RWE aims to be carbon neutral by 2040
German utility to close all of its conventional power stations in the next 2 decades
Europe’s biggest producer of carbon dioxide emissions has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2040.
The move by RWE highlights the radical transformation of the German utility, which has long been one of the prime targets of climate activists and that currently runs some of the largest and dirtiest coal power stations on the continent.
“Today begins the era of the new RWE,” said Rolf Martin Schmitz, chief executive, at an event in Essen to present the group’s plans. “Every energy has its time. Now comes the era of renewables.”
The pledge comes just weeks after European regulators signed off on a €43bn asset swap deal between RWE and its rival Eon that will reorder the German energy market.
Under the terms of the 2018 deal, RWE will take over all the renewables assets of both Eon and Innogy, an RWE subsidiary that will be acquired by Eon. The transaction will make RWE the third-largest renewables group in Europe, and the second-largest in the market for offshore wind power. RWE has said it plans to invest €1.5bn a year in additional renewables capacity.
However, to meet its climate goal, RWE will have to shutter all its conventional power stations over the next two decades. In Germany, the group’s home market, the government has already announced that it wants all coal power stations to close by 2038 at the latest — two years ahead of the RWE target. According to Mr Schmitz, that still leaves the challenge of how to replace the group’s gas-powered stations: “We think this [2040 target] is more than ambitious,” he said.
Environmental campaigners, however, were unimpressed.
“RWE is trying to sell the inevitable as climate protection,” said Karsten Smid, an energy expert at Greenpeace. “European climate goals and the growing efficiency of renewables mean that the last coal power station will have to be closed long before 2040.”
To make a real contribution to the fight against climate change, Mr Smid added, RWE should agree to close down all its coal power stations by 2030.
RWE has long been among the top targets of climate activists, in part as a result of a long-running, high-profile battle to preserve a forest in western Germany that is threatened by the planned expansion of one of the group’s lignite mines. RWE also operates some of the largest coal-fired power stations in all of Europe.
According to a study by Carbon Market Data, which is based on data from the EU emissions trading system, RWE was the largest producer of CO2 emissions in Europe last year.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Schmitz insisted that RWE had made important strides already in its effort to lower carbon emissions. “Between 2012 an 2018 we reduced CO2 emissions at RWE by 60m tonnes. That is a cut of a third, and is equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of 30m cars,” he said.
RWE plans to lower carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2030, compared with 2012 levels.