In 2021, the Exemplary Energy and Climate initiative embarked into the next phase, which will run until 2030. As in the previous phase, the aim is to make progress through a combination of joint measures and individual goals. The providers of publicly relevant services report transparently on their progress in a monitoring report. Developments in the current reporting year have been dominated by the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and by the fear of energy shortages and a warm winter.
Final energy consumption
In 2022, the 15 participants’ final energy consumption was around 6450GWh, of which 4200GWh (around 65%) came from renewable sources. These figures are practically unchanged from those for 2021.
Final energy consumption by type of energy source
Whereas the participants’ total energy consumption in 2022 remained more or less the same as the previous year, a warm winter and measures taken to counter the threat of energy shortages resulted in less thermal energy being consumed. At the same time, the proportion of renewable thermal energy increased by 5% to 40%. The normalisation of mobility after the COVID-19 pandemic explains the increase in transport fuel consumption. In the case of electricity, a slight decrease in the renewable proportion can be seen, and this can be explained by high electricity prices and in part by restricted availability of electricity from renewable sources.
Greenhouse gas emissions
In the case of greenhouse gas emissions, a significant increase in Scope 3 (cat. 6 & 7) emissions can be seen: from 70,000 to 103,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared to the previous year. This increase is due to the sharp rise in air travel, which in 2021 was still limited on account of the pandemic. In parallel with the reductions in non-renewable thermal energy, Scope 1 and 2 emissions fell slightly: from 535,000 to 525,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Green electricity production
In 2022, the participants produced a total of 64GWh of solar electricity, compared with 40GWh the previous year. According to current targets, they aim to increase production to 121GWh by 2026 and to 190GWh by 2030.
Business and commuter traffic
Energy consumption linked to business travel by air more than tripled in 2022, increasing from 20GWh to 70GWh. Business travel by car saw a slight decrease in the number of kilometres driven and in the amount of energy consumed, while business travel by train / bus saw an increase from 25GWh to 35GWh. Total energy consumption linked to business traffic increased by 25% from 148GWh to 205GWh.
Energy consumption linked to commuter traffic also rose significantly. It went from 156GWh to 197GWh for commuter travel by car and from 31GWh to 49GWh for commuter travel by rail and bus. It should be noted that in percentage terms commuter travel by rail and bus thus increased somewhat more than commuter travel by car.
The marked changes in mobility can clearly be ascribed to the end of the pandemic and the normalisation of mobility that followed.
