCEOs.

Iberdrola USA is the U.S. subsidiary of global energy leader Iberdrola, S.A. The Iberdrola USA companies employ about 5,000 people with operations in 24 states from New England to the West Coast, providing electricity generation, transmission and distribution, natural gas storage and distribution, and energy services. For more information, please visit our website: www.iberdrolausa.com. Follow us on Twitter: @IberdrolaUSA

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