Producing energy is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The answer can only be a transition to renewables and electrification - but time is running out. As  Hege Biermann, CEO at RR Frontal says, time is running out:

“It's our responsibility to do better. And we have to make a change. And I think we are all at a crossroad where we have to change and rethink how we do things.”

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Changing the way we use electricity is something that will affect everybody. For Arnt Sollie, CEO at Ren Røros, sustainability is an issue on which energy producers must lead:

“The energy industry is part of the problem when it comes to climate change, but we're also a big part of the solution. So even though we are a real, renewable energy power producer, we are a different energy company, helping the customers with sustainable practices.”

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Børge Nilssen Stafne, Innovation Officer at Ren Røros says that sustainability needs to be a long term solution rather than kicking problems further down the road:

“You don't really want today's solutions to be tomorrow's problem. So that is our approach. You have to combine the sustainable goals with the climate actions.”

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Ren Røros is achieving this through their portfolio of innovation projects, backed by Sollie across the company’s varied operations:

“We have six daughter companies. One of them is power, which produces electricity from hydropower and from industrial heating. Then we have the grid company, electricians and digital, working with broadband connections to industries and to people, but we're also working with IT services and RPA (Robotic Process Automation). FInally we have a communication agency to help promote understanding of what we are trying to achieve.”.

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Stafne says that the innovative style of Ren Røros is aided by the company structure:

“Being a small company means that you can make quicker decisions from thought to action. It's a short value chain, but also the mix of different domain knowledge we have brought together means that we can constantly test out solutions.”

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These solutions include valuable contributions to decarbonize parts of the food chain. Grete Sønsteby, Co-Founder at N2 Applied explains the problem:

“We are working to enable farmers to produce their own fertilizer from air and slurry and electricity. We need a major shift from centralized and fossil production of fertilizer to local and renewable production of fertilizer.”

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The emissions from this process have traditionally been difficult to tackle, but Sønsteby says the solution hinges on decentralization:

“Our solution operates on the farm locally. Air is a key ingredient, which we take into a machine with an electric arc to crack the molecules. This is very tough work, using a lot of electricity. In order for this to be profitable to farmers, they need affordable energy. We have the technology that farmers need to have nitrogen. They know the infrastructure around renewable energy. So by the use of renewable energy from Ren Røros we are able to stop the methane and the ammonia from ever leaving the slurry, the farmer circulates the nitrogen on the farm, and he has taken all the fossils out of global food production.”

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Sollie says that Ren Røros has a responsibility to play a leading role in creating a sustainable future:

“We need to use our strength as an agile, small company. There is no easy fix to the energy transition. We need to think about what are the impacts of the actions that we do through the entire value chain.”

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Stafne believes that at the heart of innovation is the idea that you must constantly challenge yourself to look beyond the horizon and give future generations a head start:

“You don't want to be a dinosaur. You need to keep innovating and you have to be a part of this move towards long-term sustainability. You have to challenge everything you do today.”

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For Arnt Sollie, there is no alternative to innovation:

“There is no other option; we have to change. That is the core of Ren Røros, because as many say, there is no planet B. I think it's very urgent that we do actions and we really need to change. And for us to be sustainable as a company there is no other way.”

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But is he optimistic about it? Sollie smiles:

“The future is bright.”