The food sector is facing new challenges in the way it acts due to the sustainable crisis and the impact the sector has on the environment (water consumption, impact on biodiversity...). For this reason, "it is no longer enough to reduce this impact, but we have to try to identify and reverse it, in order to be nature positive as soon as possible and align ourselves with the carbon neutrality strategy", explains Ana Gascón, director of sustainability strategy for packaging at The Coca Cola Company. 

According to professionals, sustainable factors have become a priority. "Consumers are considering sustainability aspects as a relevant factor in their purchasing decisions, and professionals are taking the positive impact of companies more into consideration when deciding where they want to work," explains Joseba Arano, director of Corporación Pascual's area People, Quality and Sustainability.

In the food sector, directives are stringent and condition companies' activities. "Sustainability has become an absolute priority for the food and beverage industry. The European legislator is putting out a lot of rules and regulations to which we have to adapt. There are a lot of measures that are within the EU's green pact and we are especially affected by everything that has to do with the action plan in Economics circular", says Gascón.

In the field of investments, there is a growing need to integrate sustainability issues into investment decisions, which is why initiatives such as the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance or the investment principles manager are appearing, leading asset managers to decarbonize their portfolios. Faced with so many changes, according to Antonio Ballabriga, director Global Business manager of BBVA, "the financial sector must integrate environmental, climate and social risks in its decision making. This is a fundamental change in the way financial institutions management operate". 

Andrea González, General Director of Spainsif, states that the issue of sustainability, and the sensitivity that has grown towards it, has permeated the financial markets with the new regulation and with the development of new products. However, she says: "There is still a lot of work to be done on the development of indicators that really capture the contributions to sustainability objectives and, in the use of these indicators, on the development of financial products".

In the opinion of José Luis Blasco, Acciona's Global Sustainability Director , the great revolution in the energy sector will be brought about by three factors: decarbonization, artificial intelligence and the relationship with work. "Experts and consultants talk about reallocation of resources and assets. This transformation is going to generate new profiles and new needs." 

Javier Sanchez, CEO of Total Energies, does not hesitate to state that the next 25 years are going to be decisive and we will have to be prepared to identify new trends and alternative sources. "By the year 2050 everything is going to be wonderful because it is the reference letter that we all take to have net zero carbon emissions. We, for example, as a company, in 2022 93% of the business was coming from the oil and gas world. Now we are talking about hydrogen, biogas, but we have to think that it is likely that in 25 years something new will emerge".

Sustainability is seen as a long-term growth opportunity in the technology sector. "Sustainability and the transformation of the telecommunications sector go hand in hand. Why do I say this? And why is it so important, both for the green transition, but also for what is sustainability, the impact on society? Because in our infrastructures is all the digitalization. And digitalization is very important right now to address challenges and social gaps that existed before when there was no connectivity," says Elena Valderrábano, Global Chief Sustainability (ESG) Officer at Telefónica.

Companies are committed to circularity and have set themselves the target goal of zero waste by 2030. In addition, talking about sustainability in this area means talking about accessibility and promoting connectivity to alleviate the digital divide; promoting digital skills and enabling and ensuring the ethical use of technology, with the traffic of millions of data as a backdrop. "We work on sustainability from the point of view of opportunity. Why? Because we know that it generates growth. [We share practices with the entire sector, in the sense of auditing and working with the value chain, so that we can effectively make the world more sustainable together," adds Valderrábano.