Düsseldorf,
12
April
2022
|
10:00
Europe/Berlin

Uniper publishes Sustainability Report 2021 and sets itself new sustainability targets

Summary
  • New material topics identified, Strategic Sustainability Plan 2022 presented
  • Uniper makes important contribution to social and economic development
  • Decarbonization strategy and coal phase-out are consistently implemented
  • Gas procurement portfolio will be further diversified to reduce geopolitical risks
  • Strategy for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) defined

 

Uniper is publishing its sixth Sustainability Report today. This provides an overview of the status quo on all of the company's key sustainability topics and addresses the most important progress in 2021, but also highlights areas where there is still need for action.

In addition to significantly reducing CO2 emissions, maintaining security of supply with electricity and gas is a central task for Uniper. In this way, Uniper makes an important contribution to social and economic development.

David Bryson, COO & CSO Uniper says: "In light of the impacts of the dreadful Russian war against Ukraine, Uniper bears a special responsibility to diversify and secure the European energy supply. We operate critical infrastructure and supply energy to large parts of German industry and many people in Germany and across Europe. It is of utmost importance to maintain existing energy flows and at the same time find ways and means to make the gas supply for Germany and Europe more diverse and thus less vulnerable to geopolitical risks. To protect security of supply we also have analyzed the options to prolong coal fired power generation at our sites, if this is requested by the governments. This report highlights how we manage the challenge of securing and diversifying our energy supply while remaining fully committed to achieving our climate targets."

The accelerated phase-out of coal-fired power generation, the use of natural gas as a bridging technology, and the rapid expansion of renewables are not just sustainability strategy, but corporate strategy. Uniper aims to be climate-neutral in the European Generation segment as early as 2035. As early as 2030, a reduction in direct CO2 emissions of more than 50% compared to 2019 is to be achieved in Europe - essentially on the basis of an accelerated phase-out of coal-fired power generation in Europe. Together with Fortum, Uniper decided in December 2021 to reduce indirect emissions (Scope 3) by 35% by 2035, compared with the base year 2021. By 2050, both Uniper and the Fortum Group will operate in a CO2-neutral manner overall.

In parallel, Uniper plans to build generation capacity of 1.5 to 2 gigawatts from wind and solar by 2025 and expand this to 3 gigawatts in subsequent years.

The results of the materiality analysis carried out in 2021 have led to several changes compared with the Sustainability Report 2020. New material topics for Uniper include fair transition, customer rights, and customer satisfaction. On the basis of the materiality analysis, Uniper has updated the Sustainability Strategic Plan (SSP) and set specific targets in the fields of action environment, people and society, and responsible governance until 2024.

On the way to a sustainable future, Uniper knows about the special role of its own employees. In the area of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), a new company-wide strategy was therefore presented to help all employees realize their full potential. In addition, Uniper is paving the way for a hybrid work environment with the 'New Normal' work style, which offers employees very extensive flexibility.

Uniper's Sustainability Report 2021 can be downloaded here:

Our Responsibility | Uniper

About Uniper

Uniper is a leading international energy company, has around 11,500 employees, and operates in more than 40 countries. The company plans for its power generation business in Europe to be carbon-neutral by 2035. Uniper’s roughly 33 GW of installed generation capacity make it one of the world‘s largest electricity producers. The company's core activities include power generation in Europe and Russia as well as global energy trading and a broad gas portfolio, which makes Uniper one of Europe’s leading gas companies. In addition, Uniper is a reliable partner for communities, municipal utilities, and industrial enterprises for planning and implementing innovative, lower-carbon solutions on their decarbonization journey. Uniper is a hydrogen pioneer, is active worldwide along the entire hydrogen value chain, and is conducting projects to make hydrogen a mainstay of the energy supply.

The company is based in Düsseldorf and is one of Germany’s largest publicly listed energy supply companies. Together with its main shareholder Fortum, Uniper is also Europe’s third-largest producer of zero-carbon energy. 

Boilerplate

This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Uniper SE Management and other information currently available to Uniper. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. Uniper SE does not intend, and does not assume any liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking statements or to modify them to conform with future events or developments.

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