Cleaner energy in your power

27 Feb 2024

Ahead of speaking at International Energy Week, DCC Energy CEO, Fabian Ziegler, discusses how operating as a customer-focused energy transition partner allows DCC Energy to ease the adoption of low-carbon energy sources for our customers.

I’m thrilled to be part of International Energy Week in London this week. It’s a great chance for industry leaders, NGOs, scientists and others to get together and assess the technologies, business models and next steps that will get us to net zero.

I’m sure there’s going to be much discussion around what the energy system of the future will look like and this is highly relevant to us at DCC plc. We invest in what the world needs – cleaner energy, lifelong health, and the technology to make progress happen.

This is the critical decade for our planet if we’re to reach net zero by 2050 and so much of our success with this depends on the progress we make now.

This means a lot to us at DCC Energy, where we’re leading positive change in the energy sector and empowering our customers by making new clean-energy capabilities available to them; this is part of our transition journey to cleaner energy solutions from our financial position at 31 March 2023, where 72% of the energy we provided was fossil-based. We plan to deliver our strategy to double profit and halve our customers’ carbon emissions by 2030.

The journey to net zero means something to me personally too. I joined DCC Energy at the end of 2022, after 26 years at Shell, and my first few months were some of the most stimulating of my career. Those who know me well know just how passionate I am about tackling energy transition. When I saw the collaborative, can-do attitude of the teams driving our Cleaner Energy in Your Power strategy I knew that in DCC I’d found the right place to make an impact.

In conversation for International Energy Week 2024

CEO of DCC Energy, Fabian Ziegler, discusses his thought-leadership session from International Energy Week 2024, titled ‘Shifting demand to accelerate the energy transition’. Watch him in conversation with Steph Bolton, Head of Marketing at Flogas Britain, as he talks about how we’re delivering our strategy of putting cleaner energy in our customer’s power.

A customer-focused energy transition partner

People sometimes think of DCC Energy as ‘just a distributor’ but we’re much more than that. We orchestrate highly innovative, multi-energy solutions for customers such as Amazon Web Services, Royal Mail, ISS plc and many others that take the cleaner energy industry forward.

Our strategy is simple: we will reduce the carbon intensity of our existing fossil fuels business by introducing bio solutions while building a leading electron-based energy management business.

This means solutions like supplying HVO, a second-generation biofuel which reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 per cent compared with diesel. Or installing complex combined heat and power solutions. We provide on-site solar solutions to put cleaner energy in our customers’ power through self-generation of electricity for less energy intensive users. That’s our role – to make energy transition solutions accessible and affordable.

What’s the energy system of the future?

A highlight of IE Week 2024 for me will be sharing a platform at a panel session with like-minded organisations Neste and LanzaTech. As the leading producer of next-generation biofuels, Neste is a very important player in the energy space. Likewise, LanzaTech is in the business of carbon capture and carbon utilisation and was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential companies of 2023.

Our topic of conversation is going to be how we shift demand to accelerate the energy transition, and I’m particularly interested in looking at this through the customer lens. Energy transition starts with the customer and at DCC Energy we want to be recognised as the ‘best customer company’.

The famous energy trilemma of energy reliability, affordability and sustainability is ever more relevant as supply issues, price hikes and the need to reduce emissions present challenges across the world. We find a balance between all three when we deliver energy solutions for our customers wherever they may be.

The energy transition – a once-in-a-generation opportunity for DCC Energy

Sustainability and profitability go hand in hand as far as we’re concerned, and our big ambition at DCC Energy is to double our profits while halving our own Scope 3 carbon footprint by 2030. We’ll become more profitable not despite the energy transition but through it and by being a recognised leader in it. In the process, we’ll help our customers achieve their own cleaner energy goals.

We’re growing the business organically and – as the transition to cleaner energy is a team sport – we’re also acquiring businesses that fit with our strategy and philosophy.

We’re uniquely placed to position ourselves as a true cleaner energy leader, to attract the best customers, transition partners and talented colleagues.

Fabian Ziegler

CEO, DCC Energy

Acquiring and creating forward-thinking energy brands

Just this month we announced the acquisition of the Energy Management division of eEnergy, one of a number of recent acquisitions in the UK. Together with the Protech Group, Centreco (a leading solar installer for commercial and industrial customers), and DTGen we now have significant capability in energy management services in this region. I proudly welcome them all to DCC Energy.

But it’s not just the UK. We recently launched our new ‘Wewise’ brand in France, bringing together our French solar-based energy management business under one umbrella. This is so important for our B2B customers as we create scale in the market.

And this is just a selection, we have ambitions for many more acquisitions and partnerships in our pipeline as we expand our portfolio.

Cleaner energy in your power

Making the most of this once-in-a-generation opportunity calls for tons of expertise, passion and a great deal of optimism. DCC Energy has plenty of all three.

We’re uniquely placed to position ourselves as a true cleaner energy leader, to attract the best customers, transition partners and talented colleagues.

That’s why it’s so important that we’re here at IE Week 2024, to share insights, forge partnerships and play our part in accelerating the energy transition.