- We are here today with As Tempelman, the CEO of Eneco.
Eneco has just announced its One Planet plan
to become carbon neutral by 2035.
As, thanks a lot for hosting me
in your office in Rotterdam.
Can you outline what are the main elements
of this One Planet plan?
- We set ourselves the ambition
to be climate neutral in 2035
and that means that we want
to bring all our emissions to zero
within the next 15 years.
And that is not just the emissions
of our own operations,
but also the emissions associated with the use
of our energy products by our customers.
And we really focus on three main climate actions.
First one is radical electrification.
We need to electrify whatever we can electrify
in the mobility, the industry,
but also the built environment.
That's number one.
And number two is we need to phase out gas,
and of course, that concerns our own gas-fired power plants
that we want to bring to zero emissions.
But more importantly,
we need to help our customers transition away from gas.
And that requires a rapid increase
in the usage and the applications of heat pumps,
connectivity to heat networks,
and of course, also a major effort on insulation,
yeah?
And thirdly, speaking about the heat networks,
we have to make sure these heat networks become sustainable
and that means that we need to start investing
and developing new heat sources.
And then you can think of geothermal,
aquathermal, e-boilers,
heat-cold solutions, but also sustainable gases,
like hydrogen and green gas.
- Why is it so important to do this plan now?
- Why this was so important to us
because this is really what Eneco is all about.
We have this deep intrinsic motivation
with all 3,000 colleagues here in Eneco
that really are motivated
to make a meaningful contribution
to basically combating climate change
and making that energy transition happen
on a much faster path.
It's also much needed
because I think most of us are well familiar
with the Paris Agreement.
That of course, also aims for a global warming
below the one-and-a-half to two degrees.
But many many of the countries
have set this target of 2050,
or China even 2060, to get to this carbon-neutral society.
And what we see from more recent scientific research is also
that if we continue on that path
of the pace of society, IPPC says this as well,
is we will actually surpass
that one-and-a-half degrees already in 2040.
So we have to move much faster.
And lastly, it's good business.
To transition from fossil energy systems
towards sustainable energy systems
is a major effort,
comes with lots of work
and lots of investment,
and we consider that an opportunity for Eneco.
- You mentioned that you will close
or convert gas-fired power plants.
Gas-fired power plants are what keeps the lights on
when there is no wind or no sun.
How will you do to make sure that we still have power
when we need it?
- For the time being we are okay,
because like you said,
we still have a lot of gas-fired power connected
to the grid.
But for the future, indeed
we need alternative solutions.
And then you really need to think
around the very short-term solutions,
the intra-day solutions,
so you talk within minutes or hours,
where of course, batteries and flexibility
in terms of storage can really play an important role
but also demand steering.
So in a surplus situation,
you switch on demand
and when there's a shortage,
you switch off demand.
And that will become increasingly important.
It's also something we are investing in.
When it comes to the longer-term balance,
this is still where there are many open questions,
and it's also where we have a dialogue
with the government on what are the best policies
to incentivize businesses
to make the right choices and investments.
- The bulk of the emissions of Eneco
are the emissions that your clients are making
with the energy you sell them.
Why did you include the Scope 3 emissions in your plan
while most other energy companies are just speaking
about emissions from their own operations?
- Yeah indeed, Christophe,
I think many people stop at Scope 1.
For us that was never an option
because like you said, 90% of the emissions associated
with Eneco are directly related
to the energy products that our customers use.
So if you want to make an impact,
you have to include those.
And if you think about the planet
and the atmosphere,
you can only put so much carbon molecules
into the atmosphere
and the planet really couldn't care less
whether it's Scope 1, 2, or 3.
So really Scope 3 is, if you want to make an impact,
Scope 3 needs to be part of it.
And we do believe that we have solutions
for customers to move away from fossil
towards more sustainable solutions.
So the real complexity is more on the heat side
where you need to make a change behind the front door,
and this is where we need to recognise
that the energy transition is not just a technical challenge
but very much a social transition
because houses are different,
energy levels are different,
different households have different buying power.
Now ideally what you would want
is that people start with insulation,
making sure their homes are more energy efficient,
and they immediately make a big step
towards connecting their homes to a heat network
or a full electric heat pump as a solution.
- What are the policies that need to change
to help you, help your clients change the way they consume energy.
- The right climate and energy polices are a really important success factor
for the delivery of our plan.
That said, when you look at the cost side,
wind and solar are so much cheaper
that electrification already pays off today.
But there are still barriers for customers.
For example the upfront investment in a heat pump.
And that stops them from actually making the change.
And we want to take those barriers away
and help customers
through a solution on funding
or we do a leasing concept.
There are different ways to go about that.
But to your point, indeed,
we also need the government
to keep incentivizing the markets
to change towards sustainable solutions.
That means we need to put a fair price on carbon
and we have to really move energy taxes
from electricity towards gas and oil.
So really start to tax fossil a lot more
than we do today.
- You have many business leaders in your industry
or in other industries,
which are also facing this type of challenge
how to steer their company through these climate challenges.
What would be your personal advices to them?
- Well, twofold.
Firstly, I would say join us on an accelerated journey.
I see too many companies saying we follow the pace
of society, and that is just not fast enough.
And we run the risk that we are waiting
for one another to move.
And I would say take leadership
and step up and just accelerate your pace.
That's the first one.
The second one, I see many of my colleagues
who basically perceive the energy transition
as a threat to established interests,
as opposed to a space full
of new business opportunities.
And I think if you change your mindset,
you'll find new ways, new business models,
new revenue opportunities
that are actually very exciting.
So those would be my advices.
Go faster and see it as an opportunity.
- Thanks a lot and I hope many other business leaders
will follow your example.
- Thank you, Christophe.