In a dynamic landscape of energy transformation, we stand as a pivotal partner, aligned with the needs and aspirations of our diverse customers. As they gear up for substantial capital investments to drive decarbonization, we take on a crucial role as a trusted partner. Armed with an in-depth understanding of our operations, we are poised to deliver bespoke solutions that not only facilitate decarbonization but also ensure security of energy supply.
Our strategic compass points us towards four key pillars that will help us accelerate the energy transition:
Customers
Our customer base comprises more than 1,000 customers, including municipal utilities, industrial customers as well as grid operators. They will make significant capital expenditures in the years ahead to fund their decarbonization. We aim to be a trusted partner in this transformation process. We know their operations and can provide them with bespoke solutions that ensure both decarbonization and security of supply.
Green & flexible power
Europe has lots of intermittent zero-carbon power. What it doesn't have is lots of flexible zero-carbon power that can come online when it's needed. This is the critical gap in the energy transition. Uniper will help close this gap by deploying our outstanding portfolio of flexible, low-carbon power plants, by adding more power plants as well as renewables assets, and by progressively transforming them into Europe's leading source of low-cost, zero-carbon power. By 2030 we aim for our generation portfolio of 15-20 GW to be 80 percent green.
Greener gases
Green electrification of space heating, mobility and other sectors will presumably take decades. Natural gas will therefore remain an important energy source. Uniper will continue to provide a reliable supply of gas to our customers while transforming our portfolio to climate-friendlier gases. Hydrogen will play an important role in this. In 2030 our gas sales portfolio of more than 200 TWh will include 5-10 percent green gases. It will also comprise more than 1 GW electrolyzer capacity for producing green hydrogen.
Optimization
Optimization involves coordinating different elements of the energy system according to our customers' needs. This will become even more important for ensuring a reliable supply of increasingly green power and gas. The aim is to allocate power and gas – and in future green gases – to the highest-value use at the right point in time. Uniper will deploy its deep experience in energy trading and asset operations as well as leverage its world-class technology platform and its diverse portfolio across the value chain. This will add flexibility to generating, sourcing and supplying energy for the energy system.
Our twofold approach: enabling decarbonization while ensuring security of supply
The focus of our strategy is to expand our green energy supply, while maintaining a stable supply of dispatchable power. This is why our approach is twofold – increasing our proportion of green and dispatchable power and greener gases, while delivering the stable and flexible energy supply that is and will be needed. Uniper has a strong and diverse portfolio of assets, sites and competencies, and therefore our role is essential to the vitality of the energy system, and we aim to expand and develop our core competencies – power, gas and optimization – for our customers further.
We therefore have committed to invest around €8 billion in growth and transformation by 2030. It's important to us to create value with these investments and to seize the opportunities of emerging markets like hydrogen. This will enable us to offer our customers greener products and tailored solutions to help them reduce their carbon footprint. This way, we will contribute to the energy transition while ensuring security of supply.
With the new strategy in August 2023, Uniper’s decarbonization targets have been significantly tightened and concretized: we aim to achieve carbon neutrality across the entire value chain by 2040, ten years earlier than originally planned. For the scope 1 and 2 emissions specifically, carbon neutrality is planned already by 2035. This will require us to stepwise reduce our coal and gas-related emissions significantly, mainly by phasing out our coal-fired power generation by 2029, and by transforming our gas-fired asset base. Our natural gas wholesale and trading business have associated indirect scope 3 emissions. The planned transformation of our commodity portfolio from natural gas towards greener gases like biomethane, hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives will reduce our scope 3 emissions over time. Consequently, we have brought forward our scope 3 neutrality target from 2050 to 2040.
To achieve these ambitious climate targets, it requires a robust climate transition plan which aims to serve as a roadmap to embrace the transformation Uniper needs, outlining the required actions across the different businesses.