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The energy transition

Building a sustainable energy system together, faster

Energie Beheer Nederland is energising the transition. We aim to achieve a climate-neutral energy system by 2050. Find out how we are doing this and what our role is.

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, 195 countries, including the Netherlands, agreed to limit the rise in the average global temperature to well below 2°C, if not 1.5°C, by 2050. To achieve this, the focus is on reducing CO2 emissions.

The Dutch government has set a target for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Netherlands: 55 to 60% lower emissions by 2030 compared with 1990 levels and a carbon-neutral energy system by 2050. GHG emissions need to be 95% lower in 2050 than they were in 1990, a target that was subsequently laid down in the Dutch Climate Agreement and in the Dutch Climate Act.

To reduce CO2 emissions, we need to burn fewer fossil fuels. Production processes need to be cleaner and more efficient. And it is vital to increase our generation of renewable energy, such as green electricity and geothermal heat.

EBN and the energy transition: our promise

Over the coming years, our energy system will undergo a complete transformation. We are dismantling the things that damage our climate, expanding on the things we can retain and building ourselves up to become 100% sustainable. EBN is investing on behalf of the Dutch government, setting things in motion and accelerating them where needed, at a system level, in the gas supply and value chain, in the heat supply and value chain, in carbon storage and in projects. As a public company, stepping up more and more to our sustainability challenge and ensuring energy security for everyone are our top priorities.

Our climate promise

In 2040, we will be climate neutral. We will reduce our Scope 1, 2 and 3 CO2 emissions by 60% in 2030 and by 100% in 2040 compared with 1990. In addition, we will continue working intensively to ensure access to energy ‒ even when this comes under pressure.

Over the coming years, EBN will focus on:

  1. developing a sustainable and accessible energy system for all;
  2. the transition of our gas system; we want to be able to sell climate-neutral gases after 2040. EBN is also involved in the electrification of drilling platforms, re-use of infrastructure and exploration of sustainable gases;
  3. a sustainable heat transition; we are working on the large-scale extraction of geothermal energy in various projects and the development of heat networks; and
  4. responsible CO2 storage; we are working on a CCS system with CO2 storage under the North Sea,

The acceleration needed in developments can be secured through a strong public-private partnership. EBN can use its influence as a policy holding of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. And as a connector and driver of public-private collaboration throughout the supply and value chain, we bring stakeholders together and provide capital, infrastructure, knowledge and expertise in concrete projects.

In-depth conversations, based on the right facts and figures

Our knowledge has unique value: knowledge of our specific fields, the market, the technology, but also the energy system and the facts and figures. Knowledge that makes us a key partner in projects that can boost their impact, not least financially. And that knowledge is what we use to conduct in-depth conversations based on the right, objective facts. In an environment characterised by complex changes and information flows, in an increasingly polarised world where many live in filter bubbles, a public organisation that conveys objective reality is more important than ever. \

We want to enhance knowledge and raise awareness of energy and the energy system, with a diversity of target groups and at different levels of knowledge. Politics, business and the wider public are already discussing the energy transition. We not only see it as our task to encourage this dialogue, but above all to ensure that everyone has the information they need, based on facts. We are already doing this in many ways, including through the annual Power Breakfast, the Energy in the Netherlands infographic, our Transition Talks and the ‘Week of the…’ series. But we also go further by providing our partners with knowledge, publications, research and reports and by contributing to development and education in schools.

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