The EU must update its long-term climate targets in alignment with the Paris Agreement and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conclusion, tighten its 2030 climate target and aim for a carbon neutral economy before 2050."With a rapidly growing CO2-free power supply, we – Vattenfall, Fortum and Statkraft - are fully committed to lead the further decarbonisation of the European energy system. We believe that ambitious emissions reductions and economic growth can be combined".
In a joint Nordic initiative, the three CEOs from the three Nordic energy utility majors; Sweden-headed Vattenfall AB, Finland-headed Fortum Oyj and Norway-headed Statkraft ASA, have met with EU Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete to express their commitments to further decarbonise the European economy and their view on how this can be achieved.
The trio, Magnus Hall of Vattenfall, Pekka Lundmark of Fortum and Christian Rynning-Tønnesen of Statkraft, emphasise the importance of electrification as a key enabler for decarbonising other sectors. Setting equally ambitious targets for non-ETS sectors and increasing the electrification rate are crucial early actions.
We believe that ambitious long-term climate targets can be reached in an affordable manner by using market instruments and sector coupling, the CEO’s stated in a joint declaration adding that hydropower will be key in meeting climate targets and integrating intermittent generation from new fossil free energy sources.
The three all represent large producers of energy in Europe, with a total combined annual production of approximately 230 TWh in 2017, of which 196 TWh was fossil free. The Nordic power market is the third largest power market in Europe.
