German utility E.ON AG (EOAN.XE) may reach its goal to halve its carbon dioxide emissions compared with 1990 levels ten years earlier if the Copenhagen climate change summit were to deliver a "strong result".
German utility E.ON AG (EOAN.XE) may reach its goal to halve its carbon dioxide emissions compared with 1990 levels ten years earlier if the Copenhagen climate change summit were to deliver a "strong result".

"We would need a strong result to credibly reduce the long-term risk and to reward huge capital-intensive, low-carbon investments up to 2020 and beyond," Chief Executive Wulf Bernotat said, according to a speech he gave on the sidelines of the Copenhagen summit this week

He added that a strong global emission reduction goal for 2050 of 50% or more and clear targets for 2020 are critical for investment decisions.

If the summit were to provide such an outcome E.ON could halve its CO2 emissions by 2020 instead of 2030, Bernotat said.

"We could deliver this by boosting the share of CO2-free generation capacity in our entire portfolio up to 40% already by 2020," Bernotat said.

He added, however, that a precondition for reaching this goal more quickly would be a lifetime extension of nuclear reactors in Germany .

Under existing laws Germany 's remaining 17 nuclear power plants are scheduled to be shut down one by one by around 2021. The new center-right government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, though, has signaled it is in favor of extending the lifetimes of the reactors under certain conditions.

So far, E.ON has reduced its CO2 emissions by around 33% compared with 1990 levels. By 2050, E.ON wants to come "very close" to zero CO2 emissions, the company has said.

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