In our 2021 and 2022 strategic planning cycles, we prioritized our top-emitting operating companies, which account for 75% of our total carbon footprint, building detailed net-zero roadmaps and a pipeline of projects to be executed over the next three years.
Many projects are already in place – from solar plants in Nigeria and South Africa to electric trucks in Brazil, to participation in a pan-European power purchase agreement. We’re also engaging with suppliers across our entire value chain to galvanize their commitment to science-based targets (SBTs).
Internally, we’ve launched our Brew A Better World Academy to educate and engage our 82,000 employees and changed our remuneration policy, linking our net-zero ambition with long-term incentives.
Sustainability and responsibility are woven into the fabric of our balanced growth strategy, EverGreen. The journey to net-zero is going to be challenging, but we’re determined to realize our ambition, for future generations to come.
‘When we started out on decarbonization, the word was not well received in Korea’ – Hak Cheol Shin, CEO, LG Chem, South Korea
LG Chem is pulling out all the stops to reduce carbon emissions in and out of our operations. This effort is part of the long journey toward decarbonization we embarked on earlier in 2020.
At that time, carbon neutrality, the word itself, was not that familiar, and not well received in Korean society. However, we took a bold step by measuring the negative impact if we did not make any efforts to reduce the carbon emissions resulting from our business activities. The result was quite overwhelming.
To put this into perspective in Korea, we would have to cough up $3 billion. This harsh realization prompted us to declare LG Chem’s 2050 carbon-neutral growth in July 2020. However, it leaves a lot to be desired as it is not the net-zero pathway our stakeholders would have expected.
Therefore, earlier this year, we took another aggressive step by setting a net-zero target that is committed not only to Scopes 1 and 2 but also to Scope 3 in our supply chain. In this endeavour, we are applying life-cycle assessments to all our products.
‘Our zero carbon transition offers a set of opportunities for global heavy industry’ – Mahendra Singhi, CEO, Dalmia Cement, India
Dalmia Cement was the first company in the global manufacturing sector to announce its commitment in 2018 to becoming net-zero carbon and carbon negative by 2040. As of today, Dalmia is one of the lowest carbon footprint cement producers globally and has made commitments to RE 100 (100% renewable electricity by 2030); EP 100 (doubling the energy productivity by 2030), and EV 100 (significant transition to electric vehicles).
Dalmia aims to eliminate fossil fuels in the cement kiln by using 100% green fuels by 2035. We have already reached more than 12% fossil fuel replacement in our cement kilns (on a heat basis) with an interim goal of reaching about 50% by 2025.
We rely on strong collaborations: Dalmia Bharat Group recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the leading Danish company FLSmidth, for next-generation cement technology towards building a sustainable future.
Dalmia is a founding member of the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LEADIT), a UN initiative chaired by India and Sweden to drive transformation in hard-to-decarbonize and energy-intensive sectors; and the First Movers Coalition (FMC), an initiative endorsed by the US president and promoted by the World Economic Forum.
The commitments and leadership of Dalmia on the zero-carbon transition offer a whole new set of opportunities for the global heavy industry sector to review the processes, technologies and techno-commercial models for decarbonization and carbon footprint reduction.
‘As a leader in the energy transition, ENGIE is accelerating its net-zero strategy’ – Catherine McGregor, Chief Executive Officer, ENGIE
Supporting the move towards a net-zero world is the essence of ENGIE’s strategy and activities.
While we are currently experiencing a major energy crisis, the acceleration of the energy transition is more than ever an absolute necessity. We have no time to waste and ENGIE is speeding-up its strategy in favour of a carbon-neutral transition.
Our roadmap is very clear and ambitious. We aim to be net-zero carbon by 2045 on all 3 Scopes. This trajectory is aligned with the Paris Agreement and in the process of being SBT certified. This is very ambitious for the sector that ENGIE operates in.
To reach our ambition, our strategy is focusing on accelerating in renewable energy (target of 50 GW by 2025), developing decentralized energy infrastructures (target of 32 GW by 2025) and accelerating the development of green gases (biomethane and 4 GW of hydrogen capacity by 2030).
More than ever, ENGIE is fully mobilized and at the forefront of the global net-zero transition.
This article was first published by the World Economic Forum.