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CEO of Ørsted calls for action on global climate crisis

Ørsted’s annual sustainability report is now released. Over the past decade, the Danish-based energy company has achieved 82% coal reduction, 67% carbon reduction and 64% renewable energy in their power and heat generation. CEO of Ørsted, Henrik Poulsen, has a clear vision.

Published 6 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Read report here.

“The world is in the middle of a global climate crisis. It is not a distant threat. The planet is already feeling the grave impact of climate change. And truth be told, we are still not doing enough to secure the planet for generations to come. We need to transform the global energy systems from black to green energy at a high pace.

Ørsted’s vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. It is deeply rooted in what we do and who we are as a company. We want to be a company that provides real, tangible solutions to one of the world’s most difficult and urgent problems.

At Ørsted, we are committed to running our business in a way that creates progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 goals express a global agreement of society’s greatest challenges towards 2030. We especially focus on goal no. 7 on clean and affordable energy and goal no. 13 on climate action.

Over the past decade, we have been on a massive journey to transform from an energy company based on fossil fuels to a global leader in renewable energy. In 2017, we completed the divestment of our upstream oil and gas business. By 2023, we will completely stop the use of coal, the most polluting fossil fuel.

Our green transformation is driven by the largest renewable build-out plan of any European energy company. We have significantly expanded our offshore wind business and converted power plants from fossil fuels to sustainable biomass.

This transformation has resulted in a dramatic reduction of our carbon emissions. By 2023, our heat and power generation will essentially be carbon-free. Our science-based carbon emission reduction is not only in line with the Paris Agreement – in fact, it is 27 years ahead of the necessary reduction trajectory for our sector.

2017 will be remembered as the year when new-built offshore wind became cheaper than black energy. It has never been clearer that it is indeed possible to create a world that runs entirely on green energy. It is the right time for us to send a clear message that we want to help create such a world. I**t will not be easy. We, at Ørsted can only cover a corner of the total solution but it is important that we are ready to lead the way forward and inspire others to join.

We only have one planet, it is our home, so we should treat it well.”

Henrik Poulsen

CEO, Ørsted