Sustainability at the Nordex Group – Sustainability Report 2019 published
Almost 35 years ago, we began building turbines to generate electricity from wind energy in an environmentally and climate-friendly way. Just over eighteen months ago, a single Swedish female student went on strike and started a global movement that has made it clear once and for all that there is no alternative to the energy transition.
The United Nations have anchored reliable and affordable access to sustainable energy for all humankind in one of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the Paris Climate Agreement, the individual states committed to counteracting climate change, while numerous companies are setting themselves specific targets to achieve climate neutrality in their business operations.
A transformation of the energy industry is fundamental in achieving the aforementioned objectives, as a major proportion of global emissions originate from this sector. However, to achieve these climate goals, the required transformation will need to go well beyond the energy industry and also towards reshaping the transport, construction, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors; harnessing renewable energies plays a major role in this.
At the Nordex Group we have worked continually and successfully for many years now to progressively reduce the cost of energy (COE). Regarding the global average COE across the whole power generation sector, wind energy is now more cost-efficient than fossil fuels. As a manufacturer of innovative wind turbines that enable highly efficient, environmentally friendly electricity, sustainability is at the heart of our business model. However, we think that this is not enough: our objective is to become a sustainable company in all areas of our business – not an easy task, given the challenges for us as a fast growing, global company in a volatile market. To get closer to our aim, in 2018 we launched our current Sustainability Strategy 2019 to 2021 entitled: ‘Use wind intelligently – live sustainability’. The “Prime” status awarded to our company in the ISS-ESG sustainability ratings, positive developments, such as further reductions in the frequency rate of lost time injuries and COE, and initiatives to minimize the environmental impact of our business, all show that we are on the right track. For more details on our journey, check out our newly-published Sustainability Report 2019.