Reaching Net Zero together!

Energy Valley is kicking off a joint project for SMEs from the supplier industry at our conference Energy:Connected in December. The goal is to strengthen the competitiveness of the industry in the transition to the low- and net zero-emission society.

– If the large Norwegian listed companies are to succeed, the supply chain must also succeed, says managing director Preben Strøm.

The project is aimed at SMEs from the supplier industry.

The kickoff for the project will be on December 9th at Energy:Connected. Here you will get the first taste of what awaits in the work ahead. 

Marianne Hagen, EVP Sustainability, HSSE & Communications at Aker Solutions ASA will introduce the requirements for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and reporting they will make to their supply chain in the future. Procurement in Equinor is also invited to the event.

The goals

Identifying concrete measures to reduce emissions, creating new business opportunities, and facilitating efficient measurement are a few ways to make the industry more competitive towards a net zero-emission society.

– We also want to establish an arena for knowledge and experience sharing related to net zero initiatives in the supplier industry and contribute to the companies individually and jointly establishing a net zero strategy, says Strøm.

Closing the gap

– The SMEs in the supplier industry form a critical and significant part of the Norwegian supply chain in Norway’s energy industry and in value creation from national energy resources, says Strøm.

Energy Valley houses about twenty large companies that are the supplier industry’s customers, such as the Equinor, Nexans and Aker companies.

In internal events in the cluster, these companies have demanded that the technology and knowledge gap that exists between the large, listed companies and the smaller SMEs in the supplier industry, related to the energy transition, be closed.

– The project will also contribute to a fair transition, by preserving and creating jobs in the green shift.

New reporting requirements

 There are increasingly stringent demands from the supplier industry’s customers and from the authorities to reduce CO2 emissions to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of net zero emissions in 2050.

– This directly affects the industry in several ways, both through increased reporting requirements and increased requirements for actual emission cuts. At the same time, it creates opportunities to turn business models towards new markets, says Strøm.

 Everyone can be a global winner  

The large energy companies are in the lead in the work on ESG adaptation. These companies are in the process of implementing reporting and follow-up of the so-called “Scope 3”, which means that in addition to reporting on their own CO2 emissions, they must report for CO2 emissions throughout their supply chain.

Scope 3 emissions include the sources of emissions in a company’s upstream and downstream value chain. Climate accounting is increasingly focusing on these indirect emissions, especially in a company’s supply chain, because this is often where most of the climate impact occurs.

 –  A supplier industry that contributes to cuts in CO2 emissions in the supply chain will be a global competitive advantage for Norwegian energy technology now and in the future.