Vestas | Diversity Employer

With a vision to become the global leader in sustainable energy solutions, everything we do revolves around the development and deployment of sustainable energy solutions. Every day, our 29,000 employees help to create a better world by designing, manufacturing, installing, developing, and servicing wind energy and hybrid projects all over the world. With +145 GW of wind turbines installed in 85 countries, our sustainable energy solutions have already prevented 1.5 billion tonnes³ of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere and contributed to a more sustainable energy system. We have more than 40 years of experience in wind energy and were the first company to reach the 100 GW landmarks for both the installation and service of wind turbines. As such, we believe we have already played a crucial role in laying the foundations for the sustainable era, and that we are uniquely positioned to show the path to a sustainable planet.
 

Wind energy is our heritage and core competence. We believe wind will form the backbone of the sustainable energy systems of the future, and we remain focused on developing solutions that accelerate the energy transition and strengthen Vestas’ continued leadership in wind. 
 

The world is 1.1 °C warmer today than in pre-industrial times, and although the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decrease in CO2 emissions, global warming remains on the wrong trajectory. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a 1.5 °C increase in global average surface temperature will have devastating consequences for our planet, causing extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and climatic changes. The temperature increase is largely caused by the growing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, and energy production and usage remain the primary emitter. It is therefore abundantly clear that urgent change is needed in the world’s energy mix. For instance, according to the International Energy Agency, a 40 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 will require nearly 75 percent of global electricity generation to come from low-emission sources by this time.
 

To change our planet’s trajectory, the most cost-effective and immediate path to meaningful emissions reduction is large-scale deployment of renewable energy. However, as the penetration of renewable electricity increases, this alone will not be enough to avoid a temperature increase above 1.5 °C. We must therefore address the following three challenges:

 

Accelerate the deployment of renewable energy

Wind and solar energy only account for around 9 percent of the global electricity generation mix today;6 it is therefore clear that the deployment of renewables needs to accelerate substantially for the world to stay within a 1.5 °C scenario.

 

Drive society-wide electrification

Today, only certain elements of society are powered by electricity and renewable energy – in fact, only 20 percent of energy consumption is electricity.7 A key lever to creating a sustainable energy system is to drive electrification forward and ensure mobility, heating, and industries can be powered by electricity from renewables.

 

Implement solutions for non-electrifiable use

In some industries and sectors electrification is not feasible anytime soon. However, Power-to-X and green hydrogen are well-known solutions that show great potential to address the challenges we face – for example, by helping to shift steel production and heavy transport to renewable energy sources.