Vestas Announces Target to Become Carbon Neutral by 2030

Vestas has worked with customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and now it plans to be a carbon-neutral company by no later than 2030

For Vestas, the reality of the climate crisis is at the centre of its business. In more than 40 years of pioneering and leading the wind energy industry, it has worked with customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by driving the transition to replace carbon-based energy generation with renewable energy. Now, the firm has announced that it will be a carbon-neutral company by no later than 2030 – the first of many initiatives to increase its sustainability performance.

The firm has reported that to fulfil this objective it will reduce its global carbon footprint through a 55 percent CO2 reduction by 2025, reaching 100 percent by 2030. As it is committed to leading the transition to a world entirely powered by sustainable energy, it will not use carbon offsets but only deliver CO2 reductions through its own actions.

Taking the first steps this year, the firm will be transitioning to electric vehicles for its company cars, and will start replacing its global service vehicle fleet with renewable fuelled vehicles and will be exploring further steps to reduce heating- and transport-related CO2 emissions from its operations. It also revealed that the factories and offices have been powered by 100 percent renewable electricity since 2013.

After installing more than 108 GW of clean energy – enough wind energy to displace 167 million tonnes of CO2 every year, equivalent to burning 70 million tonnes of coal every year – Vestas’ 25,000 employees are committed to developing competitive sustainable energy solutions to meet the world’s growing electricity demand. However, its aspiration to be the global leader in sustainable energy solutions means going beyond delivering sustainable solutions – it means making sustainability part of everything the firm does and taking full responsibility for the company’s environmental footprint.

Therefore, it does not believe reducing CO2 emissions in its operations is enough. The firm is also committing to reduce the CO2 emissions from its supply chain by 45 percent per MWh generated by 2030. The measurement has been chosen because it incentivises sustainability partnerships with suppliers that both reduce CO2 emissions and allows for the continued growth of the global renewable energy sector. Vestas will therefore actively seek sustainability partnerships with our suppliers.

“At Vestas, we are proud of our shared purpose and passion to make the planet a better place and to make our work as sustainable as possible”, said Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen. “To remain at the forefront of the energy transition we must do even more than today to meet the growing sustainability expectations of our customers, partners, investors and employees. Our commitment to becoming carbon-neutral is the right thing to do for all of us. Together, we will not just make products that build a more sustainable planet, but we will do so in the most sustainable way possible.”