Gas Natural SDG : Fenosa volunteers help to improve the environment in Tarragona

• Habitat-improvement activities were carried out last weekend in collaboration with the Fundación Global Nature and the Mare Terra Fundació Mediterrània.

• The initiative is part of the energy company's third corporate environmental volunteering programme, creating value for its employees and the natural environment it operates in.

Around 25 GAS NATURAL FENOSA employees and their families took part last weekend in a day of conservation activities on Tarragona's Platja Llarga beach. To help conserve this habitat, a volunteering initiative has been organised in partnership with the Fundación Global Nature and the Mare Terra Fundació Mediterrània.

During the session, volunteers removed marine debris from the beach to protect biodiversity and raise awareness of the consequences of waste for the coast. They used the MARNOBA protocol for sorting and managing waste, created by Vertidos Cero and Kai Marine Services, which recently won the 2016 Energy Globe Award. The volunteers added the data obtained to the MARNOBA app to contribute to providing complete information on marine debris in Spain and facilitate optimal management of this environmental problem.

To favour the presence of native plant species on the dunes, they planted local species such as sea daffodil (Pancratium maritimum), marram grass (Ammophila arenaria), and sea medick (Medicago marina). The presence of these species is essential to consolidate the dunes and regenerate the habitat. Finally, there was an environmental reconnaissance initiative in the forest of Bosc de la Marquesa. Various activities were organised in this protected space, listed in the Natura 2000 network, to explore the natural values of the coastal Mediterranean forest, a threatened and scarce ecosystem in Tarragona.

The initiative is part of GAS NATURAL FENOSA's Corporate Environmental Volunteering Programme, in its third edition. The programme is intended to promote a positive attitude towards environmental conservation among the company's employees and encourage them to take part in its commitment to protecting biodiversity, by making a practical contribution to improving the environment around their workplaces.

Commitment to the environment and our natural surroundings

GAS NATURAL FENOSA maintains a firm commitment to society, and for many years has developed a corporate culture of respect for and awareness of the environment and environmental improvement, which it continually conveys to its employees, customers, suppliers and society in general. Along these lines, the company incorporates its commitment to preserving biodiversity in all its businesses and activities, and has defined an environmental sustainability strategy based on these three targets: the minimisation of impacts on ecosystems; the conservation of natural assets; and the mitigation of global warming.

Fundación Global Nature

For over 20 years, the Fundación Global Nature has been working on the conservation of spaces and species, as well as the restoration of degraded ecosystems, with a particular focus on wetland areas. Over the last two decades, the foundation has worked with public and private entities to develop activities aimed at conserving biodiversity, both in Spain and within the framework of development aid projects.

As a charitable education foundation, all its projects include environmental awareness elements, in the form of courses, workshops and corporate volunteer programmes on the site.

Mare Terra Fundació Mediterrània

Mare Terra Fundació Mediterrània is an environmental foundation created in 1993 to make sustainable development a reality at all levels of society. More than two decades of intense work have made the foundation a national benchmark, especially in environmental education. Apart from its environmental activities, the Mare Terra Fundació Mediterrània is also involved in international cooperation and other projects relating to societal development and the culture of solidarity.

Tarragona, 5 April 2017

Images