The Danish Energy company Ørsted was the first fossil fuel producer to ditch its traditional business — and go all in with renewables. The bet has paid off – with its market cap now approaching BP, Devapriyo Das from Ørsted explains to WeDontHaveTime

Podcast by Mik Aidt on 19 July 2020: The Sustainable Business Hour

About how quickly the story in the global business community is changing at the moment – and in that regard, from a Geelong perspective: also about why Viva Energy’s and Richard Marles’ ideas about investing money in gas increasingly looks like a very bad idea.

Fossils going downBP will write down the value of its assets by as much as $17.5 billion in the second quarter of 2020 — some 20 per cent of its market capitalisation, because a number of BP’s assets are simply no longer economic. Big Oil’s predicament is an extreme example of the challenge facing every corporation as economies move to a low-carbon future, wrote the editorial board of Financial Times: 

→ Financial Times – 16 June 2020: Big Oil faces up to a future beyond petroleum “The pandemic is set to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels”

Compare that development with what is happening for the Danish energy company Ørsted. Ten years ago Ørsted was one the most fossil fuel intense energy companies in Europe. Today, the company has cut its emissions by 86 per cent and is ranked the most sustainable energy company in the world. As the graph shows, Ørsted’s share value keep rising, while BP’s is tumbling down.

“This shows what “net zero 2050” basically means: nothing. We need drastic emission cuts at the source, starting today. Not empty words and shameless lies.”~ Greta Thunberg, 13 February 2020

Ørsted’s communication advisor says he can see no reason why other power companies should not set out on a similar journey.

”What we have tried to do over the past ten years is to radically transform our business. We have gone from being a traditional energy company, which had interest in coal, oil and gas, to become one of the largest renewable energy companies in the world, with 90 per cent of our revenues coming from renewable energy assets”, Devapriyo Das, Senior Communication Advisor for Sustainability at Ørsted, told the audience during an online panel discussion.

Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs 6,500 people. In 2019, the group’s revenue was 9.1 billion euro.

In the United Kingdom, 20 major retailers, including M&S, Next and Boots, have pledged to hit net-zero emissions before the UK target of 2050. This target includes the supply chain, so there will be increased pressure on manufacturers of consumer goods to tackle their carbon footprint. 

Germany announced earlier this year that it is ...