Uniper is publishing its seventh Sustainability Report today. It provides an overview of the status quo on all of the company’s key sustainability topics and contains the most important progress made in 2022, but also highlights areas where there is still need for action. The Sustainability Report is published as a document and can be downloaded from the company website.
Uniper makes a significant contribution to securing and diversifying Europe’s energy supply
Uniper is contributing to a more sustainable and lower-carbon world and is part of the energy transition. At the same time, Uniper is committed to making a significant contribution to security of supply. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has subsequently also plunged the entire European energy market into a severe crisis. The secure supply of electricity and gas to households and businesses became a political priority in 2022. Uniper took a variety of measures to maintain Germany’s security f suppy, even under conditions that were extremely difficult for the company itself. For example, despite the loss of Russian gas supplies, Uniper continued to reliably supply municipal utilities and industrial customers and bore the costs alone until the German government’s stabilization measures were implemented.
Based on the German government’s “Ersatzkraftwerkebereithaltungsgesetz” (Replacement Power Plant Maintenance Act) to secure energy supplies in the coming winters, Uniper returned about 2,150 megawatts (MW) of reliable capacity to the German electricity market to reduce gas consumption in the bottleneck situation following the Russian supply disruption last summer. In December 2022, Uniper completed Germany’s first LNG import terminal in Wilhelmshaven after just ten months of construction – at a new “German speed.” To date, it is the only LNG import terminal that reliably contributes to supply security in Germany with significant volumes of natural gas. Around sixpercent o Germany’s gas demand can be met via the terminal.
Coal-fired power generation has no future at Uniper – the power plants themselves do
As part of the approval of the stabilization measures by the German government under state aid law, the EU Commission defined a number of structural measures at the end of 2022 which Uniper must implement by the end of 2026 at the latest. These include, among other things, the disposal of the Datteln 4 hard coal-fired power plant.
Coal-fired power generation has no future at Uniper – the power plants themselves do. They are located close to centers of consumption and energy hubs and have useful infrastructure such as high-voltage switchgear, rail links, and connections to the district heating network. As a result, they will continue to play an important role in a low CO₂ economy after the end of coal-fired power generation. Uniper is working on solutions that ensure a fair transition for the economy in the espective regionand for Uniper’s local employees.
Two new high-efficiency gas turbines were installed at the Gelsenkirchen-Scholven power plant site; they were successfully tested in 2022 and will go into operation in 2023. In Wilhelmshaven, Uniper is developing an import and production terminal for green ammonia. The plant will convert ammonia back into green hydrogen and nitrogen. An electrolysis plant with a capacity of 410 MW is also planned which, together with the import terminal, can provide around 295,000 t of green hydrogen. This corresponds to around 10 % of the demand expected for the whole of Germany in 2030.
CO2 emissions in European generation down
In the European Generation segment, the operating times of Uniper’s coal-fired power plants were longer in 2022 than in the previous year due to supply security measures and improved market conditions. Nevertheless, CO₂ emissions in this segment declined slightly overall. This is due to the isposal of the Schkopaulignite-fired power plant in October 2021 and lower operating times of the gas-fired power plants in the UK due to unplanned unavailability.
Conditions for health, occupational safety and well-being strengthened
Uniper has also made progress in other dimensions of sustainability such as biodiversity, community engagement, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Last year, a DEI Council was established to drive further progress in this area.
The well-being of employees is a top priority for Uniper. This is all the more true in light of the changes and uncertainties triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. A prerequisite for improving health, occupational safety, and well-being is strong leadership and a culture of continuous improvement at all hierarchical levels. With its integrated approach to health promotion, Uniper offers all employees access to a wide range of services, from medial check-ups and various exercse programs to campaigns to promote mental well-being. Since 2022, voluntary “health ambassadors” have formed an internal network with the aim of strengthening health promotion in the company and improving the health culture.
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Uniper SE published this content on 06 April 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 06 April 2023 09:33:02 UTC.