White papers

At Ørsted, our vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Our white papers address some of the many questions that arise on the transformation journey from a fossil fuel-based society to one based on green energy. We offer insights and inspiration to everyone who seeks to understand the pathway to a world that runs entirely on green energy.

Need for Speed

Europe's energy crisis and the latest alarming report by the IPCC all point towards the same solution: we need to significantly increase renewable energy and decrease our dependence on polluting fossil fuels for energy. Our latest white paper proposes a new approach towards the deployment of offshore wind and renewable power-to-X – from planning processes to integration – to ensure the buildout is both speedy and sustainable.

Getting on track for 1.5 °C

Governments and businesses must look to the future and realise that it isn't only a moral imperative to act on climate change but also a financial one. Those who fail to act will be less competitive in a net-zero world and will likely face negative impacts to their bottom line.
With this handbook, we point to key actions that governments and businesses can and must take now if they want to remain competitive, while preserving our precious planet and shared home for future generations.

Unlocking a renewable energy future

A critical element in the fight against climate change will be the decarbonisation of the world’s energy supply. While the foundation for the energy transition is strong – the technologies exist and the investments are manageable in the right frameworks – change is not happening fast enough. This joint working paper with the World Resources Institute focuses on the challenges and solutions to scaling investment in renewable energy generation and provides actionable policy solutions to unlock the private sector investment needed to support the energy transition.

Our Green Business Transformation

Ørsted, now the world’s most sustainable energy company, used to be one of Europe’s most fossil fuel intensive. Since we decided to transform to a green business, financial performance has significantly improved, whilst to 2020 we have reduced our carbon emissions by 86%. Our transition has been quicker than many, and even ourselves, thought possible. This paper first describes our transformation and then offers our suggested learnings about how to execute such a green business transformation, so that our journey may inspire yours.

Decarbonising society with Power-to-X

A path to scaling production and uptake of renewable hydrogen and sustainable e-fuels

Cost-competitive renewable generation is already phasing out fossil fuels from the energy sector, while enabling electrification of heating and transport. However, heavy transport and industries remain a challenge as direct electrification is often not feasible here. This paper outlines a path forward to develop, scale, and bring down costs of ‘indirect electrification’ using renewable hydrogen and e-fuels produced with renewable energy.

Taking action to stay within 1.5°C

With this paper, Ørsted wants to illustrate that it is possible to halve global emissions by 2030 and limit global warming to 1.5°C, protecting our shared home from runaway climate change. We have the solutions – notably cost-competitive solar and wind energy – required to decarbonise the energy system, which is the biggest contributor to global warming.

A European green deal

How offshore wind can help decarbonise Europe
Europe has set out to become the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050. This will require a massive buildout of renewable energy – including 450GW offshore wind generation – an ambitious, but feasible target. To get there, Europe needs a new approach to the offshore wind buildout. With this paper, Ørsted wants to point to three key questions, a new approach must address: how to find the space, how to ensure the infrastructure and how to enable the industry to scale.

Making green energy affordable

How the offshore wind energy industry matured – and what we can learn from it.
Offshore wind power holds the potential to power hundreds of millions of people in a sustainable way. It has become cheaper to produce energy from newly constructed offshore wind farms than from newly built coal or gas-fired power plants, and vast areas are readily available at sea.

Europe powered by green energy

How the North Seas can lead the change - Europe sits on one of the world’s best offshore wind resources in the North Seas. Here, wind speeds are high, relatively constant and the waters are shallow, providing good conditions for bottom fixed foundations.

Regulatory set-up for hybrid offshore wind projects

Europe is determined to become the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050. To this end, replacing fossil fuels with renewable electricity is the single most important driver for decarbonization. This entails European power demand will grow by as much as 150% by 2050.

Talking about climate change and the solutions

Our podcast series Climate Action Now examines what it takes to fight climate change and how we can transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy

Listen here