Uniper

Uniper is targeting to be carbon neutral for its scope 1 and 2 emissions within its power generation portfolio in Europe by 2035 compared to 2019. Additionally, it is aiming to be carbon neutral across all of its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2050. Uniper also has a short-term target to halve its scope 1 and 2 emissions across its European energy generation by 2030 compared to 2019, and to reduce its scope 3 emissions by 35% by 2035 compared to 2021. However, Uniper’s targets could not be assessed due to a lack of disclosure regarding its planned use of offsets. To demonstrate a commitment to the low-carbon transition, Uniper should disclose the proportion of each of its targets that will be met using offsets. Moreover, Uniper should prioritise reaching its climate targets through direct action and minimise its use of offsets.

Uniper’s emissions intensity slightly decreased between 2018 and 2022. However, in order to align with its 1.5°C pathway in 2027, Uniper must reduce its emissions intensity by approximately 16% per year, which is five times the company’s emissions reduction rate for 2018-2022. Due to its remaining coal and gas assets, Uniper is projected to significantly exceed its 1.5°C carbon budget between 2022 and 2037. To remain within its carbon budget, the company should accelerate its coal phase-out and make clear commitments to phase out gas across its whole portfolio.

Uniper does not have a publicly available engagement policy to assess its trade association memberships. It also does not provide a list of its trade association memberships. The company can increase its credibility by setting a clear position on climate policy and reporting a list of its association memberships, as well as implementing a process to withdraw from trade associations that oppose climate policies. Although Uniper publicly supports the Paris Agreement and has a policy in place to monitor its alignment with the goals, it is unclear if Uniper’s board has oversight of this review process. Board-level oversight should apply to all of Uniper’s climate policies.

Uniper discloses a capital expenditure (CapEx) of USD 942 million in 2022. Further, Uniper’s total CapEx spending on EU taxonomy-aligned, low-carbon activities represented 36% (USD 340 million) of its total CapEx spending in 2022. Between 2023 and 2025, Uniper intends on spending 39% of its CapEx on low-carbon technologies, with the majority being spent on renewable energy technologies. However, neither its current nor planned CapEx meets the sectoral-level expectation for electric utilities to allocate 95% of their total CapEx to low-carbon technologies.

Uniper is targeting to be carbon neutral for its scope 1 and 2 emissions within its power generation portfolio in Europe by 2035 compared to 2019, and to be carbon neutral across all of its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2050. However, Uniper has not disclosed if it intends to use offsets to reach these targets. The company has committed to phasing out its coal generation by 2030. However, it has not stated any intention to phase out its gas and oil assets.

Uniper has solar and wind power projects with a capacity of 3 GW in the pipeline, ready to be built by 2026. It has also just signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Sunnic Lighthouse GmbH for 1,040 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of solar power over the next five years. However, this will represent a very small proportion of Uniper’s total sold electricity. Although Uniper discloses elements of transition planning, outlined in its Sustainability Strategic Plan (SSP), the company has disclosed limited evidence of financial planning and measures of success. Uniper is aiming to develop a renewable green hydrogen electrolyser capacity of 1 GW by 2030.

At present, hydropower accounts for 12% of Uniper’s installed energy generation capacity in Europe. Uniper has a long-term solar and wind PPA portfolio of around 5 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year. However, this only represents around 2% of Uniper’s total purchased electricity (221.4 TWh in 2022). Uniper does not currently disclose its scope 3 emissions from its purchased power for resale. However, purchased power represents over 75% of its sold electricity. The company has recently formed a strategic partnership with Orsted to jointly develop a combined offshore wind and hydrogen project at its Energy Transformation Hub in Wilhelshaven, Germany. By 2025, Uniper expects to install 70 megawatts (MW) of energy capacity through this project, expanding this to 410 MW by 2030.

Uniper’s emissions intensity trend for its own energy generation decreased between 2017 and 2022. This is likely due to the deconsolidation of its gas and coal assets in Russia. Since 2020, Uniper has closed one of its European coal plants, Wilhelmshaven, and sold another, Schkopau. Despite having a coal phase-out date of 2024, in May 2020, Uniper opened a new coal power plant in Germany, Datteln 4.

Uniper describes its current plans to explore the feasibility of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) as additional options for reaching climate neutrality. However, Uniper does not report any CapEx or R&D expenditure on CCS or CCUS technologies. Despite purchased power accounting for over 75% of Uniper’s sold electricity, the company does not disclose its scope 3 emissions from its purchased power for resale. As a result, the emissions intensity performance of the company’s purchased electricity could not be assessed.

The company discloses the categories of stakeholders it engages with on a just transition, including employees, communities, the government, companies and trade unions. However, no evidence was found to demonstrate the company’s ongoing social dialogue and meaningful engagement with affected stakeholders, nor a general commitment to engage in social dialogue. No evidence was found of the company undertaking low-carbon transition planning to mitigate the social impacts of the transition on workers, affected stakeholders and its business relationships. Additionally, no evidence was found to demonstrate the company’s engagement in social dialogue and with stakeholders in its just transition planning.

The company has a commitment to create and support access to green and decent jobs as part of the low-carbon transition. Furthermore, it discloses the actions it takes to create jobs as it transitions to a low-carbon future. The company also discloses the measures it takes to ensure that these jobs embed equality of opportunity for women and vulnerable groups. It does this through more diverse selection and recruitment procedures and supports initiatives to integrate refugees into the labour market. However, no relevant disclosure was found of the company’s assessment of employment dislocation risks. The company discloses the actions it takes to provide training and educational opportunities for workers and affected stakeholders. For instance, it offers work-study programmes and internal development programmes. However, no relevant disclosure was found of the company embedding equality of opportunity for women and vulnerable groups in these actions. Furthermore, no evidence was found of the company having a process for identifying skills gaps for workers and affected stakeholders or a public commitment to help workers displaced by the transition to reskill or upskill.

No relevant disclosure was found to show if the company identifies impacts of the low-carbon transition on social protection for workers and affected stakeholders, nor how it contributes to social protection. Additionally, no evidence was found that the company expects its business relationships to contribute to the social protection of their workers and affected stakeholders. No relevant disclosure was found to show how the company identifies any misalignment of its lobbying activities with policies and regulations that support the just transition, nor of the measures it takes to address misalignment. Furthermore, no evidence was found that the company lobbies for policies and regulations for green and decent job creation; retention, education and reskilling; and social protection for workers.

The company commits to respecting human rights and the ILO fundamental rights at work. However, no evidence was found of the company’s process to identify, assess and mitigate salient human rights risks in its own operations and in its supply chain. Moreover, no evidence was found of the company disclosing the stakeholders whose human rights have been affected by its activities. The company does, however, have a grievance mechanism available to workers and external stakeholders.

The company commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers and expects the same commitment of its business relationships. However, no evidence was found of the company having a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage. While the company discloses the proportion of its direct workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements, no relevant disclosure was found of the company’s required working hours. The company discloses some indicators of workforce diversity and sets targets for gender equality within the company.

The company discloses its global tax strategy; however, no relevant disclosure was found of the corporate income tax it pays in each relevant jurisdiction. The company does have a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and it includes corresponding clauses in its business relationship contracts. However, the company can strengthen its disclosure on these topics and other key ethical business topics, including personal data protection and lobbying.