Energy Transition

Help drive the clean-energy future

As energy demand has grown exponentially over the past few centuries, so have carbon emissions and their health impacts.

The good news: the private sector is beginning to mobilize their operations, investments and influence to drive the energy transition. Why? Because reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and powering clean, affordable, healthy and resilient solutions for customers and communities is good for both business and the environment.

EDF’s experts are working across geographies, sectors and technologies to demonstrate solutions and catalyze conditions for rapid change. Discover how below.

Clean Energy

Clean energy technologies drive innovation, promote energy independence and ...

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Transportation

Transportation is a major source of emissions that harm the climate and human...

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Energy: sustainable supply chains

The Supply Chain Solutions Center is a digital hub for sustainability ...

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Tyson Case Study

Partnering with the Department of Energy to host a training on energy-efficient refrigeration management practices

Measurement

When measuring its emissions, Tyson reports both the absolute totals as well as “intensity,” which is the emissions per pound of meat produced. For guidance on these types of reporting decisions, Tyson hopes to see approved, sector-wide methodologies for both calculations and public disclosure.

Action

Before asking its partners to reduce their emissions, Tyson wanted to start within its four walls and reduce its direct (Scope 1 and 2) emissions. Its emissions profile identified electricity as the source of roughly half of direct emissions, and refrigeration as the source of 60% of electricity, making refrigeration a top priority for abatement. The company then partnered with the Department of Energy to have the government agency deliver its free, two-hour training on efficient refrigeration management practices through its Better Plants program. During the training, plant managers and mechanics learned best practices for maintaining and controlling refrigerators in an energy-efficient way. Following the training, participants were empowered to identify specific cost-saving opportunities at their plant through an “energy treasure hunt” and then used an online calculator to estimate potential cost savings and develop a reduction plan.

Impact

One year after the training was offered, Tyson’s overall energy consumption has declined by 1.9% as a result of more efficient refrigeration practices, which adds up to a significant cost savings across their 150 US plants, particularly given the low cost of the program. The company’s energy savings have been negatively impacted by COVID-19, so Tyson expects to see even greater savings down the road. To create the buy-in needed to achieve these savings, Tyson’s sustainability team relied on strong relationships with the operations team and incorporated the program’s goals into group president’s performance evaluations and bonus structures, which helped to align incentives and gain buy-in.

“We want to get out the quasi-regulatory space for emissions and see sector-wide standards for accounting and reporting methodologies.”

Jamie Burr

Director of Sustainability Implementation

Danone Case Study

Empowering farmers to implement the abatement solutions that work best for them

Measurement

Over half of Danone’s emissions are from agriculture, so the company goes beyond the Scope 3 category of “purchased goods and services” to develop farm-level data on specific sources of emissions within agriculture. To do so, the company relies on close, direct relationships with farmers in their supplier network to gain their support in the data collection process. Some farmers conduct lifecycle analyses and share their data with Danone, and for those who do not, Danone uses the third-party Cool Farm Tool, an online calculator that helps farmers measure their emissions. For other companies measuring agricultural emissions, Danone recommends taking a similar approach of starting at the farm level and working backwards to the plants and other stages of the value chain.

Action

To reduce agricultural emissions from its supply chain, Danone focuses on empowering farmers to select and implement the abatement solutions that work best for them, rather than pushing a “banner project” with one solution across all farms. The company identified a set of regenerative agriculture practices that can be implemented on the farm and the presents them as a menu of options for farmers to select from. To make it attractive and easy for farmers to adopt these practices, Danone offers a suite of four tools:

  1. Funding: Farmers can apply to have a portion of the project paid for by Danone
  2. Grant Support: Danone streamlines the paperwork for USDA sustainability grant applications
  3. Insights: Danone offers analysis for farm-level data in the form of a consolidated report that farmers can share with creditors, buyers, and other stakeholders
  4. ROI Calculator: The tool combines academic insights with farm-specific data to help farmers estimate the long-term ROI of adopting different regenerative practices on their farm

Impact

Danone’s farmer-led initiative is new, but the flexibility it offers farmers has already led to better uptake than traditional projects focused on implementing the same solution across all farms. The resulting impact on the company’s Scope 3 emissions remains to be seen, but because there is such clear evidence linking adoption of regenerative practices to emissions reduction, Danone is focusing on adoption for now to prepare for greater impact at scale down the road.

“Having direct relationships with farmers is the base of all our agriculture abatement work. It allows us to give farmers the flexibility to select the solutions that work best for them.”

Jennifer Simpson

Senior Director, Agriculture

Microsoft Case Study

Developing a smart building management system that reduces energy and generates revenue

Measurement

For Microsoft, distinguishing between emissions from different business groups and product lines is not done just for the sake of building an emissions profile — it also enables the company to levy an internal carbon tax to fund its sustainability commitments. The tax provides incentives for internal leaders to reconfigure their products and processes to abate emissions from their business units. To measure downstream emissions such as Scope 3 use of sold products, Microsoft uses industry averages but is working on collecting telemetry data specific to Microsoft’s products to measure product-specific data in a cost-effective way, which will better reward product teams for reducing the energy consumption of their products.

Action

On-site electricity consumption from data centers and offices has been a persistent driver of the company’s overall emissions. To abate these emissions, Microsoft partnered with various hardware and software providers to design an analytical solution that connects their campus’ building management systems. The solution aggregates building data through IoT sensors and a centralized control dashboard.

Impact

Microsoft developed the idea for the building management system in 2012 and implemented it in 2013. By 2015, the project has already paid for itself through a nearly 20% reduction in energy consumption, including identifying a forgotten fan in a parking garage that was running 24/7 and cost the company $66k in just six months. In addition to energy, the solution helped drive improvements in meeting employees’ preferences for temperature and layout, which has helped to improve their daily experience and productivity. With the increase of wildfires in Washington, the ability to monitor and regulate air quality in offices has been critical. Microsoft’s initiative was so successful that it recognized an opportunity to sell similar building management solutions as a service to other companies, which has since blossomed into a full-fledged new business unit and revenue driver for the company, in addition to a solution for helping other companies reduce their emissions.

“Picking a solution that tied to our business capabilities helped unlock financial investment and senior executive support, and ultimately led to a new business.”

Michelle Lancaster

Director, Sustainability

Walmart Case Study

Developing a smart building management system that reduces energy consumption and generates revenue

Measurement

When Walmart set out to construct its emissions profile, three Scope 1 categories and one Scope 2 category naturally emerged — refrigeration, transportation, on-site fuels, and electricity. The results were striking; electricity represented more than 60% of total Scope 1 and 2 emissions. This provided the clarity and direction needed to prioritize abating emissions from electricity by launching a large-scale renewable energy project. Renewable energy scored highly against other evaluation criteria such as expected financial return, resilience, and reputational benefits, which made it a clear choice for implementation.

Action

To get started, Walmart relied on NGO partners who accelerated the project by endorsing the goal, helping build the case for investment, and providing connections to key partners for implementation, such as the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance. Building the case for financial return helped gain leadership buy-in early, which came in the form of a public CEO commitment to 100% renewable energy and was key for building early momentum. The
Real Estate Team, reporting up to the VP of Energy, then got to work procuring Power Purchasing Agreements (PPA) from off-site wind and solar farms and installing on-site solar on the roofs of stores.

Impact

Walmart reached 36% renewable energy globally in 2020 and is on track to meet its targets of 50% by 2025 and 100% by 2035. As a result, the company has achieved consistent year-over-year reduction in its Scope 2 emissions. The significant emissions reduction gave Walmart’s leadership team the confidence to become the first-ever retailer to set a Science-Based Target, and the company has since updated the target from the 2° Celsius path to be in line with the 1.5° path, an even more ambitious goal. To extend the benefits of the project, Walmart recently rolled it out to its suppliers to provide them with an easy on-ramp for entering the renewable energy market. The program, called Gigaton PPA, will help smaller players coordinate to share a PPA, which are often large contracts, to reduce their emissions which are reported towards Walmart’s larger Project Gigaton goal of reducing one billion metric tons of CO2 e from its Scope 3 emissions by 2030.

“We all have to move faster on the switch to renewable energy. The contracts can seem complicated, but it’s easier than ever to enter the market right now.”

Zach Freeze

Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, Sustainability

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