OGE publishes Sustainability Report 2022

• Russia's war of aggression and the drastic reduction of Russian gas supplies has shifted focus towards security of supply
• Transformation of OGE's core business continues to move forward
• Company must focus more on medium- and long-term goals of climate protection and the energy transition

Open Grid Europe GmbH (OGE) has published its Sustainability Report for the year 2022. The second report has taken a significantly different direction in terms of its topics than was expected at the beginning of the year under review because the past year has been profoundly impacted by Russia's attack on Ukraine. Given the drastic reduction in Russian gas supplies, the focus in Germany and Europe has shifted towards energy supply security. OGE has made a significant contribution here, especially with the construction of the Wilhelmshaven pipeline link (WAL).

OGE's CEO Dr Jörg Bergmann said: "We have been in firefighting mode for the best part of the last year. Now we have to prepare a fire safety plan for the coming decades. As a company, we have to focus more on the medium- to long-term goals of climate protection and the energy transition and we have to be quick about it. After all, what is required is nothing less than a transformation of the entire energy system towards renewable energies. This is where we as OGE can and want to play a leading role."

As a result of the drastic curtailment of Russian gas supplies, natural gas is now entering Germany primarily from the north and west and has to be shipped towards the east and south. These reversed gas flows mean longer transmission routes and significantly more compressor running hours.

Dr Thomas Hüwener, Member of the Board of Management, put these changes into context: "We are continuing to push ahead with the transformation of our core business, which includes further reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, with the increase in running hours of our compressors, we have also emitted much more CO₂ than last year. That's why we are pulling out all the stops now to reach our greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 45 percent by 2025 compared to the reference year 2009."

Sustainability not only concerns the transformation of the core business, but is also becoming firmly embedded throughout the entire company, for example in digitalisation.

Dr Frank Reiners, Member of the Board of Management, said: "I think it is important that our IT department – with the support of other departments – has set up a corporate digital responsibility programme. In this way, we as OGE are living up to our responsibility in sustainability and digital transformation."

The sustainability report also shows how OGE is making a sustainable contribution to supply security, both today and in the future – supported, among other things, by OGE's hydrogen projects, but also by joint initiatives with partner companies. Another highlight is the use of technical innovations for nature conservation. In the social dimension, the report focuses on the measures successfully implemented to date in areas such as occupational health and safety, education and training, and corporate culture with the extensive involvement of the workforce.

The OGE Sustainability Report explains the company's sustainability strategy and goals and describes the measures implemented in 2022. It references the standards of the world's leading Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.