2020-2030: a crucial decade for decarbonization
IPCC experts indicated in their latest report that the 1.5°C rise in global temperatures will occur by 2030, ten years earlier than the previous edition estimated. This is the limit above which many ecosystems and organisms will not be able to adapt. So governments, regions and businesses have set targets to stabilise this temperature rise: reducing global CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Governments have adopted action plans to transition to climate neutral economies: The national low carbon strategy in France, the European Green Deal in the European Union, etc. It is also one of the goals set by Climate Change Conferences (COP), the latest of which was held in Glasgow in 2021 (COP 26). Similar actions are being rolled out in the regions, which are taking up the challenge and announcing their own net zero targets, in 2040 for San Francisco and in 2025 for Copenhagen (carbon neutral).
Companies on the road to decarbonization
Businesses in the industry and service sectors (Google, Orange, Faurecia, and CMA CGM, to name but a few) are taking the decarbonization movement to new heights, as demonstrated by the dated, quantified, often medium-term commitments they have made to their stakeholders. This drive can also be seen in partnerships of circumstance between international business leaders, like the First Movers Coalition, which addresses the transition of seven manufacturing sectors (aluminium, aviation, chemicals, concrete, steel, shipping, and trucking) with very high greenhouse gas emissions, and the International Emissions Trading Association, which seeks to develop efficient carbon markets and offset systems on a global scale.
85% of companies have set sustainability targets, only one in four are on track to achieve them.
Decarbonization - a systemic revolution
Decarbonizing involves a complete overhaul of the production system and of the way we consume energy. While 85% of companies have set targets for carbon neutrality, only 24% of them are on track to meet their commitments*. Because decarbonization is a complex process: consuming green electricity from renewable energy sources (solar, wind, biogas, hydroelectric, green hydrogen, etc.), reducing consumption through energy efficiency solutions deployed in facilities (infrastructure and mobility), wasting less energy, transforming processes to make them greener…
ENGIE, an expert in decarbonization
As a world leader in the energy transition, ENGIE provides businesses with a 360° decarbonization offer to meet each company's individual needs: which roadmap is best suited to their particular business model? What mix of energy solutions should they choose? How can they push ahead to decarbonize their mobility solutions? See the full offer.
"Getting the world on track for 1.5°C requires a surge in annual investment in clean energy projects and infrastructure. Over the coming decade, this will need to more than triple from today’s levels of around USD 1 trillion. Most transition-related energy investment will need to be carried out by private developers, consumers and financiers responding to market signals and policies set by governments."
Tim Gould, Chief Energy Economist, International Energy Agency