To celebrate the inaugural Green GB week we turned The SSE Hydro green last night to mark the country’s march to cleaner energy.
A decade on from the Climate Change Act, Green GB week is dedicated to celebrating Britain’s clean growth and promoting the opportunities that cleaner economic growth brings.
SSE’s heritage is rooted in delivering low-carbon, green energy through the hydro revolution of the 1940s and 50s. Over 75 years on from the Hydro Electric Development (Scotland) Act, SSE continues to operate hydro power stations across Scotland as well as developing and operating onshore and offshore wind across the UK. SSE also has the largest offshore wind development pipeline of any company in the UK, the largest offshore wind market in the world.
This week the UK Government is highlight the opportunities clean growth offers the UK and raise understanding of how business and the public can contribute to tackling climate change. The UK has led the world to date in cutting emissions while creating wealth. Between 1990 and 2016, the UK reduced its emissions by over 40% while growing the economy by more than two-thirds – the best performance in the G7 on a per person basis.
And SSE is playing its part. This year it achieved its target to cut the carbon intensity of the electricity it generates (g/kWh) by 50%, between 2006 and 2020 – three years early. SSE has now set a new, longer term ambition to reduce the carbon intensity of its electricity production by a further 50% by 2030, based on 2017/18 levels. This means that SSE’s electricity generation carbon emissions are now forecast to be around 150 gCO2e/kWh by 2030, which also represents a 75% cut based on its original 2006 baseline.
The global move to cleaner economic growth - through low carbon technoloies and the more efficient use of resource – is one of the greatest industrial opportunities of our time and SSE is committed to being a key player in the green economy over the next decade.