'Sustainability offers opportunities'

‘We recognise that the climate problem is a serious threat to society. Energy companies cause substantial CO2 emissions, so an enormous responsibility rests on our shoulders. For that reason we feel obliged to help develop solutions. Our basic premise is that sustainability offers business opportunities. We are committed to developing new products and services that spare the environment - by promoting energy efficiency, for instance. That’s why we are investing in a mains network for transporting residual heat from the Botlek industrial port area in Rotterdam to residential areas for district heating purposes. It is also why we are giving our customers energy saving advice. We want to make them more aware that cleaner energy unfortunately still costs a little more than conventional energy. We are happy to foot part of the bill, but not all of it. After all, we are and remain a commercial enterprise and we need to make a profit to invest in the future. The steps we take in the short term are sometimes smaller than we would like, because in our sector we work with a long investment horizon, sometimes as much as forty years ahead. Even so, we are involved in numerous projects, particularly by making maximum use of our knowledge throughout the entire energy chain. In 2006 we invested in innovation in a variety of areas: marine wind, cooling, solar energy and a clean coal gasification power station. We also developed a green product called ‘NatuurCertificaten’ with which customers can compensate their own CO2 emissions. We appeal to our customers to continue helping us in our search for sustainable solutions.’

Peter Erich, Management Board

This viewpoint is published in Sustainable Nuon 2006 magazine. In this magazine, the reader is guided through eight key issues that are currently confronting our sector and company; we explain our viewpoints and their relevance to the wider world. You can order the magazine through the order form on this website.