Bestseller’s parent company Heartland has partnered with energy company Better Energy to build its own solar power plant, thus taking an initial step towards Bestseller’s ultimate ambition of becoming climate positive. The plant will be built in Denmark in the of municipality of Holsterbro and will, with a size of 200MW, be 60 percent bigger than originally planned (125MW).
“As a green transition is of great importance to us, we have chosen to take the opportunity to establish a bigger facility. We do not only wish to produce new renewable energy for our own companies Bestseller, NORMAL and NEMLIG.COM, but also give other external companies, who also focus on their environmental footprint, a chance to buy new renewable energy from us,” says CEO of Heartland, Lise Kaae.
The solar power plant will be privately funded with no subsidies.
“It is crucial to us that the energy is not only green, but also new and without any subsidies. We want to be the direct cause of new renewable energy, which counterbalances the energy use of our own companies,” Lise says.
Energy ambitions stem from Bestseller’s Fashion FWD strategy
In connection with its Fashion FWD sustainability strategy, Bestseller articulated an ultimate ambition – known as the North Star, which commits it to bringing Fashion FWD until we are climate positive, fair for all and circular by design.
When the new solar power plant is in place, Bestseller will be able to cover the equivalent of 100 percent of its entire global electricity consumption for owned and operated buildings.
Bestseller Sustainability Manager Dorte Rye Olsen makes it clear that the ambition to use 100 percent renewable energy for all Bestseller’s offices, own stores, warehouses and other buildings is an important part of the Fashion FWD strategy.
”We want to contribute to an increased use of new renewable energy in the world and we will do so this way. By being part of the establishment of a new solar power plant in Denmark, we are adding production capacity and we are purchasing the equivalent of our own global consumption,” Dorte says.
The construction of the solar power plant will commence in August 2020 and it will provide new green energy to the Danish electricity network in the summer of 2021.
