Our carbon emissions are already negligible because we generate 100% of our energy from renewable energy sources. This is an important contribution to the global fight against climate change, but we have even more ambitious plans. We intend to become carbon neutral in 2025.
Knowing your carbon footprint
The growth and development of the renewable energy industry is fundamental to reducing global carbon emissions. Landsvirkjun’s electricity generation carbon footprint is already among the smallest in the world, but we are committed to reducing it further.
The world's average carbon footprint is 476 gCO2 equivalents / kWh, while Landsvirkjun's carbon footprint is 1,6 gCO2 equivalents / kWh
We have monitored and recorded our carbon footprint for over a decade. This allows us to identify where the highest emissions occur, assess where we need to reduce emissions and plan our carbon sequestration.
Carbon neutral in 2025
In 2019, we introduced an action plan to achieve our objectives, based on comprehensive data on the Company’s carbon footprint. The plan outlines the strategy needed to accomplish these objectives by 2025.
Internal carbon pricing is a key factor in prioritising future projects. We are able to make informed decisions about larger financial investments as emissions, or rather future emissions costs, can be calculated. Internal carbon prices reflect the financial cost of becoming carbon neutral in 2025.
Open meeting on action against climate change
Landsvirkjun announced its plans to become carbon neutral in 2025 at a well-attended open meeting in Reykjavik. Topics of discussion included green solutions, the necessity of achieving carbon neutrality and public opinion on climate change.
A threefold plan
Landsvirkjun‘s action plan for achieving carbon neutrality is threefold:
- Prevent new emissions
- Reduce current emissions
- Implement mitigation measures
Prevent new emissions
Minimising emissions in all our operations is our main focus for the next few years.
Preventing new emissions could minimise the need to decrease or sequester emissions. We will focus on minimising our carbon footprint during the design and construction phase. Considering the location of reservoirs and geothermal utilisation sites based on the potential emissions intensity is a key factor, as a large percentage of our operational emissions can be traced back to these two sources.
We can reduce our carbon footprint for future projects during our design and construction phases, by reducing the amount of concrete and cement, by organising construction sites in such a manner that fossil fuel consumption is kept to a minimum and by providing education on low-carbon-design methods for project managers and consultants.
We need to focus on key issues such as the purchase of environmentally certified products and services and making increased demands on contractors, e.g., their choice of machinery and minimising fossil fuel consumption.
Reduce current emissions
We have collected data on operational greenhouse gas emissions for over a decade. The data enables us to identify the most efficient solutions to lowering emissions.
We will focus on substantially reducing emissions from our geothermal power stations which will be 60% lower in 2025 than they were in 2008, despite the construction of the new Þeistareykir Geothermal Power Station.
Reducing emissions from geothermal utilisation
Carbon dioxide will be reinjected back into the geothermal system at the Krafla Geothermal Power Station or utilised to create other revenue sources. Emissions from our geothermal stations will be 60% lower in 2025 than they were in 2008.
The decarbonisation of our vehicles and machinery is already underway. We are systematically working towards reducing fossil fuel consumption in our heavy machinery fleet and specialized vehicles. We are committed to eliminating the use of fossil fuels in this category by 2030. We will also identify technical solutions for energy exchange in our back-up generators.
We will eliminate the use of fossil fuels in in our heavy machinery fleet and specialized vehicles by 2030.
Employee travel represents only a small percentage of our carbon footprint, but we believe that our contribution counts. We must take part in this important societal shift by taking the initiative and playing an active role in the green transformation of transport in Iceland. We will reduce the number of employee flights wherever possible and will encourage our employees to choose eco-friendly travel options to and from work.
Our Climate Accounting can provide you with more information on our current status.
Mitigation measures
We have recently placed an emphasis on the role of carbon sequestration in land reclamation and land quality to offset our carbon emissions. We will increase sequestration measures considerably in the coming years, reaching our goal of 60,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030 through increased land reclamation, wetland recovery and re-forestation.
Carbon negative
We will become carbon neutral in 2025, but we have ambitions beyond that. We intend to offset more carbon than we emit, i.e., we intend to bind more carbon than we actually produce. Landsvirkjun’s contribution alone will represent a total of 3.6% of Iceland’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.
You can read more about our carbon neutral action plan on our website.
Climate accounts
Here you can download Landsvirkjun's Climate accounts for 2019.
