Affordable and Clean Energy

Today, the availability of electrical energy is essential for almost all aspects of daily life. This includes, for example, industry, medicine, education, agriculture, infrastructure, communications and high technology. Participation in social life is also becoming increasingly dependent on electricity (smartphone, internet, social media...).

To date, fossil fuels such as coal, oil or gas are significant sources of electricity generation worldwide, but their combustion generates large amounts of greenhouse gases that contribute very strongly to global warming and pollution.

At least since the Paris Agreement (global climate change agreement), many countries are increasing the share of renewable energy in their electricity mix.

Green energy is one of Evonik’s three most important material topics. In the reporting period, we made good progress with the strategic transformation of Evonik in this area. More and more of our sites source energy from renewable resources. Worldwide, we are working closely with the various business lines, sites, and specialists in the Technology & Infrastructure division to increase the proportion of total energy sourced by Evonik that comes from certified sustainable energy sources (green energy). In the reporting period, more than 15 percent of the electricity used in the Evonik Group came from renewable sources 1. More than 30 sites in Europe, Asia, and North and South America currently source or generate sustainable energy. That avoids around 250,000 metric tons of CO₂ a year.

Significant increase in the proportion of green energy

• From 2026, our European sites will be far less dependent on fossil fuels. In November 2022, we signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) 2 with the utility company EnBW for the 900 megawatt (MW). A second PPA was signed in December 2022 to increase this by a further 50 MW. Consequently, renewable energy sources will cover more than one-third of our electricity requirements in Europe from 2026.
• Worldwide, 23 percent of electricity purchased by Evonik from external suppliers already comes from renewable sources.
• In addition to green electricity, biomethane is becoming increas­ingly important for Evonik as a substitute for fossil-based natural gas. At our site in Schörfling am Attersee (Austria), we increased the proportion of biomethane from 25 percent to 100 percent in the reporting period.
• We produce important components for the wind power industry: our crosslinkers and structural adhesives ensure high strength and stability in rotor blades for wind turbines.

• Our goal is to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from 6.3 million metric tons to 4.7 million metric tons in the period 2021 to 2030. About one-third of this reduction is to be achieved through the use of renewable energy sources.
• In terms of reducing absolute Scope 3 emissions, we are aiming for 11 percent in the period 2021 - 2030.
• We have also set ourselves the target of reducing absolute and specific energy consumption by 5 percent each in the period 2020 - 2025.