The Group is implementing development, adaptation and transformation programmes and performance plans in order to give itself the means to carry out its strategy. These programmes may be complemented by a strategic analysis of assets which may itself lead to a requirement for additional financial agility, giving rise to disposals or acquisitions.
Focused primarily on its customers and stakeholders, the Group intends to develop and consolidate its offer of integrated service solutions, in particular energy efficiency and carbon-reduction services, its offer of low-carbon and decentralised power generation solutions, and its offer of diffuse storage solutions, in a sustainable development approach and in close proximity to customers and local communities. This transformation may not be sufficient or innovative enough in the face of technological and societal changes and strong competition.
The Solar Plan, the Electric Storage Plan and the Electric Mobility Plan are three major levers for developing and expanding the range of low-carbon energy solutions offered by the Group in addition to the generation plants already widely available within the Group, particularly wind, solar, hydro and nuclear power.
Moreover, there is a risk of not seizing new opportunities (Hydrogen development, renovation projects) in the context of the recovery plan (France, Europe).
Even in the event of protective contractual arrangements, the Group cannot guarantee that these various projects relating to its offer or to the various low-carbon industrial solutions deployed to meet them can be implemented according to the forecast schedules and under satisfactory economic, financial, regulatory, partnership or legal conditions or that they will ensure a long-term response to the needs expressed by our customers and stakeholders and the expected profitability at the outset, which could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position, its commitment to the fight against climate change, and its reputation.
Nuclear costs and changes in these costs (new nuclear projects, major Grand carénage refurbishment projects, etc.) and the Group’s ability to finance them could force the Group to reconsider the rate at which it deploys its strategy.
To achieve its strategic transformation objectives, the adaptation programs implemented by the Group rely largely on individual and collective employee mobilisation. However, this mobilisation may not be sufficient due to an industrial relations environment which has deteriorated as a result of the changes linked to these adaptations affecting in particular the Group’s organisation, or linked to more general developments (health crisis).
The Group is exposed to physical effects of climate change that could have consequences on its own industrial and tertiary facilities and more generally on the Group’s financial position. The societal, technological and economic context may not be favourable to theGroup’s low-carbon solutions.
EDF group facilities are closely linked to water, wind and solar resources; the overall reliability of the power system depends on the resilience to climatic conditions of generation facilities and distribution and transmission network infrastructures. As a result of this sensitivity to climatic conditions, the EDF group’s activities are likely to be significantly affected by the physical effects of climate change, both in terms of chronic effects and an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events. To address these risks, the Group’s operating entities must regularly update their climate change adaptation plans, based whenever possible on IPCC scenarios, in order to review the measures taken and to be taken. In addition, periodic reviews are carried out on nuclear and hydraulic installations, incorporating both feedback and climate change projections; this is a key cornerstone of the robustness of the installations. Since the 1990s, the EDF group has been building up specific R&D expertise on climate change issues, invested in collaborative academic research projects to support these actions.
However, the effects of climate change present many uncertainties. Despite the actions taken by the EDF group, they could adversely affect the continuity of the Group’s business, its operating results, its cash flows and more generally its operating performance. In addition, renewing or taking out these specific insurance covers maybe difficult or expensive due to the impact, frequency and magnitude of natural disasters experienced in recent years.
The EDF group’s raison d’être, adopted in May 2020, centres on the objective of “building a CO2 - neutral energy future”. Most of the Group’s investments are oriented towards this environment-friendly low-carbon strategy (see section 3.1.1.4“ EDF, Europe’s biggest investor in carbon-free energy”). In 2018, the Group had already made a commitment to significantly reduce its carbon dioxide emissions, with a target of 30 million tonnes in 2030 instead of 51 million tonnes in 2017 (40%reduction). The EDF group also confirmed this goal in 2020 by joining the “BusinessAmbition for 1.5 degrees” initiative. The EDF group is making new commitments to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, both in direct and indirect emissions (scopes 1, 2 and 3), with milestones set for 2023 and 2030. The SBTi organisation certified this approach in 2020 as going beyond the 2° C set out in the Paris agreement. Thus, for the first time the EDF group has set reduction targets for its indirect emissions, covering in particular the emissions associated with the sale of gas to end customers (See section 3.1.1 “Group carbon trajectory”). All of these actions help to control the transition risk.
Achieving the objective of reducing emissions and, more generally, ensuring the success of the Group’s low-carbon strategy depend primarily on the continued acceptance of nuclear energy by the public, the successful shutdown or adaptation of fossil fuel power plants and the accelerated development of renewable generation resources to complement nuclear and hydroelectric generation. The Group has been particularly active in the development of solar energy in France, electric storage and low-carbon electric mobility, which will make it possible to develop and promote the Group’s low-carbon energy solutions, particularly for the transport sector, which still emits a very high level of carbon dioxide in France and Europe.
Thus, the EDF group’s strategy and energy mix are fully in line with the public low-carbon transition policies, which give EDF the opportunity to enhance the value of all its investments and activities. Nevertheless, this opportunity could be stalled by the external, societal, competitive, social, economic, or industrial context. Nuclear energy may not be recognised at the societal level as a key factor in enabling the low-carbon transition. For example,
