Danish energy firm Ørsted, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, was recently acknowledged as the number one most sustainable company on the planet by the Canadian research firm, Corporate Knights. The firm is headquartered in Denmark but its involvement in the large-scale wind power sector is international, involving projects all over the world.
The once fossil fuel company turned renewable energy provider is not only looking to reduce emissions across its own operations but its supply chain as well. Ørsted has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2025 and has even started a plan for a carbon-neutral supply chain by 2040.
The company says that its carbon footprint comes from two sources:
- Emissions from its operations and energy production.
- Emissions from the energy it traded parallel to “the goods and services” in its supply chain.
The biggest challenge will be the production of wind turbines, substations, and laying cables and foundations. Next would be the ships that carry and install the offshore wind components because of the fossil fuels they have to burn during transportation. These two challenges alone will make reducing emissions in the renewable energy supply chain a significant task.
Henrik Poulsen, the CEO of Ørsted, said:
Reducing emissions in the renewable energy supply chain is a significant task. Businesses will need to collaborate across supply chains to cut emissions at the pace and scale demanded by science. We now reach out to our industry-leading suppliers to join forces to accelerate the global green transformation.
Meanwhile, the firm’s ultimate goal is to become the world’s first “green energy supermajor.” It’s not a farfetched idea either with climate change climbing the political agenda. Investors and companies have been increasingly looking for less polluting energy options. At the moment, Ørsted stands as the company responsible for installing a third of all offshore wind turbines. With all that experience, it’s a magnet for fund managers.
Mr. Poulsen said:
We have to aspire to become one of the long-term green energy supermajors. We have gone through an accelerated transformation. We have a first-mover advantage. But for the sake of the planet and future generations we need all of the capital we can mobilize behind green energy.
Going green no longer comes with an economic penalty. In fact, it’s quite the contrary.
Ørsted recently won contracts in Taiwan and the US proving that more countries are beginning to gain confidence in wind’s ability to compete with natural gas. In the next five years, it expects to double its wind capacity to 20GW – which is enough to meet over half of the average electricity demands in the UK.
Mr. Poulsen is confident that the company will prevail, and his ambitions will be met, seeing as Ørsted is growing as a global operation. South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam – all major Asian economies – are currently considering projects. The positive progress is set to escalate from now on into the future.
