Ørsted is the most sustainable energy company in the world and the fourth most sustainable company overall in Corporate Knights’ 2019 index of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.
Toronto-based Corporate Knights analysed more than 7,500 companies, mainly from the industrials, financial IT, consumer and health care sectors, against their global industry peers. 2019 Global 100 companies come from 21 countries, mainly in North America and Western Europe.
According to Corporate Knights, Ørsted performs particularly well in the ranking because a high share of the company’s revenues is earned from products or services that have environmental or well-defined social benefits.
“Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. We must dramatically accelerate the transformatio n of the world’s energy systems from fossil fuels to renewables to help protect our planet for future generations,” said Henrik Poulsen, CEO of Ørsted.
“At Ørsted, we have reduced our carbon emissions from our energy production by 67% over the past decade towards our vision of a world that runs entirely on green energy. Being ranked among the world’s most sustainable companies makes us both humble and proud and encourages us to pursue our global investments in sustainable energy.”
Over the past decade, Ørsted has transformed from a coal- and gas-intensive utility to a global green energy company. The company has reduced the carbon intensity of its power and heat generation by more than two-thirds in comparison with 2006, and it is on track to meet its target of more than 95% green energy by 2023. The progress in Ørsted’s decarbonisation programme is reflected in the company’s leap to a fourth place in the 2019 Global 100 index, ranking 70th in 2018.
Ørsted recently announced new targets towards 2025, including increasing its share of renewable energy generation to 99% by 2025, installing 15GW offshore wind by 2025, and investing DKK 200bn (around EUR 26.8bn) in renewable energy towards 2025.