Roadmap towards climate neutrality in 2035

Accelerating efforts

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2021), at the current rate of global warming we will reach 1.5°C around 2030. Without strengthening current policies, the global temperature increase is projected to rise to about 3.2°C by 2100 (IPCC, 2022). If temperatures continue to rise, the frequency and intensity of heat waves, extreme precipitation and droughts will increase and serious effects on ecosystems, plants, animals and people can no longer be avoided. 

Current efforts by the energy sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 are no longer sufficient. The International Energy Agency (IEA) announced in 2021 that the electricity sector in developed countries needs to achieve 'net zero' emissions as early as 2035 in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C. 

Eneco and customers climate neutral by 2035

Eneco is taking responsibility for this and is accelerating its existing ambition to become climate neutral by 15 years to 2035.

We are going faster than the scientifically substantiated 1.5°C path prescribes. We have chosen to do this because it seems possible to reduce our emissions more quickly and to stay below the 1.5°C path in the event of any setbacks to our reduction efforts. We also want to set the pace for the entire energy sector.

Eneco has defined a climate ambition and had it approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The SBTi is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The SBTi encourages ambitious climate improvements in the private sector by helping organisations to establish science-based emissions reduction targets and net-zero targets in accordance with the 1.5°C pathway (How it works - Science Based Targets). Eneco has remained below the 1.5°C pathway since 2020, and expects to reduce its CO_2eq ahead of its 1.5°C pathway during the years ahead as well.

Eneco reports on its Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions every year, in its annual report. The annual report provides information about the company’s progress, set off against the One Planet ambition to become climate-neutral by 2035 and against the SBTi targets.

Eneco reports in accordance with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and the Greenhouse Gas Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard. These are international emissions accounting and reporting standards for companies. Greenhouse gases are divided into Scope 1, 2 or 3 according to their source (https://ghgprotocol.org/standards).

Accelerating together

Acceleration is only possible if we do this together with customers, the local environment and local partners such as local residents, municipalities, housing corporations and energy cooperatives. Together with them, we are working on affordable solutions, social innovations and new participation models to distribute the benefits and burdens of energy transition fairly and make them more transparent.

Climate actions

We put all our efforts into three climate actions:

How are we going to do that?

To accelerate becoming climate neutral, we are focusing on:

1. Decarbonise our customers

• 100% green electricity
• Alternatives for heatingwith natural gas like (hybrid) heat pumps, (small scale) heat networks and green grass such as biomethane, and green hydrogen (for industry)
• Decarbonising mobility with electric charging

2. Generate more sustainable energy

• More green elektricity: feeding heat pumps, electric vehicles, etc. from solar panels and windfarms. Includes conversion or closure of non-renewable capacity
• Green heat production for our heat networks, e.g. using aquathermal or geothermal energy
• Green molecules such as bionethae and green hydrogen

3. Balance and optimise the energy system

• Develop or contact CO₂-free flexible assets, like utility scale batteries, e-Boilers and heat buffers
• Unlock flexibility in assets, such as heat pumps, electric vehicles and solar and wind farms by bundling them in Virtual Power Plants

Climate roadmap

We have developed a roadmap with concrete steps to actively shape a sustainable future. The climate roadmap contains the most important interim goals, milestones and planned actions. We periodically update it based on developments in the field of social readiness (support and market acceptance), tightening of climate policy and technical and economic feasibility.

Eneco's climate roadmap with concrete steps towards 2035.

The underlying assumptions of our climate roadmap have been externally validated by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to determine whether the resulting choices are logical to contribute to achieving our 2035 ambition.

For an explanation of the terms used on this page click here.