Our own carbon footprint
While the emissions from our own organisation are a fraction of the emissions that CIP’s funds help avoid, we are committed to reduce emissions in our own operations and have set our first CIP-level climate target:
While the emissions from our own organisation are a fraction of the emissions that CIP’s funds help avoid, we are committed to reduce emissions in our own operations and have set our first CIP-level climate target:
We have chosen an intensity-based Scope 3 target due to our significant growth ambition of having EUR 100 bn under management by 2030, which will require many more new employees and a substantial increase in our overall activity level.
To support our climate target, we have developed a CIP Decarbonisation Action Plan, detailing three focus areas where we will accelerate our emission reduction efforts:
Our CIP Decarbonisation Action Plan was developed based on insights from a comprehensive 2022 Scope 1-3 baselining exercise. Since 2021, we have measured and tracked emissions from our own operations according to the GHG protocol.
We are developing an offsetting strategy to offset residual emissions on CIP management-level. The strategy will seek to ensure emissions are offset in accordance with the Oxford Principles of Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting.
Biodiversity loss and climate change topics are interconnected. GHG emission reductions resulting from renewable energy deployment, as CIP seeks to do through its funds, address climate change and thereby contribute to slowing the decline in global biodiversity and supporting its recovery.
CIP recognises, however, that renewable energy projects can impact the immediate environment of that project. Biodiversity considerations are already an integral part of CIP’s current project development and investment process as well as our focus ahead.
We have taken action to address the biodiversity impact of CIP’s funds’ future investments. This action will be formalised in the CIP Biodiversity Action Plan, to be launched in 2023.
The Biodiversity Action Plan builds on existing project-level practices and formalises our three guiding principles for addressing biodiversity in CIP’s funds’ investments.
The adoption of CIP’s Biodiversity Action Plan will concretely and formally document our principal strategic initiatives within the biodiversity area. It will be further developed in years to come, to align with the emerging global best-practice frameworks and standards within biodiversity, many of which are still under development.
The local community is a key stakeholder for Vineyard Wind I, an 800 MW offshore wind project in Massachusetts, New England, under construction in 2022. Proactive community engagement was a high priority for CIP already from the early stages of its involvement.
“We faced a lot of closed doors when we started” says Nate Mayo, Director of Public Affairs at Vineyard Wind.
To understand and address the interests of the people living in the area, the Vineyard Wind I team conducted an extensive community engagement campaign. “Being visible and available was a priority for us. We kept hosting meetings as long as people kept showing up” says Mayo.
Tackling community-related topics head-on
Ultimately the engagement process prioritised a number of primary community-related topics including potential disruptions from construction such as noise and traffic rerouting, environmental concerns related to protection of the local water supply and compensation to the town for disruptions.
To mitigate disruptions during construction, the team worked systematically to inform residents of the nature of construction, and to provide information and promote awareness of project progress. This ensured that locals knew exactly when and where to expect traffic rerouting or noise impacts.
Vineyard Wind I and the local government also entered into a host community agreement. This agreement captured many of the protections sought by the town, ensured coordination on construction efforts, and provided funding for infrastructure and long-term property tax revenues for the area. These benefits have been supplemented by local recruitment, procurement and investments to help the region become a hub for the renewables supply chain in the future.
”The community agreement here was the first of its kind for U.S. offshore wind, and has served as a model for good community partnership in the industry” says Mayo.
H&S on funds’ investments is an essential focus area for CIP. This includes on CIP’s funds’ first investment in geothermal technology, a zero emissions technology which involves pumping naturally warm water from the earth’s subsurface and harnessing its energy in the form of heat and electricity. The portfolio of geothermal energy projects in Germany is being developed through a partnership between CIP’s CI III fund and Deutsche ErdWärme (DEW).
“Geothermal is still a young and niche industry, but that doesn’t mean you can make compromises with safety,” says Sebastian Homuth, Operations Manager for DEW.
The deep drilling process used on this geothermal investment requires increased focus on H&S due to round-the-clock operations and inconsistent substrate material being drilled through. As a result, high safety standards are critical, which is why the project has adopted a strong safety culture.
H&S is also an integral part of project KPIs, with safety performance linked to certain milestones under the terms of project contracts. The process of improving performance and safety is a perpetual journey for CIP.
Fully addressing issues
To promote open communication around safety, all employees and visitors to a site can fill out an observation card to report anything they deem unsafe. As an example, in 2022, there was an observation of keys being left in a forklift. As a result, machine crews are now reminded not to leavekeys out of their possession.
In the event of a serious incident, operations are halted to investigate and ensure safety standards are restored. For example, in 2022, work was halted after a bolt fell from an upper drilling rig. While no one was hurt, an investigation and incident report were completed. As a result of the report, the model of pin used to secure the bolt was changed, and supplemented with secondary fastenings.
