Companies must act now to achieve a 1.5°C world
With carbon emissions reduction targets aligned with climate science, renewable energy company Ørsted is among the frontrunners in a global movement to mitigate the climate crisis.
87 companies valued at around USD 2.3 trillion are now part of the UN Global Compact’s campaign on Business Ambition for 1.5°C..
87 companies valued at around USD 2.3 trillion are now part of the UN Global Compact’s campaign on Business Ambition for 1.5°C - Our Only Future. They have committed to set science-based targets to limit global warming below 1.5°C or reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Ørsted, one of the world’s five largest renewable energy companies, joined the campaign with updated reduction targets for its business and wider footprint that were announced in August 2019. Carbon intensity of Ørsted’s energy generation decreased by 83% in mid-2019, from a 2006 baseline.
“Ørsted supports the ambition of halving global carbon emissions by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C,” says Rasmus Skov, Head of Sustainability at Ørsted. “We’re taking climate action by investing exclusively in green energy and will generate essentially carbon free energy by 2025.”
Updated science-based targets
Ørsted was one of the first energy companies to set a science-based target for reducing emissions from power and heat generation, and has the following targets:
- Reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 98% per kWh by 2025 from a 2006 base year.
- Commit to reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions 50% by 2032 from a 2018 base year.
By phasing out coal and increasing the build out of green energy, the company is fully on track to meet its scope 1 and 2 targets. To meet the scope 3 target, Ørsted will gradually reduce its natural gas sourcing portfolios, and closely engage with suppliers to reduce emissions from the goods and services it sources, in particular for construction of wind farms.
“With these targets we want to accelerate climate action and inspire other companies to reduce carbon emissions towards 2030,” says Rasmus Skov.
Business leadership on climate
The Global Compact has highlighted Ørsted as a best practice case among companies who are cutting emissions aligned with climate science.
You can read the case - “It only takes a decade” – in the 1.5°C Business Leadership report, which was launched at the recent UN Climate Action Summit.
About Ørsted
The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, bioenergy plants and provides energy products to its customers.
- Carbon intensity of the company’s energy generation decreased by 83% in mid-2019, as compared with 2006 levels. By 2025, Ørsted will have reduced its emissions by 98% making the company’s energy production virtually carbon free.
- 82% of Ørsted’s energy generation was from renewable sources in mid-2019. The target is 99% in 2025.
- The company is committed to reducing carbon emissions from end use of its products and in its supply chain by 50 percent by 2032, as compared to 2018.
- Ørsted is ranked the world’s most sustainable energy company and fourth most sustainable company overall in the 2019 Global100 index.
For more on this story email: Devapriyo Das, Senior Communications Advisor for Sustainability at Ørsted.
