Thursday 30 January 2020

Ørsted sets target to become carbon neutral by 2025

Danish energy company Ørsted has unveiled its plans to become carbon neutral by 2025.

To achieve the goal, Ørsted intends to phase out coal by 2024 and install 20GW of onshore and offshore wind capacity by 2025, supported by a commitment to invest DKK200 billion (£22.5bn) in green energy.

That is expected to help the company reduce its emissions by at least 98% by 2025 - Ørsted said it will strive to push the reduction beyond that and look for solutions to reduce the remaining emissions.

One solution is to stop buying or leasing fossil fuel cars and make its entire fleet electric by 2025.

Ørsted's goal will make it the first major energy company to reach net zero emissions in its operations and energy generation over the next six years.

It previously made a commitment to reduce emissions in its supply chain by 50% by 2032 and aims to achieve carbon neutrality across its entire carbon footprint by 2040.

CEO Henrik Poulsen said: "We've come very far in reducing our emissions and Ørsted is more than two decades ahead of what is required by science to limit global warming to 1.5°C. We've now decided to take an additional step by making Ørsted a carbon neutral company already by 2025. Halting climate change requires action at all levels of society, and we need that action now. Especially within production and use of energy which account for 73% of all global emissions.

"It'll be challenging to reach a carbon neutral footprint by 2040, and it'll require significant innovation in all parts of our supply chain. Many of the green technologies to be used to decarbonise our supply chain exist but they're not yet cost competitive. With the 2040 target, we want to help drive the necessary innovation forward to mature the green technologies in the industries that supply to us.”