Big firms in Czechia launch project seeking carbon neutrality

Twenty-five big companies seated in the Czech Republic have launched Rethink, a new project seeking carbon neutrality and energy security, which they presented to the public yesterday. The launch of the project is followed by an innovation forum today in the Prague-seated French Institute.

The founders of the project include Czech Railways (CD), Czech Post (CP), the CEZ energy utility, the Ostrava Public Transport Company, IKEA, the Komercni banka bank, Metrostav and Skoda Auto. The partners of the projects are, among others, the French embassy in Prague, the French Institute and the Czech ministries of industry and the environment.

The project's initiators also include the Czech Entrepreneurs' Council for Sustainable Development (CBCSD). Its representative Ivo Gajdos said the project is to help reduce emissions and protect the climate.

Jonathan Wootliff, an adviser for sustainability and responsible behavior of companies, said that it is entrepreneurs who are the motor of changes and urge countries' governments to make changes. The Czech Republic has an opportunity to become the center of sustainable development, he added.

The EC previously adopted the Green Deal package of proposals to adjust member countries' policies in the areas of climate, energy, transport and taxation in a way to achieve a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030, compared with the situation in 1990.

At the Rethink opening meeting yesterday, the speakers repeatedly mentioned the need to secure energy independence from Russia, which has become more urgent in connection with the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

In related news, the European Commission and industry leaders committed to the green energy transition announced last week the launch the Biomethane Industrial Partnership (BIP), according to Energie 21. This new public-private partnership was part of the REPowerEU plan, a project whose partial objective is to increase the annual production and use of biomethane, a significant reduction of Europe's dependence on natural gas from Russia.