Eneco Holding NV

06/15/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/15/2021 07:07

Eneco and its customers climate neutral by 2035

Eneco wants its own activities and the energy it supplies to customers to be climate-neutral by 2035, in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and to take responsibility for the generations to come. To this end, Eneco today presents its One Planet plan containing concrete actions, clear investment choices and measurable targets. These include, for instance, the decision to convert or close gas-fired power plants. Another example is terminating the sale of stand-alone gas-fired boilers by 2025 at the latest. During this process, we will support all our customers by providing affordable, solutions. The ambition has been tested with various stakeholders and the assumptions underlying the plan have been validated by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Eneco wants global warming to remain below 1.5 degrees Celsius, to prevent serious effects on people and nature. This is a race against time. According to UN climate scientists, we will exceed the 1.5 degree mark before 2040. The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently stated that in the advanced economies the electricity sector's CO₂ emissions should be zero by 2035.

Eneco is taking responsibility for this and is therefore advancing its existing ambition to become climate neutral by 15 years to 2035, by means of:

  • Phasing out natural gas: by converting or closing our gas-fired power stations and making homes and buildings heated with natural gas more sustainable by means of home insulation, (hybrid) heat pumps and heat networks.
  • Radical electrification: large-scale electrification of industry, mobility and the built environment with exclusively renewable energy from wind and solar farms.
  • Accelerating sustainable heat: innovation and investment in sustainable sources such as geothermal energy, aquathermal energy, electrode boilers, thermal storage, green gas and green hydrogen.

The reduction of emissions not only covers Eneco's own activities (scope 1 and 2), but also extends to the energy supplied to customers (scope 3). This is why we are tackling this together with them. By helping them with solutions to increase sustainability that are financially attractive, thus keeping their energy bills affordable in the face of rising natural gas taxes. Currently, Eneco and its customers emit a total of 13.9 megatons of CO₂ in all the countries in which it operates. Of this, approximately 10% is emitted as a result of our own operational activities (scope 1 and 2). Climate neutral means that total emissions are gradually reduced to zero. We expect that we will still have to compensate temporarily for 0.9 Megaton C02 emissions in 2035.

Important steps of our roadmap towards 2035 are:

At and by Eneco

  • Realisation of 100% CO₂-free electricity production:
    • sustainable conversion or phasing out of all large gas-fired power plants. Make sustainable or close down Merwede gas power plant in Utrecht and 10 gas-fired combined heat and power plants by 2030. Conversion or closure of Enecogen (Maasvlakte) and Lage Weide (Utrecht) power plants before 2035.
    • almost doubling of renewable production capacity to 3200 MW by 2025 and further growth in years to 2035.
  • Investment in over 2000 MW of new heat sources (combination of own and external sources), such as geothermal, aquathermal, electrode boilers, large-scale heat pumps, heat buffers and utilisation of residual heat.
  • Development of sufficient CO₂-free flexible capacity to guarantee security of supply, even with low sunshine and wind levels. For example, by making Enecogen run on green gas instead of natural gas, or by making it suitable for green hydrogen.
  • Eneco will invest more than EUR 2 billion in this up to 2025 and expects to continue doing so in the years thereafter.

For and with customers

  • Reduction of CO₂ emissions from households (or private customers) through an accessible and affordable approach to heat supply:
    • connecting 300,000 homes to a heat network or a heat-cold network by 2035.
    • offering sustainable alternatives, at logical replacement moments, for stand-alone gas-fired central heating boilers. Examples include hybrid or all-electric heat pumps, hydrogen-ready high-performance boilers, or C02-compensated gas as standard. This will make it possible to terminate the sale of stand-alone gas-fired boilers to consumers by 2025.
  • Removing barriers to the purchase of various sustainable resources, such as heat pumps or insulation, through personal advice and accessible financing.
  • Electrification of the heat demand of business customers, through industrial heat pumps and e-boilers.
  • By 2030, we want to be supplying green electricity to all our business customers (consumers have already had this since 2011).

CEO of Eneco As Tempelman says: 'The implementation of the One Planet plan marks the start of a new chapter in Eneco's history. It is ambitious and exciting. I am convinced that, together with our customers and the efforts of nearly 3,000 highly motivated Eneco employees, we can realise our ambition. There are uncertainties and we may have to adjust the actual implementation from time to time, but the ambition will remain unchanged: climate neutral by 2035. We have a responsibility to keep our earth liveable for future generations, there is no 'Planet B'. I invite everyone to join us.'

Thijs Venema, partner at BCG adds: 'With its One Planet approach, Eneco is taking a leading role in the energy transition and is thus playing an important role in limiting global warming. During the validation process, we saw throughout the organisation that there is a great commitment to really tackling the climate problem. We are proud to be able to contribute to this by validating this plan.'

Key Factors

The plan has a time horizon of more than 14 years, while the energy transition is complex and is developing at different levels. This means that external developments will impact the plan. The most important thing is public support, because the energy transition is a social transition, for citizens and businesses, in which affordability is crucial. In addition, it is about an effective climate policy at the European and national level (the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany), for which the One Planet plan contains proposals on a country-by-country basis. Finally, there are technological developments that have not yet fully crystallised, such as the development of geothermal energy and the large-scale production and deployment of green hydrogen.

Based on the favourable developments as regards each of the above factors, we are convinced that it is possible to realise our climate ambition. On the way to 2035, we will adjust our plans based on new insights and current developments.

Validation by BCG

BCG has determined that a CO2 reduction of 65-75% by 2035 - including an almost 100% reduction in scope 1 and 2 - is supported by reasonable assumptions regarding government policy and market dynamics. Additional government policies and actions by Eneco itself will enable it to reduce its emissions by 100%. 'The validation shows that two-thirds of the One Planet plan can already be achieved now. In the next 14 years, we will work together with our customers, employees and stakeholders to achieve 100% realisation,' says As Tempelman.

Downloads

The full report and a summarizing infographic can be downloaded at the upper right next to this release.