Energize Program Announces First Year Progress Including Formation of PPA Buyers’ Cohort for Climate Action
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The Energize program – a collaborative effort by the pharmaceutical industry and Schneider Electric to increase access to decarbonization solutions for suppliers – has formed its first PPA buyers’ cohort
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The program has recruited 369 suppliers to date and increased in size to include 15 sponsoring companies including Chiesi Group, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and UCB
November 11, 2022, Louisville, KY – Schneider Electric today announced that the Energize program, launched in 2021 at COP26, has formed the program’s first Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) buyers’ cohort to purchase renewable electricity.
The PPA buyers’ cohort of 9 companies, including 7 suppliers and 2 sponsors, intends to go to market together, resulting in a potential aggregate of 2 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity demand in Europe and North America. The PPA cohort model will allow the participants to pursue renewable electricity together at scale via a Power Purchase Agreement. By aggregating electricity demand, companies that may have difficulty contracting for a PPA independently can collaborate to pursue more financially viable and environmentally impactful solutions. Catalent is one of the companies that is part of the PPA buyers’ cohort.
“Catalent is proud to collaborate with other pharmaceutical suppliers to procure renewable energy as part of Energize to drive emissions reductions,” said Peter Williams, Vice President of Environment, Health & Safety and Sustainability at Catalent. “We are committed to decarbonizing our own operations, and to helping decarbonize the global pharmaceutical industry.”
The Energize program has made significant progress since its launch at COP26 in addition to the formation of the initial PPA buyers’ cohort. The program has grown from its 10 founding sponsors to include 15 sponsor companies, including new sponsors Chiesi Group, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and UCB. To date, 369 supplier companies have registered for the program, representing 22.1 terawatt-hours of electricity demand, and over 115 have received education from Schneider Electric on renewable energy procurement.
Energize has also facilitated direct purchase of renewables via energy attribute certificates (EAC) in North America for participating supplier companies. EAC purchasing is an effective decarbonization solution for companies unable to participate in a PPA buyers’ cohort or who wish to make faster progress. The Energize program helps to remove barriers for supplier companies pursuing this solution, enabling some companies to go to market for renewable energy for the first time. The program aspires to provide aggregated EAC purchasing opportunities in Europe later in 2022 and in the Asia Pacific region in 2023.
Renewable electricity procurement can be challenging for companies of all sizes for a variety of reasons. Energize is designed to help overcome typical market barriers such as inadequate knowledge about renewable electricity transactions, load size, lack of credit, and the need for guidance throughout a complex and protracted contracting process. In practice, this means giving suppliers – who may not otherwise have the internal resources or expertise available – the opportunity to participate in the market for renewable electricity procurement.
By proactively engaging with their suppliers to create renewable electricity opportunities, Energize is helping to drive system-level change with the hope of inspiring other industry sectors to follow suit. The sponsors of Energize include:
- Amgen
- AstraZeneca
- Biogen
- Bristol Myers Squibb
- Chiesi Group
- GSK
- Johnson & Johnson
- MSD
- Novartis
- Novo Nordisk
- Pfizer
- Sanofi
- Takeda
- Teva Pharmaceuticals
- UCB
Schneider Electric is the manager for the Energize program and is responsible for onboarding and educating supplier companies as well as providing advice and access to renewable energy opportunities. Schneider is the leading global consultant on corporate renewable purchasing, having advised companies on over 14 gigawatts of utility-scale PPA purchases across North America, Europe, India, Australia and Latin America since 2014. The company is also committed to decreasing its own value chain emissions through its Zero Carbon Project, which will reduce the emissions of its top 1,000 suppliers 50% by 2025.
“It’s exciting to see the first cohort of the Energize program coming together, and we’re honored to continue our collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry to drive decarbonization and the global energy transition,” said Steve Wilhite, President, Schneider Electric’s Sustainability Business. “Addressing value chain emissions is one of the hardest challenges ahead of companies today, and the participants in the Energize program – both sponsors and suppliers – are doing it, together.”
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