Our progress towards fossil-free living
The constant flow of negative news about the environment can be a big burden for any person to carry, making you feel small when facing this massive challenge. Now we release a report that shows the need to balance the conversation and also point to the positive progress that’s being made.
We’re in need of a more balanced climate conversation
At Vattenfall, we’re determined to make fossil free living happen within one generation. But to make that happen, we need to understand how climate change and the conversation surrounding it affect us. To get a better understanding of this, we launched a survey across seven markets. Our findings show that we’re clearly affected by climate change. Mainly by how news media and social media focus heavily on the severity of the issue. And our last, but most important finding, points to how demotivating it has become to act in favour of the environment, due to the negative focus of the conversation. It simply feels pointless to do anything, as it won’t make much of a difference. Therefore, a more balanced conversation on climate change can actually inspire us to live climate smarter.
That’s why we’ve decided to be more upfront about what kind of positive progress we’re making towards reaching our goal: Fossil free living within one generation. Below we show you some concrete examples of the steps we’re taking towards fossil free living. In our communication we make several claims on how we’re moving away from fossil fuels and moving towards fossil free energy. Here you can find the sources and data to read more in-depth about each claim. Because we believe it’s important to show you that there’s positive progress being made, even though it sometimes might not feel like it.
Read more about what’s happening to achieve fossil free living within one generation:
Proofs
Fossil free steel is now a reality through HYBRIT
Coal has been an essential component in steel production for more than a hundred years. In today’s world, this is one of the largest emitters of CO2. Now a collaboration with steel producer SSAB, mining company LKAB, and Vattenfall has resulted in a joint venture: HYBRIT. The aim is to transform the old method of producing steel and simply implementing a new, fossil-free method, without coal. If implemented at full scale, HYBRIT has the possibility to reduce Sweden’s C02 emissions by 10% and Finland’s by 7%.
Building Northern Europe’s largest network of charging stations
We want to speed up the transition to electric driving. That’s why we’re committed to electrifying society as a way to help turn the tide on climate change. Together with our partners we’ve built one of Northern Europe’s largest network of charging stations: InCharge. Today, InCharge is established in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. But soon further markets will be added.
Read more about our network of charging stations
Wind power becoming more efficient than fossil fuels
We live in a time of change. Driven by this need to tackle climate change, the market for renewable energy generation continues to grow. For instance, wind power now provides 14% of Europe’s energy generation. The energy industry is approaching a tipping point. Today, wind and solar power are the cheapest forms of energy generation and wind power has become one of the most important energy sources for driving decarbonisation.
New methods of construction, reducing 80% of CO2 emissions
To reduce CO2 emissions, we need to find new methods of construction. The Wood Hybrid construction is where you combine recyclable wood with concrete. This enables the CO2 emissions involved in the construction to be reduced up to 80%, compared to conventional construction with reinforced concrete. The energy is supplied from three combined heat and power units and the amount of concrete is kept at a minimum. The use of wood also helps in creating a healthy room climate.
Read more about Wood Hybrid construction
Homes so efficient, they generate energy to their neighbours
Today, homes can become so efficient that they both support their own energy-needs as well as their neighbours. Vattenfall offers their customers solutions for sustainable, energy efficient production and consumption. And in the Netherlands, we also offer a marketplace for energy sharing called Powerpeers.
Read more about energy efficient homes
Enabling fossil free heating for up to 360.000 homes in Berlin
Heating up your home fossil free is now a reality. Vattenfall has connected Europe’s largest Power-to-Heat facility to the district heating grid at its Reuter West power plant in Berlin. The purpose is to produce, and store heat generated from excess electricity, from renewable energy sources. This enables fossil free heating to several homes in Berlin.
See also
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The past year, more Swedish eels than ever before were wheeled from Lake Vänern to the sea. This time, their 7 000 km swim towards their spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea is being monitor...
"We need to understand the real risk wind farms pose to birds"
Thermal cameras will record bird collisions at the Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm in a test starting this August. "We are still looking for the right technology to understand the risk of bird...
Vattenfall InCharge expands public charging in The Hague
The Municipality of The Hague in the Netherlands has awarded the management and maintenance of its 5,400 public charging points to Vattenfall InCharge. Part of the agreement is the expansion...