Our contribution to global carbon neutrality

To contribute to global carbon neutrality, Tractebel pledged in 2021 to neutralize our annual residual emissions, in addition to a significant reduction of our carbon footprint. 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."

Anne Harvengt

Tractebel’s Chief Executive Officer

Three paths to reduced emissions

Our Contribution to Global Carbon Neutrality: current status

Our 2023 carbon emissions

To contribute to global net-zero goals, in 2021 Tractebel set in motion its first action plan to reduce its carbon emissions by 5% per year on average, in line with COP21 & Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) recommendations.
Considering a 2019 emissions baseline and conducting a comprehensive carbon assessment (Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology), 2023 emissions results show: Company emissions reduction: 6.5% (1.6% / yr. on average) Emissions reduction per employee: 24.5 % (6.1% / yr. on average).
Therefore, Tractebel is globally reaching its objective in terms of emissions per employee, although not in terms of company emissions.
This is attributed largely to the fact that we integrated a company in 2023, including its carbon footprint plus roughly 1,000 people.

Key takeways and ways to improve:

Headcount has increased by more than 20% over the 2019-2023 period, which makes the overall company reduction target challenging,
Globally, over 75% of emissions comes from mobility (business travel and commuting). Tractebel’s main legal entities have signed mobility agreements in recent years, which strongly contributed to the reduction per employee. The work-from-home policy also remains a key contributor to the reduction, as home emissions are significantly lower than those related to commuting.
Building emissions are the main remaining source of emissions: over 90% of Tractebel’s total emissions come from mobility and buildings combined. These emissions were reduced by 30% in the last year, explained both by a relatively mild 2023 winter, but also due to a reduction of office space (linked to flex office and work from home) and energy-efficient offices.
Low-carbon mobility and more accurate figures (extrapolations are still applied in a number of cases) remain among the priorities to continuously improve the assessment and reduction of Tractebel’s emissions for the coming year.

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 will identify and make recommendations for the next projects to finance and we will announce these towards the end of the year.

We neutralized our 2022 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 2024-2025 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 the bulk of our emissions. We put a carbon management plan in place that is 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

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