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water water Aqualia becomes the first full water cycle operator to accredit its contribution to the SDGs Rafael García Meiro, CEO of AENOR, presented the Sustainable Strategy (ODS) certificate to Félix Parra, CEO of Aqualia. Aqualia has received recognition from AENOR for “incorporating sustainability into its principles and aligning its strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are most relevant to its activity”. The award of the certifica - te is the result of the intense work that Aqualia has been carrying out for years in favor of sustainability, in its triple financial, social and en - provision of all types of services in the end-to-end water cycle. Also, in terms of sustainability, we offer our collaboration to the public sector so that, together, we can achieve the SDGs more quickly without lea- ving anyone behind”. For his part, García Meiro highlighted Aqualia’s real work as a global benchmark in sustainability, “leading a move - ment that society needs to take an example from”. In its audit report, the certifying entity highlights the integration of the different management systems in Aqualia’s international policy as a strong point and points out how the company’s activity contributes to the achievement of the SDGs. AENOR especially highlights ini - tiatives such as Aqualia’s internal and external communication plan for the dissemination of the SDGs, through projects such as #Stepb- yWater, the campaign www.com- promisoreal.com and the educatio- nal website www.aqualiaeduca.com. Responsible and efficient mana - gement This certification, which aims to endorse that Aqualia’s strategy incorporates sustainability and is aligned with the SDGs relevant to its core business, generating con- fidence in third parties and distin - guishing its business contribution, is the result of the continuous work that Aqualia has been carrying out for years to contribute, through its daily work, to the achievement of the SDGs and leadership in the responsible and efficient manage - ment of water. All this activity has come together in the Strategic Sustainability Plan 21-23, which drives the company towards achie- ving the SDGs, not only because it sets out projects, actions and per- formance indicators, but also be- cause the plan allows the company to measure the progress made and to be accountable to its stakehol- ders. As a result of its know-how as a company specializing in the ma- nagement of all phases of the entire water cycle, the company has more than twenty active R&D projects. This intense innovative activity involves, for example, the WATCH VIDEO OF THE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT SUSTAINABILITY REPORT transformation of wastewater treat- ment plants into biofactories, the development of low-cost purifica - tion technologies for the treatment of wastewater from small towns or the securement of 14 patents, such as the one developed within the framework of the H2020 MI- DES project for water desalination without external energy input. Digitalization of water manage - ment Aqualia also offers society its tech - nology aimed at the digitization of water management. Thus, thanks to the digital channels for custo- mer service, the company issued around 2.5 million electronic invoi- ces in 2020 and increased the ser- vice provided through all its digital channels during the hardest mon- ths of the pandemic. Through its own technological platform, Aqualia LIVE, the com- pany integrates seven different tools that allow the deployment of a whole series of processes in a single mobile application, with the consequent improvement in the efficiency of its work teams and, consequently, in the service provi- ded to citizens. vironmental aspect, and endorses its objective of leading responsible and efficient water management. Rafael García Meiro, CEO of AE- NOR, presented the certificate to Félix Parra, CEO of Aqualia, at a ceremony held at the company’s corporate headquarters in Madrid. In his speech, Aqualia’s CEO stres- sed that “we are strategic allies of the public administrations in the 2020 Sustainability Report talk B U S I N E S S B U S I N E S S 18 19 B U S I N E S S B U S I N E S S