Natural capital
Natural capitals defined by TAURON Group that the Company uses and has an impact upon – minerals (coal, oil, gas, limestone), air, water, solar energy, biomass – are used in the entire chain of its operations. The Group’s goal is to use natural capitals while minimizing the negative impact upon the environment and climate.
The confirmation of this approach is the continuation of the activities that stem from the Update of the Strategic Directions adopted by the Management Board in 2019, thanks to which the weight of the individual natural capitals used in business processes will be gradually changing in TAURON Group’s value chain. The turn towards renewable energy sources will lead to the successive increase in the use of wind energy and solar radiation, while reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources, i.e., solid fossil fuels or limestone.
The changes in the use of natural capital will be implemented gradually, so as to ensure the supply of electricity to the customers.
Currently, TAURON Group has a stable base of raw materials ensuring the supply for the conventional production assets and for the external consumers. The base in the form of fossil fuels is also a guarantee of stable electricity production in periods of intermittent or extreme weather conditions that have a negative impact on the security of the power system.
TAURON Group’s natural capital includes renewable and non-renewable natural resources. Non-renewable resources deposits are exploited in a responsible, rational, regulated, systematic and sustainable manner.
The resources and raw materials used by TAURON Group are presented in tables below.
Non-renewable resources deposits exploited by TAURON Capital Group in 2020
Export to Excel| Number of deposits | Mineral | Number of coal mines | Total mining area [km²] |
Recoverable reserves [ton m] |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Main mineral | hard coal | 3 | 218.77 | 337.6 |
| 1 | limestone | 1 | 1.34 | 67.9 | |
| 1 | Accompanying mineral | methane | 1 | ||
301-1. Raw materials used by TAURON Capital Group in 2018, 2019 and 2020
Export to Excel
TOTAL |
2020
|
2019
|
2018
|
|---|---|---|---|
| NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES * | |||
| Net coal [tons] | 4,888,015 | 6,082,57 | 7,271,605 |
| Net coal production [tons] | 4,541,216 | 3,784,980 | Not reported |
| Sludge [tons] | 249,980 | 315,247 | 311,511 |
| Natural gas [m3] | 12,067,032 | 8,220,614 | 8,413,515 |
| Heating oil [tons] | 26,324 | 26,575 | 30,642 |
| Diesel oil [m3] | 6,289 | 6,857 | 9,942 |
| Limestone [tons] | 197,288 | 252,865 | 316,793 |
| Limestone production [tons] | 1,722,376 | 1,717,980 | 1,561,433 |
| RENEWABLE RESOURCES | |||
| Agro biomass [tons] | 124,203 | 88,220 | 71,189 |
| Forest biomass [tons] | 553,537 | 332,592 | 238 742 |
* Includes the consumption and production by the Group’s subsidiaries.
With respect to the basic raw materials used in the Group, the principle of proximity is applied, which reduces the carbon footprint associated with transportation.
The renewable natural resources used by TAURON include:
- biomass,
- water used by 34 diversion (run-of-river) and impoundment hydroelectric power plants as well as in conventional power generation technological processes,
- wind powering 9 wind power plants,
- solar energy (the construction of a 5 MW photovoltaic power plant on TAURON Group’s post-industrial land in Jaworzno was completed in 2020, the construction of photovoltaic farms with a total capacity of 6 MW in Choszczno is in the final stage. Both PV farm locations will be fully reported starting from 2021).
The climate changes observed, including the intensifying hydrological drought in recent years, have a direct impact upon the availability of the resources considered as renewable, such as water. Sustainable use of these resources is carried out in the energy industry, among others, based on the operational limits on the quantity of water taken directly from the environment (surface and groundwater intakes). The results achieved by TAURON Group as part of the above activities in 2020 are presented in the table below.
Maximum daily limits for direct water intake from the environment in force in 2020*
| Source | Maximum daily value [m3/d] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Water from coal mines drainage (incl. underground water to be used for coal mines’ needs) |
Underground | Surface water | |
| TAURON Wydobycie | 137,348
(11,330) |
||
| TAURON Wytwarzanie | 14,376 | 555,667** | |
| TAURON Ciepło | 7,209.6 | ||
| TAURON Dystrybucja | 13 | ||
| TAURON Ekoenergia | 3.8 | ||
| Kopalnia Wapienia “Czatkowice”* | 3.5 | 240 | |
* The above table does not include the limits of the so-called reverse intakes of water for energy purposes in hydropower plants, or limits stemming from the civil law contracts concluded with external suppliers.
** The value includes the so-called reverse water intake in an open cooling system.
The tools supporting responsible management of the resources that constitute the natural capital of TAURON Group, going beyond the mandatory conditions of administrative decisions, include: TAURON Group’s Environmental Policy and TAURON Group’s Climate Policy. The policies comprehensively address all types of activities carried out within the Group, related to the impact on the environment and the use of its resources in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.
One of the Group’s key expansion directions adopted is to seek to achieve the complete utilization of its waste, which in almost 100% is converted into products and can be used for commercial purposes.
The achievement of this goal is implemented, among others, by minimizing the stream of waste generated thanks to product innovation, supply chain management and a conscious process of decommissioning some of the assets from service, as well as by promoting the use of waste generated during the product’s life cycle and thus reducing the amount of waste deposited in the environment by placing it on the market for use as substitutes for natural materials.
Results achieved by TAURON Capital Group in 2018, 2019 and 2020 as part of the management of natural capital
Export to Excel| Results achieved | 2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct greenhouse gas emissions – CO2 [tons] | 10,093,648 | 12,215,945 | 16,604,240 |
| Nitrogen oxides – NOx [tons] | 7,491 | 10,709 | 16,105 |
| Sulfur dioxide – SO2 [tons] | 7,051 | 10,386 | 16,911 |
| Total dust [tons] | 435 | 636 | 1,001 |
| Other (such as: HCl, HF, carbon monoxide, ammonia, methane, metals) [tons] | 34,882 | 33,522 | 37,000 |
| Total quantity of non-hazardous waste (including combustion waste and mineral extraction waste) [tons] | 1,729,672 | 1,366,974 |
3,540,064 |
| Dumpsite waste [tons] | 8,958 | 5,539 | 4,639 |