The second edition of the Financial Times' list of Europe's Climate Leaders comes at a time when companies have stepped up their climate change efforts. This was reflected, for example, at the UN climate summit COP26. According to the latest climate report, without immediate and significant emissions reductions across all sectors, we will not be able to keep warming below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and even keeping warming below two degrees will be very challenging.
This year's list of climate leaders, again compiled by research company Statista, reflects the current situation by tightening the rules for the biggest greenhouse gas emitters. This makes our reappearance in this prestigious ranking all the more remarkable.
It is a great honour for us to receive such an important title for the second year in a row. As Slovakia's largest electricity producer, supplying 94 % carbon dioxide-free electricity to the grid, we are one of the thirty companies in Europe's energy sector to have made it into the prestigious Financial Times ranking. Again, no other company from the V4 countries made it into the ranking.
We have improved year-on-year in the monitored ranking parameters and achieved even more significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020, thanks to a balanced energy mix with a high share of electricity generation from nuclear and hydropower plants and lower supply from fossil fuel-fired thermal power plants, we achieved an all-time low level of specific CO2 emissions (76.3 g/kWh), a decrease of almost 30% compared to 2019.
„The fact that we are really serious about the environment and the climate is shown by the award we have received once again from the Financial Times. However, we are not going to be satisfied with this result and remain stagnant, so we are catching up with other development projects focused on clean and green energy to maintain our position as a climate leader in the long term.“
– Robert Jambrich
Head of International Relations, European Affairs and Environment
This year, the editors of the Financial Times reserved the right to exclude companies whose broader environmental performance, for example on non-greenhouse gas pollution or deforestation, was questionable enough to call into question any claim to be a climate leader.
Due to the stringent conditions, only three companies from the mining and metals sector made it onto the list, the lowest number of companies of any sector. The largest number of companies (43) were in the financial services sector, followed by energy and retail.
Similar to last year, the country with the most companies on the list was the UK (120), beating out Germany with 52 and France with 44. But the result is just another step on the very long road to climate neutrality. "The companies on our list of Europe's Climate Leaders may be moving in the right direction, but there is still a lot of work to be done," the newspaper writes.
For the second year in a row, the Financial Times, the UK's most prestigious economic newspaper, in collaboration with Statista, has compiled a list of European companies that have demonstrated the greatest reductions in their emissions intensity.
The aim of this ranking is to highlight the companies that have reduced their emissions intensity the most between 2015 and 2020, as measured by greenhouse gas emissions as a proportion of revenue. The ranking, which this time includes 400 companies, will also be published in the print edition of the Financial Times. In the meantime, you can find it on the web.
The complete list along with the full methodology can be found in the article by clicking on the button below.
