Energy production at Verdo LED optimisation In 2020, we energy-optimised and replaced 5,000 street lights with climate-friendly LED technology, resulting in annual savings of 1,200 MWh for the municipalities involved. The lower energy consumption of LED lights also provides a sizeable CO2 reduction of about 575 tonnes. This is equivalent to the annual CO2 consumption of about 34 Danes. At our head office in Randers, we switched to LED lights in 2018, saving 43,853 kWh and just over 20 tonnes of CO2 a year. This is a natural extension of our target of 100% green power use at Verdo – a target we have now achieved. The target is inspired by SDG 7 Affordable and clean energy. Green power In 2013, we began offering our customers green power as an alternative to conventional power based on fossil fuels. Today, we offer green power to all our customers, and all power used by the Group is also 100% green. Verdo takes the green transformation seriously. Not only within the Group, but also in relation to the electricity products we offer our customers. Verdo still has some way to go as we are still following the one-leaf model. In the long term, the aim is of course to meet all the requirements of the two-leaf model. In 2021, we will continue our determined efforts to achieve this goal to make it even easier for our customers to choose 100% green power in the future.
Green power Category
Electricity product
1.
Electricity product based on renewable energy sources and additional climate action with a significant climate impact
2.
46
Action against pesticides In Denmark, we use about 20 tonnes of pesticides in our gardens every year. One drop of pesticide in the groundwater is enough to make 10 million litres of water unsafe to drink. Tests of 250 water bores across Denmark have shown excessive levels of pesticides in the groundwater. In our efforts to ensure clean drinking water, the use of pesticides on all our premises has been prohibited since 2017. The premises cover a total area of 430,000 m2, which corresponds to an area the size of 65 football fields. The action reflects our support for the ‘Giftfri Have’ pesticide-free garden project launched by the Danish Society for Nature Conservation and the Danish Association of Practical Ecology. The Municipality of Randers followed suit in 2019, and in 2020 more local players decided to back the project. In 2020, we were unable to celebrate UN International Water Day due to COVID-19. Normally, we celebrate the day with more than 500 schoolchildren in collaboration with Vandmiljø Randers and Randers Naturcenter, among others. Our goal is to share knowledge about water and also support and strengthen the involvement of local communities in improving water and sanitation management, and will therefore celebrate Water Day with an online event in 2021. New vehicle policy In 2020, we introduced a new vehicle policy for Verdo’s white-plate and yellow-plate vehicles as we want to demonstrate environmental responsibility by optimising our entire fleet.
Source: New two-leaf scheme from Danish Energy
Documentation requirements
1. Guarantee of origin 2. Individual declaration showing that the power is sourced from 100% renewable energy sources 3. Description of climate action 4. Climate action must be documentable 5. Climate impact must be documentable Electricity product based 1. Guarantee of origin on renewable energy 2. Individual declaration showing that the sources without additional power is sourced from 100% renewable climate action energy sources
Annual report 2020
‘Green Power’ or similar climate statement Yes. Information about category may be used in marketing material
Yes, but information about category must appear in marketing material.
We want to do this by: • monitoring the operating costs of our yellow-plate fleet • focusing on reducing total emissions of environmentally harmful substances in exhaust gases • encouraging our employees to consider electric or hybrid vehicles when choosing a company car. Moreover, it will only be possible to lease vehicles that meet the CO2 emission limits of 130 grams of CO2 per km. Verdo’s goal is to reduce the CO2 emissions of our entire vehicle fleet by 70% by 2030. Energy savings The energy-saving efforts of Danish energy companies require us to identify and realise energy savings each year, which must be reported to the Danish Energy Agency at the end of the year. In 2020, the total target for Verdo was 50,000 MWh. We have achieved savings of 52,075 MWh. The energy companies’ energy-saving efforts ended at the end of 2020 and will be replaced by new programmes that do not impose a commitment on the energy companies. Verdo’s activities concerning energy subsidy payments thus came to an end at the end of 2020. Conclusion Our environmental and climate efforts in the areas of CO2 reduction, fuel sourcing, green district heating and reasonable utility prices produced satisfactory results in 2020. In 2021, we intend to step up our work on the 17 SDGs. To this end, we have entered into a partnership on the goals with the Municipality of Randers. The aim is to raise general awareness of the SDGs and point out ways citizens and businesses can contribute to achieving the goals.
