At the heart of our strategy lies our publicly declared target to reduce our portfolio’s specific GHG intensity by 50 percent by 2030, largely facilitated by a rapidly rising share of renewables generation capacity reaching a 50/50 green-brown ratio by 2030. We are also committed to reaching net zero emissions from our portfolio by 2050.
Our commitment to tackling climate change reflects an ambition to lead and drive the transformation towards low-carbon energy systems, provide reliable energy and enhance resource efficiency. At the heart of our strategy lies our publicly declared target to reduce our portfolio’s specific GHG intensity by 50 percent by 2030, largely facilitated by a rapidly rising share of renewables generation capacity reaching a 50/50 greenbrown ratio by 2030. We are also committed to reaching net-zero emissions from our portfolio by 2050.
We are committed to a specific GHG intensity reduction of 50 percent in our portfolio by 2030 from where it stood at the end of 2020. We believe we will achieve this target by focusing our investments on renewables and transitional low CO2 emitting assets, including capturing viable fuel-switch opportunities and increasing and optimizing the energy efficiency of our portfolio.
We monitor, measure and report, and will continue to do so, our portfolio’s absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions and the emission intensity. While our targets are based on ACWA Power’s equity share in our projects, we will never lose sight of the total portfolio metrics and will continue to report them.
In conducting our emission calculations for 2021, we aligned with the most relevant internationally recognized GHG accounting and reporting standard for calculating and reporting emissions:
ACWA Power’s footprint is based on the equity share consolidation approach, including under Scope 1 & 2 emissions from assets based on the company’s share of equity. ACWA Power’s 2021 carbon footprint covers all our 32 assets globally, excluding offices, and includes applicable emission sources that account for more than 5 percent of the total emissions.
ACWA Power’s Scope 1 emissions include direct emissions from stationary fuel combustion from our assets. Fuels include natural gas, fuel oil, coal, and diesel. ACWA Power’s Scope 2 emissions include indirect emissions from grid supplied electricity consumption from our assets.
We excluded the scope 1 emissions from owned fleet (mobile fuel combustion emissions). Also excluded are the scope 1 emissions from fuel consumption and the scope 2 emissions from grid supplied electricity and district heating/cooling consumption, both from owned offices. These emissions are expected to represent less than 5 percent of total Scope 1 & 2 emissions. However, ACWA Power will work towards estimating these emissions in the future.
| Start of operation in the Hassyan clean-coal plant, the single coal-fired power plant in ACWA Power’s 60+ asset portfolio at the time, was the major driver of the increase in the emissions in 2021 and the emission intensity. In February 2022, ACWA Power announced the decision to convert the operation of this 2400MW power plant from clean coal to natural gas, resulting in a coal-free ACWA Power portfolio. By 2020, ACWA Power expects to save approximately 30 million tons of CO2 emissions as a result of this conversion. |
To support our ESG strategy, and in line with our decarbonization efforts, we are shifting our portfolio to renewables and other low-carbon technologies. We are doing this by increasing the share of renewables generation capacity to achieve a green/brown capacity ratio of 50/50 by 2030. Additionally, we have made the decision not to develop or invest in new coal or oil-fired power projects. ACWA Power halted its participation in the development of the coalfired Nam Dinh 1 plant (1200 MW) during the year. Although we are withdrawing from this project, we remain committed to Vietnam’s electricity sector and look forward to expanding the renewable energy footprint we have established with the Vinh Hao 50MW PV power plant, which is already dispatching energy to the Vietnamese grid.
The 2,400MW Hassyan IPP in Dubai converted from clean coal to natural gas. This step supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and Dubai’s carbon neutrality strategy 2050 which aims to provide 100 percent of the energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.
In 2021, we continued to lead the transition to green electricity and low-carbon water in terms of cost and technology. Some of the highlights included:
In 2021, 35 percent of the total gross capacity of our portfolio consisted of renewable technologies, including assets under construction or in advanced development. This represents 42 percent of ACWA Power’s net share of the gross capacity.
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