RWE generation NL

Naam van het bedrijf
Quick Facts
Type	Public
sector	Energy
Headquarters (Benelux Organization)	Geertruidenberg, Nederland
Year of Origin (RWE AG)	1898
Emissions (All Scopes)(RWE AG)	91,9 Megatons of CO2 (2020)
NCI assessment	Low
Total Revenue	24.526 Billion EUR
Stock Exchange	Bijv. Tokio, Amsterdam
Key People	Markus Krebber (CEO RWE AG), Roger Miesen (CEO RWE Generation SE)
Number of Employees	XXX
Subsidiaries	none

RWE Generation NL is a subsidiary of RWE Generation SE. RWE Generation SE is the part of the RWE Group, stylized as RWE, that is responsible for power generation based on gas, hard coal, hydropower and biomass. RWE Generation NL is headquartered in Geertruidenberg and has 6 locations in the Netherlands where it generates electricity with gas, biomass and coal powered plants. It employs over 600 people in the Netherlands . RWE AG was founded in 1898 and entered the Dutch market in 2002 as RWE Energy Nederland (RWE NE) by taking over Obragas and Haarlemmergas. RWE became a big player in the Dutch energy market after taking over Essent B.V., of which is was the majority shareholder until 2020.

Company Structure

RWE Generation NL is a subsidiary of RWE Generation SE, which is again a subsidiary of RWE Group (or RWE AG). The CEO of RWE Generation SE is Roger Miesen. Romé van der Hoek is Chairman of the General Works Council of RWE Generation NL and a representative in the RWE Generation SE Supervisory Board.

Executive board

Executive Board RWE AG

Name	Function	Remuneration x1000 EUR
Markus Krebber	Chief Executive Officer	Unknown
Michael Müller	Chief Financial Officer	Unknown
Zvezdana Seeger	Chief Human Resource Officer/Labour Director	Unknown

Supervisory Board

Supervisory Board RWE AG

Name	Function	Remuneration x1000 EUR
Werner Brandt	Chairman of the Supervisory Board	Unknown
Ralf Sikorski	Deputy Chairman IG Bergbau	Unknown
Michael Bochinski	Deputy Chairman General Works Council RWE Power AG	Unknown
Sandra Bossemeyer	Chairwoman Works Council RWE AG	Unknown
Hans Bünting	Management Concultant	Unknown
Matthias Dürbaum	Chairman Works Council Hambach Mine	Unknown
Ute Gerbaulet	Chief Financial Officer/General Partner at Dr. August Oetker KG	Unknown
Hans Peter Keitel	Independent Corporate Consultant	Unknown
Monika Kircher	Independent Corporate Consultant	Unknown
Thomas Kufen	Mayor of the city Essen	Unknown
Reiner van Limbeck	Chairman Works Council Essen Headquarters RWE Generation SE and RWE Technology International	Unknown
Harald Louis	Chairman General Works Council RWE Power AG	Unknown
Dagmar Paasch	Head Supply and Waste Management at dep. North-Rhine-Whestphalia	Unknown
Erhard Schipporeit	Independent Corporate Consultant	Unknown
Dirk Schumacher	Chairman HW Grefrath Works Council	Unknown
Ullrich Sierau	Independent Concultant	Unknown
Hauke Stars	Member Executive Board Volkswagen AG	Unknown
Helle Valentin	General Manager Global Business Services Nordic, IBM Corporation	Unknown
Andreas Wagner	Head of Drilling and Water Management, RWE Power AG	Unknown
Marion Weckes	Officer Group Works Council of GEA Group AG	Unknown

Accountant

The financial reports and statements of RWE AG and its subsidiaries were in 2021 audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH. There is no mention of climate risks, energy transition, or sustainability.

Main activities

RWE Generation NL has five plants where it generates electricity. Four of them run (partially) on gas and two on coal. Their two coal plants currently run partially on biomass. At the Amerplant in Geertruidenberg 80% of coal is replaced by biomass in terms of mass, at the plant in Eemshaven 15% of electricity is currently produced with biomass. RWE Generation NL is currently developing a new gas powered operation in Dilsen-Stokkem, at the Dutch border in Belgian Limburg. The plant will have a capacity 920 Megawatts (MW) and start operating by 2025.

Operation	Location	Type	Capacity	Operating since
Amercentrale	Geertruidenberg	Coal and Biomass	600 MW (electricity), 350 MW (warmth)	1993
Eemshavencentrale	Eemshaven	Coal and Biomass	1560 MW	2015
Moerdijkcentrale	Moerdijk	Gas	426 MW	2012
Clauscentrale C	Maasbracht	Gas	1,304 MW	2012 (was not operating from 2014-2019)
Swentiboldcentrale	Geleen	Gas	230 MW	1999

Government

RWE does not have royal status. RWE has not received NOW support from the Dutch government.

Paris Agreement until Today

Financial Results since 2015

The discrepancy between the high revenue reported until 2016 and the relatively lower revenue from 2016 onwards is due to the asset swap agreed with E.ON and a related shift in accounting method to the new accounting standard IFRS 15 'Revenue from Contracts with Customers' as of the fiscal year 2018. One of the consequences of this is that changes in the fair value of common derivatives, which occur before the contracts are realized, are now recognized in 'other operating income' instead of in revenue. Therefore, the reported revenue in the annual reports from 2018 onwards are lower, particularly in the gas business.

Financial situation

Year	Revenue	Profit (loss)	Dividend
2015	46.357 Billion EUR	(0.170) Billion EUR	0.005 Billion EUR
2016	43.590 Billion EUR	(5.710) Billion EUR	0.005 Billion EUR
2017	13.822 Billion EUR	1.900 Billion EUR	0.922 Billion EUR
2018	13.406 Billion EUR	0.335 Billion EUR	0.430 Billion EUR
2019	13.125 Billion EUR	8.498 Billion EUR	0.492 Billion EUR
2020	13.688 Billion EUR	1.051 Billion EUR	0.575 Billion EUR
2021	24.526 Billion EUR	0.721 Billion EUR	0.609 Billion EUR

Current Emissions

Emissions due to International Generation

As can be seen in the table below, the greenhouse gas emissions data has fluctuated a lot in scale for the different scopes. This is due to several reasons. First of all, RWE adopted a new reported structure as of 2018, resulting in the increase in Scope 2 and 3 emissions. In addition, the reported rise in the Scope 3 emissions for 2018 compared with 2017 was also partially caused through increased electricity procured by Innogy, a German energy company that was previously a part of RWE.

The decrease in reported Scope 3 emissions for 2020 compared with 2019 was caused by a new calculation methodology for RWE's greenhouse gases which include emissions from disposed-of businesses. This means that the boundary differs and that the values for 2019 still include emissions from Innogy operations that are now no longer part of the RWE Group. Therefore, these two values are no longer comparable.

Total emissions since 2016 (in megatonnes CO₂-eq.)

Year	Scope 1	Scope 2	Scope 3	Total All Scopes
2016	154.0	1.3	86.5	241.8
2017	135.6	1.0	84.0	220.6
2018	120.4	5.0	188.7	314.1
2019	91.7	4.7	187.2	283.6
2020	70.2	3.1	19.9	93.2
2021	86.9	2.7	22.7	112.3

Emissions due to Dutch Generation

RWE reports that in the Netherlands it emitted 7Mton of Co2 in 2020 compared to 9.1Mton in 2019. This only covers scope 1 emissions. RWE NL does not publicly report the emissions of their individual plants. The NEA (Dutch Emission Authority) did report on some of RWEs energy plants in the Netherlands.

Emissions (Mton) according to NEA

Location	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Amercentrale (coal and biomass)	5,7	3,5	3,6	2,3	1,8	0,9
Eemshavencentrale (coal and biomass)	6,3	8,3	7,6	8,0	5,4	2,5
Clauscentrale (gas and hydropower)	0	0	0	0	0,1	2,1
Moerdijk (gas)	0,6	0,7	1,2	0,5	0,8	0,5
Swentibold Geleen (gas)	4,9	4,8	4,7	4,6	4,7	4,7
Total	17,5	17,3	17,1	15,4	12,8	10,7

Climate Policy and Plans

RWE AG has disclosed their sustainability policies in their Sustainability Report 2020 and Non-financial Report 2020. RWE AG has set as its target to become carbon neutral by 2040. The company also aims to reduce their scope 1 and 2 emissions with 50% and their scope 3 emissions with 30% by 2030 compared to 2019.

The most important strategy for RWE AG to accomplish these goals is by phasing out their coal powered operations. Under the German law to phase out coal powered energy (Kohleausstiegsgesetz) RWE AG plans to shut down their last lignite powered operation by 2038. In the Netherlands, pushed by Dutch legislation to phase out coal , RWE Generation NL is transforming their coal powered energy plants in the Netherlands into Biomass powered plants. RWE sued the Dutch government for 1,4 billion euro's, claiming such a compensation would cover the profits the company would miss by shutting down their plant in Eemshaven. RWE Generation NL has not disclosed any plans to phase out their gas powered operations.

Where RWE Generation NL still operates on fossil, RWE Renewables Benelux B.V. is investing in renewable energy such as wind powered energy and solar energy. RWE Renewables Benelux B.V is another subsidiary of RWE AG and is active in 15 countries in Europe, America and Asia-Pacific. In the Netherlands the company is active in wind energy for about 30 years and claims to provide enough wind powered energy to provide 235.000 households on a yearly basis.

Due Diligence

Due Diligence

Human Rights

On its website, RWE states that they are committed to upholding human rights through respecting and supporting the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and using their influence to prevent human rights violations. The company has also been a member of the "United Nations Global Compact" (UNGC), which constitute ten principles for human rights and environmental protection, since January 2014. However, RWE has been involved in a number of human rights breaches and scandals. For example, in 2021, a report by SOMO, the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations, found that RWE was among a list of European energy companies that have contributed to human rights violations in Colombia. This was not only through their trade relationship, but also "because these companies have been aware of the abuses for years and nevertheless continued to buy coal from the Cesar Department in North Colombia without making a significant contribution to improving the victim's situation". The report contends that RWE, among other companies, should have known since at least 2014 about the role of Prodeco/Glencore, two mining companies, in the violations and their failure to address the impacts. In total, RWE's coal activity has led to the destruction of more than 130 villages. The company has also forcibly displaced more than 44,000 people in the North Rhine-Westphalia region without fair compensation.

Climate Change

Even though RWE aims to become carbon neutral by 2040, a 2021 study commissioned by Greenpeace revealed that the energy company is still the largest emitter in Europe with 89 million tons of Scope 1 emissions from its power stations. The study also found that in 2019 RWE’s CO2 emissions per kWh of electricity was 792g/KWh – nearly twice that of Germany’s electricity average. The Climate Action 100+ Net Zero Company Benchmark scores RWE's plans for scaling back fossil gas capacity at just 35%, and coal capacity at just 34%, of what is needed to align with the International Energy Agency's 'Beyond Two Degrees' scenario. In this scenario, which is less ambitious than the Paris goal of 1.5°C, total temperature rise is limited to 1.75°C by 2100. Besides being among the largest emitters in the world, RWE is also the world's largest producer and operator of lignite, the dirtiest form of coal. Annually, the company mines 91.3 million tons of lignite.

Nature

In 2018, RWE had already destroyed 90% of the 12,000 year-old Hambach forest, the last primary forest in Europe, in order to expand its Hambach lignite mine. The Hambach forest is home to species that are threatened and protected by European law, such as the Marble Woodpecker.

Scandals and controversies

In 2015 RWE opened a large new coal plant in Eemshaven However, in 2019 the Dutch government passed new legislation aimed at stopping the use of coal by 2030 as part of its commitment to the Paris Agreement . Although the Dutch government calculated that the transitional period would be sufficient for plant operators to recover their investments RWE claimed profits of their new plant would drop significantly, making their operation not profitable anymore. In 2021 RWE sued the Dutch government for 1.4 billion euros claiming that the Dutch government had to compensate for the losses caused by the new legislation. RWE makes its claim under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), a treaty that allows for companies to sue governments through an ISDS clause to sue governments if they believe their policies harm their investments. In July 2021 Milieudefensie, Greenpeace, Urgenda, SOMO and other organizations called for the president of the tribunal to listen to their part of the story before making a decision.

In 2021 the Dutch court ruled that the Dutch province Noord-Brabant has to reconsider the license it has given to RWE's Amer powerplant. In a case filed by environmental organization Mobilization for Environment (MOB) it was claimed that the license had not sufficiently considered nitrogen emissions of the plant. By including a production unit in the calculations that was not operational anymore more room for nitrogen emissions was created than is actually allowed for. The province was given six months to adjust the license given to RWE, in the meantime the plant is allowed to run on normal capacity.

In 2021, the Belgium minister of Environment has refused to provide RWE Generation NL with an environmental permit for gas powered energy plant that RWE Generation NL plans to build in Dilsen-Stokkem. The main reason for this decision is the amount of nitrogen the plant would emit. According to the minister this would threaten to harm the surrounding environment and violating environmental regulations. The city council of Dilsen-Stokkum also gave a negative advice for the construction of the operation and residents and activists collected a total of 1700 signed notices of objection against the project. RWE announced it will appeal the decision in court.

Conclusion

The ambitions of RWE are not totally in line with the Paris Agreement. Although RWE's ambition to be carbon neutral by 2040 is in line, and even faster than, the 2050 ambitions in the Paris Agreement, for 2030 the company has not set targets in line with the Paris Agreement. The scope 1 and 2 ambitions of a 50% reduction compared to 2019 is enough but the 30% reduction compared to 2019 for their scope 3 emissions is not sufficient to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

RWE Generation NL has concrete plans to reduce the carbon emissions from their coal powered operations and will eventually operate without burning coal. However, it is not entirely clear that their remaining operations will meet the sustainability targets the company has set for itself. First of all, RWE Generation NL has set no strategy to reduce the carbon emissions from their gas powered operations to zero by 2040 and is even planning to expand their gas powered operations. Secondly, it remains to be seen whether the transition to Biomass will turn out to be sufficient to meet their targets. As Milieudefensie and other organizations point out, biomass is only sustainable under certain conditions (for example that only residual wood is used) and as such it has a limited capacity to produce sustainable energy. Currently the Netherlands does not produce enough biomass to provide for its energy demand and imports 27% of its wood based biomass.