Targeting 100% renewable energy: Saur Group signs a major partnership agreement with Solarpack

As the first French water industry company to make a sustainability-linked bond issue – raising nearly €1 billion in 2021 – Saur Group has effectively linked its financial performance with its ability to deliver a real, measurable and positive societal impact. Its commitment to combat climate change by reducing carbon intensity of its activities by a factor of six by 2025 is one of the three ESG performance indicators that influence its sustainability-linked funding. Complete neutralization of the Group’s Scope 2 emissions (indirect emissions from purchased electricity) by consuming only electricity from 100% renewable sources from 2023 onwards will make a major contribution to achieving this target.

The contract with Solarpack comes into effect on January 1st, 2023, and provides for the supply of 100 GWh of electricity; a figure equivalent to 8% of total Group consumption in 2021. This renewable solar power will be generated by the photovoltaic plants operated by Peñaflor Solar SPV (PEÑ) and Monclova Solar (MON), and will be supplied together with the necessary guarantees of origin.

This new partnership with a key player in the solar energy industry further strengthens the Group’s overall strategy of considering all its activities from the perspective of having a positive impact on the environment, and consolidates the international status of Solarpack in this market.

In September 2021, Saur Group signed its first corporate PPA (power purchase agreement for renewables) with ENGIE, under the terms of which the Group will purchase 40 GWh per year of hydropower generated electricity, and embarked on the initial steps of its low-carbon mobility strategy.