Climate change
We take substantive action to combat climate change and its impact.
Our actions for climate change
Our environmental policy contains actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). The National Energy and Climate Plan and the new PPC Business Plan provide for the phase-out of lignite in power generation by 2028 in line with the ambitious target of the EU to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
Moreover, we have fully integrated in our environmental policy interventions aiming at the conservation of biodiversity, a more efficient management of water resources, rational waste management, the adaptation of building and infrastructure specifications to possible future climate conditions, etc.
Climate change is a global environmental problem affecting all aspects of human life: environment, health, food chain, infrastructure, economy and politics.
The power generation sector is a key-player in meeting the goal of the Paris Agreement on Climate to keep the rise in mean global temperature well below 2 °C.
The effort to limit the rise in mean global temperature even more, at 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels requires measures to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases, GHGs.
PPC is taking substantive steps to combat climate change and its impact. Its environmental policy includes actions to limit carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) in the process of power generation to deal with climate change, which is one of the goals of sustainable growth – goal 13 of the United Nations sustainable development agenda for 2030.
To limit CO2 emissions from thermal plants and to deal with climate change, it has implemented actions and projects, among which:
- Investments to replace old Thermal Power Plants with new highly efficient modern technology-based facilities and improve environmental performance in existing Plants
- Further development of Hydroelectric Projects and RES projects
- Further integration of natural gas into the energy mix
- Promotion of actions of energy saving and rational use of energy
- Participation in research projects for the implementation of lignite efficient technologies.
All the above contributed significantly to cutting down CO2 emissions and improving the Company’s environmental footprint.
The National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP, NOG 4893/B/2019) and PPC’s new Business Plan, in line with the ambitious goal of the EU to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, stipulate the full decarbonization in power generation by 2028.
Change of the energy mix in the national balance of electric power through time.
The second pillar of the international climate policy under the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change (UNFCCC), next to the mitigation of greenhouse gases, is the adaptation to climate change.
The requisite measures of adaptation to climate change include, inter alia, interventions aimed at the conservation of biodiversity, a more efficient management of water resources, rational waste management in the context of circular economy, the adaptation of building and infrastructure specifications to possible future climate conditions, etc., all of which have been fully integrated in PPC’s environmental policy.
PPC takes into account the changes that may possibly arise from climate change in all its projects (rise in temperature, extreme weather conditions, etc.) and integrates them in project design and planning.
For the existing projects, the vulnerability to climate change and the relevant measures to be taken are considered on a case-by-case basis in the context of renewal/modification of their environmental licenses.