Caja Rural de Zamora is investing €6 million in Green Engine, the largest reforestation project in Spain, promoted by the Repsol Foundation and Grupo Sylvestris
Caja Rural de Zamora is joining Green Engine by investing €6 million, for the planting of 1,100,000 trees of 15 different species, which will absorb 320,000 tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere, generating a total of 200 job opportunities in rural areas.
The first reforestation project supported by the bank is being developed in Viforcos (León), covering an area of 90 hectares devastated by fire. This project has generated 18 job opportunities in the local area.
The executive managing director of Caja Rural Zamora, Cipriano García and the executive managing director of the Repsol Foundation, António Calçada visited the reforestation work today, alongside the founding partners of Grupo Sylvestris, Enrique Enciso and Francisco Martínez.
The goal of Green Engine is to reforest up to 70,000 hectares throughout Spain to offset 16 million tons of CO₂, generating thousands of employment opportunities.
Caja Rural de Zamora has joined the Green Engine project, promoted by the Repsol Foundation together with its investee company, Grupo Sylvestris. It is the largest reforestation project in Spain to drive voluntary emissions offsetting, promoting a social, green, and sustainable economy, with a transforming effect on the rural environment.
Green Engine is a unique project that seeks to generate a positive triple impact:
environmental, reforesting scorched or barren land to help in the fight against climate change; social, creating local, inclusive job opportunities and offering training, improving the future chances of the inhabitants of affected areas; and economic, making investments for the future, galvanizing business activity in rural areas.
Caja Rural de Zamora is joining this project by investing €6 million, which will help to reforest 1,200 hectares with 1,100,000 native trees, to offset 320,000 tons of CO₂.
This collaboration was presented today at the Caja Rural de Zamora headquarters in León, where the executive managing director of Caja Rural de Zamora, Cipriano García; the executive managing director of the Repsol Foundation, António Calçada, and the founding partners of Grupo Sylvestris, Enrique Enciso and Francisco Martínez all took part.
Cipriano García expressed his gratitude for a Foundation such as that of Repsol, and a company like Sylvestris with over 30 years of experience, ""believing in us to carry out this important environmental, social, and also economic project, encapsulating our philosophy.""
António Calçada highlighted the Repsol Foundation’s commitment to ""a new green and social economy, that not only considers the economic impact, but also takes into account social and environmental factors, and the Green Engine project is a clear example of this possibility.""
Enrique Enciso stressed the importance of restoring scorched areas, with the support of the local population.
The work in Viforcos began last autumn, with the planting of nearly 100,000 trees of different native species, recovering biodiversity and ensuring the new forest’s long-term resilience. More than 18 workers from the area will be hired for the plantings, with 50% belonging to vulnerable groups.
Alongside the reforestation work itself, the project will include training programs to improve the future chances of the inhabitants, and projects to foster innovation and technological development in the forestry sector, helping to maintain a stable local population.
In addition to Castilla y León, the Green Engine project is running in other Autonomous Communities, such as Asturias and Extremadura, where reforestation projects are already being carried out in different areas. In the months to come, the project is planned to be extended to new areas and regions.
Green Engine
In 2021, the Repsol Foundation and its investee company Sylvestris launched the Green Engine project with the aim of making large-scale reforestation an important tool in offsetting emissions, as part of the energy transition already underway.
The trees absorb CO₂ and bind it into their tissue. Thus, reforestations represent a natural climate solution that offers technically proven, attractive, and cost-effective options for the capturing of CO₂ from the atmosphere, generating environmental and social benefits.
Green Engine is the biggest reforestation project for emissions offsetting in Spain. The Green Engine’s goal is to reach 70,000 hectares to absorb 16 million tons of CO₂ in the next few years.
The forestry projects are led by Grupo Sylvestris, an investee company of the Repsol Foundation, which has more than 30 years’ experience in the forestry sector. For work done as part of the Green Engine, we apply our own unique methodology, making it highly reliable and rigorous. Through prior exhaustive analysis, fieldwork, and post-planting maintenance we guarantee the resilience of the future forest, betting on the sustainable development of the environment.
The new forests are designed in full adherence with the standards of the Spanish Climate Change Office (OECC), the agency of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge in charge of certifying absorption projects in Spain.
The project is creating inclusive local jobs in the rural parts of Spain where planting takes place, and special attention is given to hiring people from vulnerable groups, it also provides a strong boost to the local economy, promoting specialized education and the creation of new businesses linked to the forestry sector, in addition to attracting economic activity and generating wealth in the surrounding area.
Since its inception, Green Engine has maintained an important commitment to innovation and research applied to the forestry sector, in collaboration with Hispasat, a top-tier tech partner, with which Repsol Foundation and Grupo Sylvestris are applying satellite technologies for the tracking, monitoring, and control of forests and their growth.