The fight against climate change is one of the primary challenges for our Group, so we have defined specific actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving air quality in the areas in which we operate, while focusing on developing our renewable capacity and gradually closing coal-fired plants.
As of 2021, the ratio between the value created by the Group and the emissions from activities with the highest carbon footprint (i.e., those from power generation and those from gas and power sales to end customers) amounts to 238 €/tCO2. Specific emissions of CO2 have fallen to 227 gCO2eq/kWh, down 45% from 2017 in confirmation of the progress made towards our Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) certified target of 82 gCO2eq/kWh by 2030.
The slight increase from 2020 (+5%) is due to the greater production of energy at our thermal plants.
Specific emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) were 0.07 g/kWheq ( 92% down from 2017), while specific nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions were 0.35 g/kWheq ( 56% down from 2017) and particulate emissions were 0.005 g/kWheq ( 98% down from 2017).