External developments

Never before have the unavoidability of the energy transition and the necessity for sustainability been so clear-cut as in 2022. Influenced by geopolitical developments and market conditions, the call for climate action has become more urgent in every respect.

At the COP 27 Climate Summit in Egypt in November 2022, the participants agreed on a worldwide fund for countries vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. The target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees proposed in Paris in 2015 was upheld, but no further agreements were reached on how the target should be achieved. Independently of the summit meeting, the definitive version of the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) was adopted in 2022. This directive requires an ever growing pool of companies to report on the impact of their activities on people and the environment, starting in 2024.

In the Netherlands, too, the Cabinet target of reducing emissions by half in 2030 was confirmed, but there is no vision on how this should be achieved. A proactive and ambitious approach by businesses is very much the standard today, but putting these urgent calls into action is proving extremely difficult in practice. The huge rise in energy prices in 2022 produced contradictory effects. On the one hand, the price rises made abundantly clear the financial value of renewable energy supply. Sustainability has indeed become a subject of discussion in every project and operation about which Unica consults with its clients. On the other hand, due to the massive price rises, at present organisations have less funds available to implement the necessary sustainability measures.

Companies like Unica play a key role in sustainability: the built environment is responsible for 38% of all CO2 emissions. With its in-depth knowledge of the market and state-of-the-art solutions, Unica is in a perfect position to assist clients in achieving the climate goals and ambitions while meeting energy needs from A to Z, where necessary with performance guarantees and financial backing.