As a renewable energy company, we are deeply concerned about CO2 emissions and acknowledge the positive climate impact of our business, annually working towards increasing the CO2 emissions avoided by our solar plants. However, to take full responsibility, we also need to identify and manage our own carbon footprint.
In 2019, we started reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). CDP is a global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage environmental impacts (link to CDP website). Companies report to CDP to identify and address climate risks, find opportunities for action and demonstrate commitment by disclosing information requested by their stakeholders. By understanding and measuring their environmental impacts, companies can set targets and create the conditions to achieve them. Stakeholders are able to rate and compare companies on an annual basis.
CDP has three areas of focus, namely climate, water and forests, each with its own questionnaire. The scoring methodology is divided into three sections with an upper and lower band in each:
We submitted our climate response that included data on our governance and business strategy, climate risks and opportunities, targets and performance, emissions methodology and data, as well as verification and engagement. Scatec Solar’s key climate risk and opportunity areas are current and emerging regulation, technology, market entry, company reputation as well as acute and chronic physical impacts of climate change. Examples of these are presented in the table below:
| Climate risks | Climate opportunities |
| Increased severity of extreme weather events such as cyclones and floods | Use of lower-emission sources of energy |
| Transition risk due to policy and legal changes | Access to new markets |
| Shift toward decentralised energy generation |
Scatec Solar scored a B: Management Level, indicating that we are “taking coordinated action on climate issues”. The score ranks us amongst 38% of companies that reached the Management Level in our Construction Activity Group.
Reporting to CDP has been a valuable learning experience providing a better overview of our emissions globally and understanding of how to reduce them in future. We will continue this journey in 2020 by expanding our reporting to include more elements of our value chain.
We are also currently in the process of setting an emission reduction target for our company to be published in first half of 2020.
