Limited Utility

The report finds that most of the 21 analysed European power utilities are failing to align their strategies with IEA Net Zero benchmarks. Only 43% have coal phase-out plans aligned with the 2030 EU/OECD target, and 100% are expected to operate fossil gas plants in EU/OECD countries beyond 2035. While total wind and solar capacity is projected to quadruple by 2030, this falls short of the required six-fold growth, and only 10% of companies are on track to achieve that minimum. The report highlights a lack of transparency regarding fossil gas and warns against speculative 'hydrogen-ready' claims used to justify continued fossil fuel use.

• Only nine (43%) of the 21 analysed coal utilities have aligned their coal phase-out dates with the IEA benchmarks of 2030 for EU/OECD countries and 2040 for the rest of the world.
• Six of the assessed utilities are not compliant even with the 2040 global coal phase-out deadline: Enea, Fortum/Uniper, PGE, Sev.En, STEAG, and Tauron.
• There is a total lack of transparency regarding fossil gas, and based on available data, all 21 assessed utilities will continue operating fossil gas power plants in EU/OECD countries beyond the 2035 benchmark.
• The combined wind and solar capacity of the 21 companies is projected to grow from 88 GW in 2020 to 428 GW by 2030, which is a quadrupling of capacity but fails to meet the IEA's required six-fold growth.
• Only two companies (10%) are projected to grow their wind and solar portfolios by more than six-fold, and only four (19%) will triple their production using these technologies.
• Hydrogen plans are currently insufficient to replace fossil gas generation, and the report warns that 'hydrogen-ready' claims may be used to justify the continued operation of fossil gas plants.
• A contradiction exists where the utilities most active in wind and solar investment are also those planning to maintain extensive fossil fuel fleets beyond 2035.
• Some utilities rely heavily on biomass, which the report notes is often not carbon neutral and can be a worse polluter than coal; Drax and Ørsted have the largest operational biomass fleets.

APA

Brown, S., & Kolle, K. (2022). Limited Utility. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/Limited-Utility.pdf

Chicago

Brown, Sarah, and Kaarina Kolle. Limited Utility. Ember, 2022. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/Limited-Utility.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Brown |first1=Sarah |last2=Kolle |first2=Kaarina |title=Limited Utility |publisher=Ember |date=January 2022 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/Limited-Utility.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{brown2022limited, author = {Brown, Sarah and Kolle, Kaarina}, title = {{Limited Utility}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2022}, month = jan, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/Limited-Utility.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }