"I was hearing discordant speeches from certain politicians in the Greater French-speaking Region, who were explaining, for example, that companies had to slow down on the energy transition, or that it wasn't the priority, so we wanted to carry out a survey to see the true feelings of the economic players present in Luxembourg, France and Belgium", explains the director of Enerdeal Luxembourg, François Neu.
In partnership with Picto Communication Partner, IMS, Agoria, ELN and Intraco Consulting, a survey was carried out among industrial companies in the Greater French-speaking Region to "understand how economic players perceive the energy transition and environmental pressures, what their priorities are in the face of these issues, and to what extent these questions influence their strategies and investments,” adds François Neu. The survey was presented on Wednesday 24 September at Windhof, followed by a round table discussion on "the dilemmas of the energy transition for businesses" with , director of IMS Luxembourg, Samuel Gillessen, corporate manager at Klima-Agence, Baptiste Fosséprez, CEO of Pepite and Agoria representative (Liège and Luxembourg), , member of the Ceratizit group executive board.
"We collected responses from 106 decision-makers, 53% of whom are in the company's general management. They were asked 30 questions that we co-constructed with all the partners. What emerges is that the energy transition is seen as strategic for the vast majority of respondents, and has even become an economic argument," continues the director of Enerdeal Luxembourg.
Customer pressure
Among the 30 questions, for example, it was asked, “What are the two most important energy issues for your company today?” Budget control in the medium and long term was cited first, at 58%, followed by reducing CO2 emissions (47%). 70% of respondents have energy transition objectives.
When it comes to energy consumption, environmental issues influence the strategic decisions of the decision-makers surveyed strongly (at 44%), partially (at 44%) and little or not at all at just 10%. "What's also interesting is that, when asked 'Who do you feel pressure from to reduce your environmental impact?', 45%, or almost half, replied 'customers or users'," analyses François Neu. "It's also something I've heard myself. Even in the B2B sector, it's the market that's pushing companies to make this energy transition."
To this question, 20% say they receive pressure from their employees and only 9% from their banks or financiers. “We wouldn't say that the banks don't care, but in any case, they're not the ones putting the pressure on. However, it depends on the sector, as one logistics company replied that its bank was putting pressure on it to electrify its fleet.”
Bonuses rather than subsidies
On this subject, 66% of companies have switched or are in the process of switching to full electric, and the two main obstacles cited to taking the plunge are vehicle range (49%) and cost (34%). 60% of companies also think that a government incentive would have a real impact, as opposed to subsidies, "with bonuses or malus, for example".
Energy was also mentioned in the questionnaire. 75% think that energy prices will rise, and a third are even very pessimistic. In addition, more than half of the companies believe that an increase of more than 50% in energy prices in the short or medium term could jeopardise their business. "Since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, the cost and choice of energy have become real issues for businesses," confirms François Neu. "Those that had contracts with variable prices took a real beating at the time."
"And for companies, investing in the energy transition, in renewable energies, in a CSR strategy, is profitable. They certainly won't all be able to be self-sufficient in energy, but they can make significant savings by consuming differently." For managers who have already installed renewable energy production sources in their company (photovoltaic, wind, biomass, or other), the main reason for doing so is to reduce costs (39.6%), followed by reducing CO2 emissions (34.9%).
This article in French.