What is the position of businesses?
When we talk about climate change, we are referring to the change in climate from one time period to another. Among other things, climate change refers to the increase in the Earth's temperature, which is caused by an increase in the concentration of gases in the atmosphere. The increased amounts of gases come primarily from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, lignite, natural gas, etc. These gases remain in the atmosphere and have the ability to absorb solar radiation, thus creating the greenhouse effect.
At the top of the list of polluting gases that damage the atmosphere is carbon dioxide, which is emitted into the atmosphere mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels.
Some statistics:
In the last 100 years the Earth's population has quadrupled to more than 7 billion people.
In the last century, humanity used ten times more energy than it had used in the previous thousand years, causing industrial pollutants and harmful gas emissions to reach their highest levels of the previous 15 million years.
Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have increased by about 50% since 1990
These emissions increased more between 2000 and 2010 than in the three previous decades
It is also worth noting that an estimated 36 billion tons of carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere each year !
Renewable energy seems to be part of the solution for energy sufficiency and for the sustainability of the planet
Sustainable viable development is defined as the ability of society to meet the needs of the present without burdening future generations to meet the needs of the future - and Renewable Energy Sources generously offer us this opportunity.
Renewable Energy Sources (RES) are "clean" forms of energy, very "environmentally friendly", which do not release hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide or toxic and radioactive waste like other large-scale energy sources. In addition to solar and wind energy, geothermal energy, wave energy, tidal energy, hydraulic energy, landfill gas and biogas are also considered RES. They are environmentally friendly as their exploitation does not require any extraction, pumping or combustion and they do not emit carbon dioxide, toxic and radioactive waste or hydrocarbons as conventional energy sources do.
They offer a lot of advantages:
They are practically inexhaustible and help reduce dependence on conventional energy resources.
They are energy sources that are produced in the country where they are consumed, so the country becomes energy independent.
Facilities can be built in all parts of the country thus relieving the transmission system and reducing transmission losses.
They enable the rational use of energy resources, covering a wide range of energy needs of users
They are not affected by the prices of conventional fuels and are now operating at low cost.
They create many jobs, helping to stimulate the economy.
They help local development, particularly in remote areas.
It is noted that the reduction of carbon emissions in the energy sector is an important objective of the long-term climate goals and the fight against climate change!
The energy transition in practice
With energy needs soaring globally, but also with the dire consequences of environmental destruction, climate action is steadily rising to the top of the political agenda of almost all governments on the planet. For Europe in particular, the goal is to become the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050, with an intermediate target of 2030, when net greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by at least 55%.
In addition to climate change mitigation actions under European policies, studies show that there is a significant benefit from climate change adaptation actions, which can shield the economy and mitigate damages. It is estimated that in Greece, investment in adaptation measures leads to a reduction in climate change costs of almost 30%.
Risks and opportunities of climate policies for business
It is not only governments that are turning to greener solutions to tackle and adapt to the climate crisis. Businesses, large and small, are following the same path, recognizing the criticality of the issue and consciously striving for a more sustainable future. The continuous search for new processes and technologies to make them more sustainable and the shift to green energy is the most emerging trend worldwide.
At E-ON INTEGRATION, our goal is to accurately quantify all issues, such as risks, opportunities and metrics, arising from the energy and climate crisis. Risks include, physical risks, i.e. the potential impacts on the infrastructure and services of the stakeholder and transition risks, i.e. the indirect impacts of the climate crisis from changes in the social, political and regulatory environment. Our work includes an assessment of the economic impacts of these risks/opportunities as well as a clear description of the resilience of the stakeholder's business model and strategy in the future based on the climate scenarios. Our entire methodology is fully based on an IT tool, which among other things uses data from external databases, and is entitled “Climate Change Risk Assessment”.