The consumption or use of resources plays a major role in EnBW's business activities. For example: coal is burned; waste and by-products are produced; land, water and energy are consumed. Here you will find examples of EnBW's activities for the responsible use of resources.
Further information:
Further data on the following topics can be found in the environmental data table.
Responsible procurement
Coal procurement
With a view to the CO₂ reduction targets set by the German government, we will gradually replace hard coal with more climate-friendly energy sources. The most important milestones here will be the realization of the fuel switch projects and the planned phaseout of coal by 2028, as long as corresponding framework conditions are met. Nevertheless, hard coal will still play a relevant role for EnBW as a source of energy over the next few years to ensure a reliable and economic supply of electricity. Responsible raw materials procurement, especially in the coal sector, is thus extremely important to us in order to strengthen our sustainable procurement.
In comparison to the previous year, a significantly higher amount of raw materials was delivered to our power plants in 2025. After falling to 1.4 million t in 2024, total deliveries of hard coal increased to 2.9 million t in 2025. This increase can be explained by the fact that the need to generate more electricity from hard coal was higher in certain circumstances when the electricity supplied by renewable energies was unable to fully cover demand or ensure the security of supply. Higher availability of our power plant blocks in comparison to the previous year also contributed to this development.
In 2025, Colombia was once again the most important source of supply for power plant coal, followed by the USA. Deliveries of Colombian coal increased from 0.8 million t in 2024 to 1.9 million t because of the rise in demand, while deliveries of coal from the USA also rose from 0.4 million t in 2024 to 0.7 million t in 2025. In both countries, the coal delivered to the EnBW power plants in 2025 was sourced from various different mining regions.
As a result of the increase in total deliveries, the procurement volume rose considerably from €142.5 million in the previous year to €253.2 million in 2025. At the same time, the requirements for flexibility and optionality increased further because prices on the market continued to fall in 2025 yet there were still significant fluctuations in demand for electricity generation from hard coal. In the reporting period, this meant that the proportion of our power plant coal covered by trade intermediaries increased slightly to 51%. In the same period, the proportion from contracts where the individual producers are already known when the contract is concluded fell slightly to 49% (previous year: 52%).
| in million t | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
| Russia | 0.0 | 0.1 | |
| Columbia | 1.9 | 0.8 | 1.1 |
| USA | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
| Southafrica | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Other | 0.0 | ||
| Total¹ | 2.9 | 1.4 | 2.2 |
¹The figures may not add up due to rounding differences. Disclosures excluding the grid reserve.
Gas procurement
In order to achieve our climate change mitigation target, we are working intensively on switching over our power plants from coal to more climate-friendly natural gas (fuel switch) and then to decarbonized gases such as biogas or hydrogen in the long term. Natural gas plays an important role as a transition technology – either in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) or grid-based natural gas. LNG is essential for ensuring the security of supply in Germany and diversifying natural gas procurement. Against this background, we have expanded our LNG activities and continued to shift the focus onto human rights due diligence in the area of gas procurement. The key aspect will be a comprehensive business partner audit of all the direct LNG and pipeline gas suppliers before they are approved as a business partner for EnBW.
In 2025, EnBW mainly sourced its natural gas via supply contracts with companies in Norway as well as via the European wholesale market. We also purchased LNG on global markets to expand our gas supply. The conversion from liquefied gas to a hydrogen-based energy source, such as ammonia, is already planned at the LNG terminal in Stade. Following the final investment decision, the groundbreaking ceremony was held in Stade in June 2024. EnBW has booked capacity of 6 billion m³ at the LNG terminal in Stade making it one of the main customers of the Hanseatic Energy Hub.
In 2025, we acquired 8,033 GWh of natural gas for our own consumption at EnBW (previous year: 7,584 GWh). We use this gas for generating electricity and heat in our power plants, for heating our buildings and for operating our gas plants.
Water usage and waste water mangement
Increased use of modern cooling towers
For the operation of our thermal power plants (nuclear power, coal, oil, gas), large quantities of water are taken from the Rhine and Neckar Rivers in particular for cooling and as process water, which is then fed back in after use.
Through the increased use of modern cooling towers, newer and more efficient power plants and the use of combined heat and power generation, we have been able to considerably reduce the burden on the watercourses compared to the earlier heat input of older thermal power plants with once-through cooling. This is the result of the economic analysis carried out as part of the management planning for the Neckar River in connection with the Water Framework Directive.
Even during summer heat waves and low water periods, sophisticated water, heat and oxygen management, coordinated with the authorities, helps to minimise the impact on water bodies as far as possible.
With the water withdrawal charge that has been payable in Baden-Württemberg for many years, there is not only an ecological aspect but also an economic incentive to use the resource water for cooling purposes only to the extent necessary.
Minimizing the volumes of cooling water and waste water
We strive to credibly reconcile corporate, political and social objectives in the environmental field. Derived from our EnBW strategy, our environmental aspects and the requirements of the energy revolution, in environmental protection, we focus on the reduction of and water consumption as one crucial fields of action. We have set ourselves the target of reducing the waste water intensity from own generation of electricity to 10 to 15 l/kWh by 2030.
Waste Management
Reduce and recycle waste
At EnBW, different types of waste are generated in the individual business activities along the value chain. Waste management is part of our environmental management system The aim is to achieve continuous improvement and thus reduce waste. Data on waste volumes and the recycling rate in the Group can be found on the Environmental Data page.
The purpose of waste incineration plants is to dispose of waste by using the energy contained in it, for example to generate electricity and heat. The waste incineration in our EnBW combined heat and power plant in Stuttgart-Münster also ensures that the energy resources in the waste are used responsibly.
EnBW is planning to build a state-of-the-art sewage sludge combined heat and power plant at its existing Walheim power plant site. The facility will make an important contribution to the sustainable treatment of municipal sewage sludge, which increasingly requires centralized processing. With this project, the sewage sludge power plant Walheim closes a regional gap in sludge recycling: Until now, sewage sludge has been predominantly co-incinerated in coal-fired power plants, waste incineration plants, and cement works.
However, due to new legal requirements - especially the mandatory phosphorus recovery starting in 2029 and the associated ban on co-incineration - the share of mono-incineration of sewage sludge will rise from currently around one-third to more than 85% by 2029. The new sewage sludge power plant in Walheim will therefore play a key role in ensuring safe, future-proof and regional sludge treatment.
Power plant by-products
Building materials from power plants
The power plant industry produces by-products such as fly ash, boiler ash and gypsum, which are used as secondary raw materials in the building materials industry. In particular, the gypsum produced during flue gas cleaning has long been marketed to the gypsum-processing industry, thus avoiding the mining of naturally extracted gypsum.
This is associated with a considerable relief of the environment, conservation of resources and with great economic benefits.
Mineral products from coal-fired power plants have proven their worth for decades as building materials in concrete and reinforced concrete construction, mining, road and path construction and in earthworks, foundation engineering and landscaping.
Desulphurisation products (REA gypsum)
In order to meet the legal environmental protection requirements for keeping the air clean, the coal-fired power stations were equipped with flue gas desulphurisation plants (FGD), among other things. In these plants, the sulphur dioxide present in the flue gas reacts with natural lime. Downstream oxidation of the reaction products produces gypsum, which is referred to as FGD gypsum.
Extensive investigations have shown that there are no differences between natural gypsum and FGD gypsum in terms of chemical composition and content of trace elements. According to these investigations, FGD gypsum, like natural gypsum, can be used for the production of building materials without health concerns.
Environmental protection and energy savings
Natural raw materials are becoming increasingly scarce. Their extraction often requires drastic interventions in the landscape. The energy required to produce building materials is often very high.
The use of building materials from coal-fired power stations conserves natural resources and brings energy savings in the production and processing of building materials, as these products are already in the economic cycle and can in part be used directly as raw materials in their unaltered state. Their environmental compatibility and harmlessness in terms of industrial hygiene have been proven in many studies.
Mobility initiatives
Improve the environmental balance
EnBW AG is a group with various subsidiaries and locations. This makes it necessary for our employees to undertake business trips using different modes of transport.
In addition, our network operators are present in the area to ensure the security of supply of the electricity and gas network and use company vehicles for the operational management and maintenance of the networks.
In order to improve the environmental balance of our travel activities, we have set ourselves the goal to improve the CO₂ emissions from the use of passenger cars and to expand our electric vehicle fleet.
The main form of transport for business travel at EnBW AG in 2025 was the German railway Deutsche Bahn – which uses 100% green electricity – with more than 340.000 journeys being made. In addition, we added sustainably certified hotels to our travel booking portal and purchased more than 4,500 kg of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel made of cooking oil, etc.) in 2024. As a result, we were able to offset around 13,451 kg CO₂ in cooperation with our partner the Lufthansa Group. We also focus on reducing CO₂ emissions when the use of a private car is unavoidable (we use e-cars wherever possible). We also deploy a wide-ranging package of measures to reduce carbon emissions in the composition of our vehicle fleet (data as of Q1 2026):
- Our fleet today includes some 2,000 vehicles (cars) with alternative drive systems (BEV, PHEV und FCEV). The bulk of these comprise 1,605 electric vehicles (EVs), increasing numbers of which are on order.
- All EVs are charged with 100 % green electricity.
- Our employees have access to about 200 fully electric fleet vehicles at 7 sites for their business trips.
- We are continuously expanding the charging facilities for electric cars at our sites for the benefit of employees and have now installed a total of 1,628 charging points at over 153 EnBW sites across Germany (as of 03/2026). Employees can also use more than 70 charging points for e-bikes across 26 sites. By expanding the charging infrastructure at our sites, we want to make it easier for our employees and visitors to switch to electric vehicles and thus also push forward the mobility transition internally at the company.
The central vehicle fleet managed by EnBW AG comprises a total of 2,469 vehicles, which includes 800 service vehicles and 1,646 commercial vehicles that are used for installation work on the grids.
Read more about EnBW's commitment to e-mobility here (in German)