Actual greenhouse gas emissions amounted to €380 million at 31 December 2021 (€260 million at 31 December 2021 including EDF Energy) and are included in provisions in the balance sheet.
In 2021, the Group surrendered 16 million tonnes in respect of emissions generated in 2020 under the EU ETS (in 2020 it surrendered 21 million tonnes in respect of emissions generated in 2019, including EDF Energy).
Now that Brexit has taken place, the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the European system (EU ETS) and has set up its own system (UK ETS – Emissions Trading Scheme). The UK ETS, which uses a bidding system, covers the same sectors as the EU ETS and operates under generally similar rules, with comparable accounting treatment.
The volume of emissions at 31 December 2021 stood at 2 million tonnes (3 million tonnes for 2020). Actual impacts of greenhouse gas emissions amounted to
€36 million at 31 December 2021 (€83 million at 31 December 2021) and are included in provisions in the balance sheet.
In 2021, EDF Energy surrendered 3 million tonnes in respect of emissions generated in 2020 under the UK ETS (in 2020 it surrendered 5 million tonnes in respect of emissions generated in 2019).
To encourage use of renewable energy produced from renewable sources, every EU member state has set itself national targets for consumption of electricity from renewable sources. Guarantee of Origin certificates prove the renewable origins of the electricity, which transits through the grid. They are sold by operators of renewable energy plants and bought by customers who want to use renewable source electricity.
There are two ways for States to meet their targets:
The renewable energy certificate system may apply to:
A provision of €1,156 million was recognised at 31 December 2021 concerning the obligations for renewable energy certificates to be surrendered at that date, essentially by EDF Energy (United Kingdom) and Luminus (Belgium). A large portion of these obligations are covered by purchased certificates recorded in intangible assets.
Although the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the European Union, it is still concerned by this system.
In all its subsidiaries, the Group is engaged in a process to control its energy consumption through various measures developed by national legislation in application of European Union Directives and national laws.
In France, the Law of 13 July 2005 introduced a system of energy savings certificates, imposing energy savings obligations on suppliers of energy (electricity, gas, heat, cold, domestic fuel oil and fuel for vehicles) with sales above a certain level. At the end of the period concerned, obligated actors are required to present energy savings certificates that correspond to their obligatory energy savings, otherwise sanctions apply. These certificates are obtained in return for energy savings operations conducted directly or indirectly, or purchased from other obligated or “eligible” economic actors.
Initially planned for the period 2018-2020, the fourth period of France’s energy savings certificates scheme was extended by one year (by law no. 2019-1147 of 8 November 2019 on Energy and the Climate) (see note 5.4.3). This fourth period (2018-2021) ended on 31 December 2021. Decree 2021-712 on the fifth period of the energy savings certificates scheme (2022-2025) was published in the Journal officiel of 5 June 2021.
Despite a substantially higher energy savings target in the fourth period, the EDF group is on track to meet its obligation by the time the authorities finalise the energy savings certificate accounts for the fourth period, and should even begin the fifth period (1 January 2022 – 31 December 2025) with advance stocks.
To meet this obligation, three sources are available to the EDF group: supporting consumers in energy efficiency operations (in 2021, for example, 222,000 renovation projects were completed), funding State-approved energy savings programmes, and purchasing certificates from eligible actors.
In the United Kingdom for example, EDF Energy helps companies explore and develop solutions by enabling them to save energy, carbon and costs, particularly through its Powershift flexibility platform.
Provisions related to nuclear generation comprise provisions for back-end nuclear cycle expenses (management of spent fuel and radioactive waste), provisions for plant decommissioning and provisions for last cores. Obligations can vary noticeably depending on each country’s legislation and regulations, and the technologies and industrial scenarios involved. Details of these provisions are provided in notes 15 and 17.
Provisions related to environmental schemes include provisions for greenhouse gas emission rights, renewable energy certificates and energy savings certificates. In 2021, these provisions totalled €1,572 million (€1,192 million in 2020, see note 17.2).
Contingent liabilities also exist in connection with environmental litigation, such as the dispute concerning the Ausimont SpA industrial complex. These liabilities are described in note 17.3.
Climate issues are taken into account in valuing long-term assets through impairment testing. The long-term scenarios used for electricity prices in countries where the Group does business are consistent with the trajectories of European decarbonisation targets, particularly as set in the Paris climate agreement (see note 10.8).
The Group controls and operates thermal (gas-fired, coal-fired, oil-fired) electricity generation plants principally in France and Italy, to a smaller extent in Brazil and Belgium, and to a now marginal degree in England (since the sale of West Burton B in 2021, see note 3.1). The net book value of the assets concerned is €5.0 billion at 31 December 2021, including €4.1 billion for assets in France and €0.8 billion for assets in Italy.
In mainland France, the electricity generated by EDF’s fleet of thermal power plants (CCGT, CT, and coal, with net book value of €1.9 billion) accounted for around 2.59% of EDF’s total electricity output in 2021. These plants operate in semi baseload and peak periods and are used to variable degrees throughout the year, playing a significant role in system security when there are tensions on the supply demand balance.
With the end of coal-fired generation in application of the Multi-year energy programme, the coal-fired plant at Le Havre (0.6GW) was closed at 1 April 2021 (see note 10.3) and the Cordemais plant is due to cease operations in 2026 at the latest.
