November 19, 2021

This year, Landsvirkjun receives the Climate Recognition Award from Festa and the City of Reykjavík.


A special incentive award goes to the Climate-Friendly Agriculture project, which is a collaborative project between the Advisory Centre for Agriculture, Land Reclamation, Forestry, the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation, and the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources.

The awards were presented at the Climate Summit of Festa and the City of Reykjavík this morning, which was broadcast live from Harpa. The theme of this year's summit was Vision for the Future and Next Steps. This is the fifth time the award has been presented, but the goal is to draw attention to the good work being done in climate issues and to serve as an inspiration to others.

The jury consisted of Líf Magneudóttir, city councilor and chair of the Environment and Health Council (representing the City of Reykjavík), Arnar Þór Másson, chairman of the board of directors of Marel (representing Festa), and Lára Jóhannsdóttir, professor of environmental and natural resources studies (representing the University of Iceland).

Loftslagsmálin þurfa á öllum að halda


"The climate issue needs everyone," says Dagur B. Eggertsson, Mayor of Reykjavík. "It gives me optimism to see that the climate declaration of the City of Reykjavík and Festa from 2015 has led to great success and interest in Icelandic business. More leading companies are joining in, setting goals and recording their achievements. The climate issue will not be solved otherwise than through broad cooperation from everyone in society and indeed the entire world, but the business sector and cities are a particularly important link, that is where the most emissions are generated and that is where the solutions also come from," he says, adding that Reykjavík wants to be a leader and in active cooperation with the business sector in climate issues.

"We want to attract new investment and new projects in green solutions to the city. I have also recently suggested that we establish a system that creates competition between companies towards carbon neutrality. Some kind of gold, silver, bronze system where the gold would be that carbon neutrality was achieved, silver would be for companies that had set a carbon neutrality plan, and bronze would be for those that had set other goals, but goals nonetheless," he further says.

Kallað eftir sjálfbærni í rekstri


Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir, CEO of Festa, says this year's climate summit was "an incredibly informative, thought-provoking and fun meeting". She says developments are currently taking place at a rapid pace. "Business models, laws, regulations and disclosures related to operations, the priorities of investors, consumers, employees and lenders are changing extremely rapidly due to climate change and technological developments. The UN climate summit earlier this month really sharpened the situation, actions and opportunities that we need to take if we are to be competitive and be part of exciting opportunities. Festa's role is to support and accelerate our journey towards sustainability being a basic strategy in operations. That is the business model that is called for," she says.

A record number was added in one year


The Climate Summit is held annually, but its beginnings can be traced back to the signing of the Climate Declaration by the City of Reykjavík and Festa in the run-up to the Paris Agreement in 2015. This year, 11 companies were added, but in total, around 170 companies have signed the declaration with the aim of reducing emissions and waste. This is a record number that has been added in one year since the initial signing, and includes companies as diverse as small retailers to pension funds.

Hörður Arnarson, Jóna Bjarnadóttir and Jóhanna Hlín Auðunsdóttir accept the award on behalf of Landsvirkjun, which was presented by Degur B.Eggertsson, Mayor, Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir, CEO of Festa, and Líf Magneudóttir, Chairman of the Jury

"Climate issues need everyone"

Energy issues are climate issues

„Við erum afar stolt af þessari viðurkenningu á stefnu okkar og störfum undanfarin ár, þar sem allt starfsfólk hefur lagst á eitt svo við getum verið leiðandi í loftslagsmálum,“ segir Jóna Bjarnadóttir, framkvæmdastjóri sviðs Samfélags og umhverfis hjá Landsvirkjun. „Við munum sannarlega halda áfram á sömu braut og þessi viðurkenning er okkur hvatning til þess,“ segir hún.

„Við tökum loftslagsbreytingum alvarlega og það endurspeglast í allri okkar starfsemi,“ segir Hörður Arnarson, forstjóri Landsvirkjunar. „Endurnýjanlega orkuvinnslan okkar veitir okkur mikið forskot og Landsvirkjun mun áfram leggja sitt af mörkum til að við náum þeim árangri í loftslagsmálum sem stefnt er að. Íslendingar geta orðið fyrsta þjóð í heimi til að losa sig við jarðefnaeldsneyti og við getum klárað full orkuskipti á næstu árum. Orkumálin eru loftslagsmál,“ segir hann að lokum.



Einkum horft til árangurs við að draga úr heildarlosun og upplýsingagjafar

The jury looked at various factors in the evaluation, but in particular at the success already achieved in reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions and the level of detailed information provided across the value chain. This year, the winner was a company that has measured its direct climate impact for years and has made significant progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in its own operations.

The jury's reasoning for Landsvirkjun states: "Landsvirkjun aims to be carbon neutral by 2025. The company has worked for years to provide information about its carbon footprint and, among other things, has put work into assessing an internal carbon price, which is an incentive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in daily operations. Climate accounting has been confirmed by an external party, the company has received a high rating from the international party Carbon Disclosure Project – CDP or A-. The company also has a real-time dashboard on climate action, extensive collaboration on innovation projects and the company's product is energy from renewable resources with a low carbon footprint.

Landsvirkjun has reduced direct emissions (scope 1) by 3,171 tonnes of CO2 equivalent between 2019 and 2020, or 8%. When looking at all emissions, emissions have decreased by 3,919 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, or 7%. Emissions per unit of energy have also decreased, which affects the carbon footprint of all of Landsvirkjun's customers. The jury encourages Landsvirkjun to continue its good work, including by adding measurements and disclosure regarding scope 3, so that measurements and external certification are without limitation.

"We take climate change seriously and it is reflected in all our operations"



An invaluable incentive for farmers

"Climate-Friendly Agriculture would like to thank you very much for this valuable recognition. It is an invaluable encouragement for farmers to be active participants in the climate journey and strengthens us who stand behind the project to continue unabated. The strength of the project lies in the strong collaboration between three professionals and two ministries, which is one of the key elements in successfully finding solutions for how farmers can work on climate issues in a positive way," says Berglind Ósk Alfreðsdóttir, project manager of Climate-Friendly Agriculture.

"The recognition encourages participating farmers to excel in their climate projects and makes them powerful role models in climate issues in agriculture. This recognition will be symbolic of the project's strategy and will be useful in shaping its future," she says.

Bændur hvattir við markvissra loftslagsaðgerða


The jury's comment on Climate-Friendly Agriculture states: "The project aims, through education, to encourage farmers to take targeted climate action and innovation. Today, 40 farmers are participating in the project and are directly supported in setting their own climate goals through education and advice. Farm data is entered into a carbon calculator where the farm's carbon equivalent is calculated. Emphasis is placed on integrating the operational benefits and climate benefits of the participants. It will be exciting to watch how the project will progress, what the measurable impacts will be and what new solutions and methods will be created in the future based on the project."

Berglind Ósk Alfreðsdóttir verkefnastjóri Loftslagsvæns landbúnaðar, Borgar Páll Bragason RML, Gustav M. Ásbjörnsson frá Landgræðslunni, Valdimar Reynisson frá Skógræktinni og Salóme Hallfreðsdóttir frá Umhverfis- og auðlindaráðuneytinu taka við viðurkenningunni fyrir hönd Loftslagsvæns landbúnaðar

„Viðurkenningin hvetur þátttökubændur til dáða í sínum loftslagsverkefnum og gerir þá að öflugum fyrirmyndum í loftslagsmálum landbúnaðarins“

Fyrri handhafar viðurkenningunnar



Those who have received the award so far are:2020: Landspítali. Carbfix received an innovation award.2019: EFLA Engineering Office.2018: Klappir Grænar Lausnir hf. In addition, 3 were nominated: ÁTVR, Efla Engineering Office and IKEA.2017: HB Grandi. In addition, the website loftslag.is received an educational and information award for climate issues and ISAVIA received an incentive award.

Ljósmyndari: Eggert Jóhannsson