EEW Energy from Waste (EEW) today published its fifth Sustainability Report.
Once again, the company is publishing a report before the EU reporting obligations take effect for EEW as of 2025. For EEW, this report is an opportunity its highlight its commitment to sustainability and transparent information.
In 2022, the company reviewed and refined its sustainability strategy. As a result of this, EEW has set itself 14 ambitious targets to be reached by 2030 in five areas of action. With these, the company defines its thematic focus areas and addresses the needs of external stakeholders. The strategic targets are supported by operational targets and benchmarks in a roadmap.
EEW aims to continuously develop thermal waste utilisation as an intelligent building block of the circular economy and the energy transition. In an environment shaped by multiple crises, the company ensures a reliable supply of waste management services and energy, while accelerating its own transformation towards resource efficiency and climate neutrality. “Sustainability is one of the greatest challenges of our time. At EEW, we are aiming for climate-neutral operations by 2030. This requires decisive, swift and targeted action in all areas of our business,” said Bernard M. Kemper, Chief Executive Officer.
The thermal treatment of residual waste that cannot be sent for high-value recycling can result in difficult-to-avoid residual emissions. EEW is therefore pursuing innovative solutions for carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). “A core aspect of our efforts to achieve climate neutrality is making CO2 usable as a valuable raw material for the chemical industry or fuel production. To obtain the resource CO2, we are actively working on tests of capture technologies. Our goal is to capture at least 500,000 tonnes of CO2 in our plant network annually by 2032, which can then be sequestered or used as an industrial feedstock,” explained Dr Joachim Manns, Chief Operating Officer of EEW Group. “However, this requires that thermal waste treatment plants be given due consideration in the legal frameworks being developed at the European and national levels, especially the legislation on government targets and funding, and for example, receive access to Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCfD). This will be crucial to the feasibility of our planned measures,” added Bernard M. Kemper.
EEW actively involved its employees in the process of strategy development. As part of this process, EEW identified material issues, evaluated positive and negative effects and developed a roadmap. The results were presented to employees during a road show in spring, with discussions about specific measures to integrate these in day-to-day work. Through close-knit management, EEW ensures that sustainability is firmly embedded in all areas of the company. The aim is to raise awareness and increase employee engagement.
The fifth Sustainability Report reflects the revised sustainability strategy, documents EEW’s efforts to date and shows how the company intends to tackle the challenges of the future. The realigned reporting is presented in three targeted formats:
• Facts and figures in the Sustainability Report in accordance with the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards
• Features and stories in the magazine “In dialogue for sustainability”
• A comprehensive overview on the website www.lets-talk-about-tomorrow.com
Birgit Fröhlig, Head of Corporate Sustainability at EEW, said the realignment of the strategy was necessary to prepare for the upcoming EU reporting obligations as well as respond to the multifaceted needs of the diverse stakeholder groups. “For us, transparency and dialogue are essential. We want to show that we not only talk about sustainability, we also actively advance it through a number of specific activities, which we steer with our new roadmap. As a result, we have also further optimised our reporting and are presenting in a more suitable format for our target audiences.”
EEW Energy from Waste GmbH (EEW) is one of the leading companies in Europe in the field of thermal waste treatment and sewage sludge. EEW is already making an important contribution towards protecting the climate and resources and is a key player in the circular economy. Our corporate group currently operates 17 sites that can process around 5 million tonnes of waste per year. The more than 1,400 employees at our plants ensure that the energy stored in waste is utilised, the volume of waste is reduced, the hazards caused by waste are eliminated safely and without negative impact, and that scrap metals and composite materials are recycled. Moreover, we efficiently utilise the energy contained in waste to generate process steam for industrial plants, district heating for residential areas and environmentally sustainable electricity. In line with our sustainability strategy, we have set a goal to be climate neutral by 2030 and climate positive by 2040. A key measure in addition to CO2 reduction will be carbon capture at our facilities. The captured carbon will be partly stored underground or utilised as a valuable feedstock for chemical products in a carbon-neutral economy of the future.