„Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. It’s a core part of our vision, it’s a core part of our strategy, it’s a core part of our DNA“

    Peter Reitz, CEO of EEX

    2021 – placing sustainability at the heart of our business

    As the world has come to a crucial point in its fight against climate change, companies and countries need to drastically accelerate their efforts to meet the targets set out in the Paris agreement. EEX Group is committed to contributing to that change and, through the creation of innovative products, proactively enabling the energy transition and placing sustainability at the heart of our business.  We are committed to facilitating the phase-out from the old world to a new, more sustainable world by providing a transparent price formation for CO2, the right flexible instruments to trade renewables along with risk mitigating tools, and by allowing the tracking for the origin of renewable energy, while setting ourselves ambitious targets which help us transition to become a greener, cleaner company.

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    Creating transparency through our ESG Dashboard

    In 2021, EEX Group created its ESG Dashboard, which gives a comprehensive overview of specific KPIs with regard to our Environmental, Social and Governance targets, making it possible for us to measure our carbon footprint and, in doing so, contribute to a more sustainable workplace.

    Business model (e.g. sustainable product offerings, awareness)
    Office behaviour (e.g. reducing CO2 emissions, events)

    Human capital development (e.g. training and education, diversity)
    Human and labour rights
    Charity and donations

    Good corporate governance (e.g. integrity and compliance, conflict of interests)

    ... our EEX Group ESG Dashboard monitors our carbon footprint:

    Scope 1: Direct emissions (e.g. fuels used for combustion, company car fleet)
    Scope 2: Indirect emissions from energy use (mainly electricity and heating)
    Scope 3: Indirect emissions from business (e.g. flights, hotel stays, transport)

    The difference between our 2019 and 2020 emissions has been pandemic-induced due to less business travels. However, we are continuously improving our policies to lower our emissions within EEX Group, e.g. by updating our car fleet policy in 2021 and by encouraging colleagues to use more sustainable alternatives for business travels (e.g. via train).

    Climate neutral company

    In 2021, we compensated 101 tonnes of CO2 and are therefore a climate-neutral company for the 7th year in a row.

    ... our sustainable product offerings and initiatives:

    Integration of renewables into power markets

    In 2021, we launched EEX Cal+10 contracts for Germany, Italy and Spain, providing an enhanced solution for the integration of renewable energy into the power market, contributing to sustainable power markets. By extending our power futures product suite, we are facilitating long-term PPA hedging on the exchange, supporting the transition to a subsidy-free power market. Through the extended maturities, customers are able to hedge their price risk from PPA contracts up to 10 years in the future while mitigating their counterparty risk with EEX’s cleared futures.

    • Watch the video of Tim Greenwood, Sales Director for Power and Natural Gas Markets, on facilitating the integration of renewables in power markets.

    Carbon Initiatives

    EEX has been operating spot and derivatives markets within the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) since 2005. Today, the EU ETS remains the largest and most important example of a market-based policy of its kind. It is due to this considerable experience that we were chosen by the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) to develop and operate the managed auction service for New Zealand's ETS (NZ ETS). More recently, we started operating the sell-off platform for the German fuel ETS (nEHS).

    • Watch the video of Ellen de Vocht, Political and Regulatory Affairs Officer, on unlocking Carbon Initiatives.

    Voluntary Carbon Markets

    In addition to working with market participants and further partners on developing carbon trading, in 2021, EEX Group joined the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets, taking steps towards creating a high-integrity market for carbon trading. In 2022, EEX Group joined forces with Net Zero Markets and AirCarbon Exchange to list Global Emission Reduction contracts, contributing to building a Voluntary Carbon Market. Tobias Paulun, Chief Strategy Officer of EEX, guides you through EEX Group’s ambition towards scaling an effective and efficient Voluntary Carbon Market.

    • Watch the video of Tobias Paulun, Chief Strategy Officer, on developing a Voluntary Carbon Market 

    Sustainable shipping

    Decarbonisation of the shipping value chain is already well underway and will continue to be front and centre for ship owners, charterers and financiers in the decade ahead. As one of the world’s leading exchanges in freight and emissions trading, EEX has been championing the move to decarbonised shipping for some time and will continue to proactively shape and support the industry’s journey as it transitions to a more sustainable future. In July 2021, EEX launched the Zero Carbon Freight Index, which enables players to see, for the first time, how the cost of carbon emissions could affect freight prices in real terms. In doing so, EEX is providing a degree of certainty to the debate.

    • Watch the video of Richard Heath, Head of Business Development for Global Commodities, on enabling sustainable shipping

    Building the next hydrogen economy

    To ensure hydrogen can be produced and used worldwide, it will have to be traded globally via a new, clean and sustainable market. Since November 2020, EEX has been working in partnership with more than 120 market participants from 6 different countries to create the hydrogen market of tomorrow. Transparency is key when it comes to the development of new markets. That is why EEX is establishing a hydrogen-index based on price-assessments together with industry experts. The indices will transparently reflect the market and will be subject to development over the next years. The index will be the first publicly-traded index, tracking hydrogen as a commodity.

    • Watch the video of Miriam Brandes, Senior Political and Regulatory Affairs Officer, on building the next hydrogen economy

    The origin of renewable energy

    Guarantees of origin are the mechanism in place at EU level to track renewable electricity. It enables suppliers to offer green electricity to their final clients and, hence, places the consumers in the driving seat of the energy transition. GOs are an indispensable tool to promote the production and consumption of green electricity. At EEX Group, we have developed our expertise across the whole registries’ value chain, from providing unique services to Issuing Bodies across Europe to organising GO auctions, passing by operating registries ourselves. We have experience in all types of energy carriers' traceability, i.e., renewable electricity, biogas, hydrogen as well as Heating & Cooling GOs. Armed with this experience, we will launch the first pan-European electricity Guarantees of Origin market in 2022. The planned GO spot auctions will be held once a month and operated by EPEX SPOT, Europe’s leading power spot exchange, under the exchange’s membership and market rules. We are also committed to sustainability in fostering energy efficiency. As such, EEX is responsible for managing the French Energy Savings certificates registry in France, which is the key asset of the French policy to reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption.

    … our social numbers and initiatives:

    Promotion of young talents

    In 2021, promoting and supporting young talent has again been a priority for EEX Group, for example with our EEX Group Excellence Award which was awarded for the 11th time. The Excellence Award honours outstanding research papers that deal with current political, regulatory, technical or economic questions in the fields of energy and agricultural products as well as exchange trading of both or the topic of sustainability. Last years’ Excellence Award was concluded by a virtual award ceremony during which the winners were able to present the outcome of their papers and get to know the EEX Group jury.

     

     

    Donations

    In 2021, EEX Group supported different social projects with donations – locally as well as worldwide. The following organisations were supported in the last year:

    • Kinderhospiz Bärenherz
    • Johanniter WG “Mogli” 
    • Mühlstraße e.V. 
    • Leben mit Handicap
    • Verein Selbstbestimmt e.V. 
    • Stilles Wunder e.V. 
    • Frauen für Frauen e.V.
    • Go Dharmic 
    • Kinderheim Seidewitz
    • Kinderstiftung Altenburg
    • Soziokulturelles Zentrum "Die Villa“ 
    • Traumapädagogische Jugend WG "Villa Oberholz“ 
    • THW – Helfervereinigung Leipzig e.V. 
    • Malaikas Home
    • Deutsche Depressionshilfe
    • Asha Primary School Nepal
    • Sucht- und Jugendhilfe e.V. 
    • Les Blouses Roses

    Work-Life-Balance

    Our ESG Dashboard also tracks factors to improve the work-life-balance of our employees. Flexible working hours as well as the possibility to work from home makes it possible for our employees to ideally combine work and private life. Our EEX Group employees are our strongest asset – that is why their satisfaction is so important and is reviewed annually. In 2021, 92% of the employees would recommend working at EEX Group.

    Diversity & inclusion

    As a global company, employees of different gender and gender identity, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation and identity work within the EEX Group. Our goal has always been, and still is, to strengthen the appreciation, recognition and inclusion of diversity within EEX Group. We want every colleague to be equally valued and supported.

    This is an ongoing process, that every individual colleague should be working on day by day. For this process it is important to stay open-minded, learn from each other and appreciate the people around us. Together we follow the path of diversity and share our experiences and perspectives within EEX Group. We are on this journey, together.

    We are supporting different initiatives on our path of diversity – for example the “marketPride” network of Deutsche Börse Group with worldwide participants on five locations.

    … our governance factors:

    The ESG Dashboard monitors different regulatory and compliance issues of EEX Group on the topics of information security, corporate governance structures, conflicts of interest, risk management or anti-corruption and anti-bribery measures as well as internal trainings on them. Measuring KPIs on these topics on an annual basis will make sure EEX Group stays secure and future-proof for its customers and employees for years to come.

    Here you can find out more on how EEX Group provides security.

     

     

    „Especially in challenging times, EEX Group is offering transparency and security to all of its stakeholders. Risk management is one of the key elements on our mission to build secure commodity markets worldwide.“

    Dr Clemens Völkert, CRO of ECC