Press releases pg. 1

CEZ Group received gold medal from the international rating company EcoVadis, for the integration of the principles of sustainability and corporate social responsibility into business and management system. Only 62 companies in the world can currently boast a gold medal in the category of energy suppliers. Increasing number of globally operating companies require rating from EcoVadis from their suppliers, as a guarantee of their sustainable approach to business.

Evaluate and protect better are the principal goals of the voluntary cooperation agreement signed by CEZ Group with the Czech Union of Nature Conservationists (CUNC). In addition to conserving biodiversity, the agreement focuses on rescuing endangered wild animals in need, and raising public awareness of these topics. Within the framework of that cooperation, CEZ Group will make selected sites accessible for a detailed evaluation of biodiversity, and then incorporate recommendations from the NGO into the site care programme. The energy company will also incorporate the latest biodiversity insights into other on-going programmes, such as Tree Grant of the CEZ Foundation, which supports planting greenery in towns and cities.

The energy-saving measures that CEZ adopted in its offices in 2022, in response to the energy crisis, have worked: in more than a hundred administrative buildings that CEZ owns throughout the Czech Republic, heat consumption was reduced by 7% year on year. That accounts for nearly one-half of all the savings achieved in the last six years. Electricity consumption in the energy company’s offices has dropped by a full 23% since 2018. Thanks to the savings, the company is saving more than CZK 26 million per year in energy costs. CEZ Group will continue with energy-saving measures: for example, selected office buildings will be fitted with photovoltaic power plants over the course of the next few years.

The central sections of conveyor belts in strip coal mines could serve as structures for carrying photovoltaic power plants in the future. Normally, these structures are bored into the ground; however, the common solution cannot be used in areas with unstable subsoil, such as spoil heaps, waste ponds, and other unfirm areas. Engineers from PRODECO, a company from the ČEZ Group, have been developing prototypes that are able to cope with moving soil. Moreover, retired mining equipment could get a second life and a new purpose. In pursuing its vision of Clean Energy for Tomorrow, ČEZ Group will build new photovoltaic power plants with a capacity of thousands of MWs by 2030.