DÉCARBONATION

Climate Week 2022: the obstacles to overcome to move from a zero-carbon strategy to action

By ENGIE - 19 September 2022 - 17:19

We have a clear ambition: to be net zero carbon by 2045, and we are helping our customers achieve their decarbonisation roadmaps, with a goal of 45Mt of CO2 emissions avoided each year by 2030. But there are still barriers to an effective energy transition rollout. What are they? ENGIE reveals four drivers to help companies step up implementation of their zero carbon strategies.

 

We want ENGIE to be the champion of "zero carbon energy" and our integrated model gives us a unique position in the market to offer our customers a 360° decarbonisation strategy. ENGIE Impact, the Group's leading entity helping businesses implement sustainable transformation solutions, will soon publish its annual ENGIE Impact Net Zero Report on how businesses are stepping up their decarbonisation initiatives. Mathias Lelievre, CEO of ENGIE Impact, revealed the first key findings at Climate Week NYC 2022: the gap between zero carbon strategies and their operational reality is narrowing, but there is still a lot of progress to be made.  

 

Four drivers to transform strategy into action

  • Responsibility: a decarbonisation roadmap requires strong commitment from business leaders. Unlike other projects, which they can hand over once they have determined strategy, zero carbon requires their supervision right through to site-level implementation, energy management and ongoing reporting.   To step up, decarbonisation must be included in managers' traditional performance goals (budget, profit, etc.). Today, only 57% of the business leaders surveyed include decarbonisation in their performance goals. 
    >> All of ENGIE’s senior executives benefit from a Performance Share Plan conditional on achieving targets for reducing CO2 emissions and increasing the share of renewable energy (see our Climate Policy).

 

 

  • Sustainable finance: slow application of sustainable finance models is the third barrier to implementation of zero carbon strategies. Only a third of businesses have already adopted them. But mindsets are changing and 70% of those that haven't aim to apply them by 2025.

 

  • New technologies: 30% of business leaders see the risks associated with new unproven technologies as a barrier to investment. Or the required technology may simply not yet be available. And yet, short-term investments or partnerships are a vital tool for reducing carbon emissions, along with research and innovation.
climate week visual

Every day counts for us to take action for tomorrow's world

The take-home message is clear: : taking imperfect action now is far preferable to delaying implementation in pursuit of perfect solutions. ENGIE initiated its energy transition a long time ago and has the results to show for it. Discover our roadmap to find out how we break barriers to zero carbon transition for ENGIE and for our customers.

 

>>> The full ENGIE Impact 2022 Net Zero Report will be published on engie.com shortly.