Our contribution to global carbon neutrality

To contribute to global carbon neutrality, Tractebel pledged in 2021 to neutralize its 2022 residual emissions (in addition to a significant reduction of its carbon footprint). We have reached our targets and as we pursue our purpose of engineering a carbon-neutral future, we will continue partnering with our clients to decarbonize the world’s energy matrix. But also to reduce our own carbon emissions, as a company and as individuals.

Our commitment to contribute to the global carbon neutrality efforts is a natural move for a company like Tractebel. We understand the urgency of climate change mitigation and adaptation. We are indeed firmly committed to helping our clients and our people create a positive impact towards a sustainable world, where people, planet and profit collectively thrive."

Philippe Van Troeye

Tractebel’s Chief Executive Officer

Three paths to reduced emissions

Our Contribution to Global Carbon Neutrality: current status

We reached our 2022 target of 20% reduced emissions.

To contribute to global net-zero goals, in 2021 Tractebel set in motion a robust plan to reduce its carbon emissions by 20% as compared to the pre-Covid 2019 benchmark: we have now completed a comprehensive company carbon assessment for year 2022.
Results show that we achieved our goal.

Several actions contributed to reducing our emissions, such as lower-carbon commuting, reduction of our office space and green electricity supply to buildings.

We also pledged to neutralize our remaining emissions by purchasing high-quality, certified carbon offsets from projects that contribute to the protection of biodiversity, promote social benefits, and ultimately support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Our Carbon & Climate team identified and made recommendations for projects to finance, and Tractebel approved the neutralization budget in February 2023.

We neutralized our residual emissions

In September 2023, we received the carbon offset certificates from projects that neutralize our 2022 residual emissions. Discover those projects here:

Improved household stoves in Nigeria – 10,000 tons of CO2 eliminated per year
Improving household stoves is well recognized as a robust, low-hanging fruit of global decarbonization contribution. This energy efficiency project consists of replacing conventional cooking stoves with new stoves that will reduce fuel needs by about 30% per year per household. In addition to fuel savings, the reduction of air pollution in cooking zones brings health benefits to a country where the World Health Organization estimates over 64,000 people die prematurely each year due to pollution from cooking zones.

MySol solar home systems in Sub-Saharan Africa – 4,000 tons of CO2 eliminated
MySol, an initiative by ENGIE Energy Access, will distribute battery-charged solar home systems to provide lighting in homes currently using fossil fuel-based lamps, resulting in household energy savings and a reduction of harmful kerosene fumes. Carbon financing will also be used to scale up the project to supply systems to remote areas.

Fagus afforestation and reforestation in France – 1,000 tons of CO2 eliminated over 30 years

Under the Fagus program, members of France’s largest forestry cooperative Alliance Forêt Bois (page only available in French), will have access to financing with the label Bas Carbone. About 150 forest plots will be financed through the program, representing an estimated 1,000 hectares planted in western France. Benefits include a reduction of emissions caused by deforestation, employment in ecotourism and forest management, and preservation and restoration of ecosystems.

What’s next?
Plans are in full swing for our 2023-2025 initiatives. Going forward, we will continue to reduce our emissions year-over-year as per COP21 recommendations, while neutralizing residual emissions.

Find out more
To learn more about Tractebel’s neutralization goals and roadmap, how we assess our impact and approach the residual emissions aspects, read the interview with David Levrat, our Head of Carbon & Climate.

Decarbonize Tractebel

Our carbon footprint
We performed a detailed scan to measure our carbon emissions, using our 2019 emissions as the baseline. As an engineering company with projects in different corners of the world, we acknowledged that business travel and commuting represent three quarters of our emissions.

To achieve our 2022 target, we put a carbon management plan in place that was based on an extensive data analysis with a set of actions designed to significantly reduce emissions.

The plan is built around the following six pillars:

Offices powered by renewable energy
Where possible, we are procuring 100% of electricity in our global offices from renewable sources.

Low-carbon business travel
We will continue to replace non-essential business travel by digital communication and adopt a low-carbon mindset for essential travel by, whenever possible, opting for train over plane, flying economy over business class, choosing non-stop over layover flights, etc.
Low-carbon commuting
We have extended homeworking in all countries where we are present, thus dramatically reducing emissions from daily commuting. In addition, we are reviewing existing mobility policies to encourage our people to opt for low-carbon transportation modes for commuting during working-from-office days.
Energy-efficient offices
The extension of homeworking has also enabled the optimization of our office spaces, leading to reduced energy consumption (even when taking into consideration the incremental emissions from homeworking, which are included in Tractebel footprint). We are currently performing a thorough analysis of our existing installations to ensure maximum energy savings.
Green company fleet
We only purchase or lease company vehicles with the lowest possible carbon emissions. Additionally, we are taking measures to achieve a fleet comprised mainly of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Low-carbon digital efforts
We have further reduced our digital carbon footprint by changing how we produce and store data. We are also raising awareness company-wide about the impact of digital habits on carbon emissions.

Decarbonize our projects

We are partnering with clients on a global scale to drive our purpose of engineering a carbon-neutral future. Our experts are exploring new ways to prioritize sustainability. For example, we have just developed internally a dedicated methodology to estimate carbon emissions of hydropower scheme construction (which is a first of its kind to our knowledge). Similarly, we went above the client’s request on a large subway project and included at our cost the development of a specific carbon accounting methodology for this product.

Even better than proposing carbon assessments of our projects, we are now looking at assessing and proposing the best carbon alternatives in early stages of studies: this is where the most significant leverage on decarbonization is for an engineering company. We believe that we should not wait to be challenged by most of our clients on this aspect, but instead we should proactively support this approach in our studies.

Back our people in their decarbonization journey

As an employer, we believe that we have also a significant leverage to contribute to global carbon neutrality by supporting our people in their own decarbonization journey. Over the past few years, we have been increasing our efforts to inspire our people in this regard through communications campaigns, events and training.

We still need to do more, and will continue to put new action plans in place at both local and global levels. These include a more widespread deployment of our Climate Fresk program, a comprehensive educational and awareness session on climate change.

Our Contribution to Carbon Neutrality continues

While we are satisfied to have reached our 2022 emissions reduction goals, our contribution to carbon neutrality is just beginning. Going forward, we will continue to decarbonize year-over-year as per COP21 recommendations, and to neutralize residual emissions. Additionally, we will further develop our capability to assess the carbon footprint and climate resilience of our services.

"I am proud to be part of a company whose priorities extend far beyond profit. Tractebel is clearly dedicated to fostering a safe and positive work environment, gender parity, and reducing carbon emissions worldwide. These values, combined with a history of strong ethics, make Tractebel the ideal place to engineer a positive impact.”

Samuel Silva

Senior Electrical Engineer - Brazil