Energy monitor your screen use and reduce your CO2 emissions

The CSRD directive and environmental reporting will drive a focus on year on year CO2 savings, says Svensson’s Paul Arkesteijn and Emelie Hultberg

Growers have been acutely conscious of their energy usage since the ongoing conflict in Ukraine flared up into the Battle of Kyiv in February 2022. Energy prices soared.

Some have made use of Svensson’s Energy Monitor plug-in for the Let’s Grow platform to trim the energy costs of their climate screen-equipped greenhouse. But even as energy prices fluctuate, a further imperative has come more squarely into view.

Run a furnace that is fed with natural gas and you generate CO2 and contribute to global heating. Is it time to add a CO2 emissions report to Svensson's Energy Monitor?

Emelie Hultberg, Sustainability Controller

Paul Arkesteijn, Climate Consultant

“They won’t need to do that,” says Svensson Climate Consultant, Paul Arkesteijn. “It has been built into Energy Monitor for more than a year now. In a few clicks you’re seeing the CO2 reduction of achieved by deploying Svensson's energy screens, as well as the impact on your financial bottom line when you use less fossil energy.”

Energy Monitor enables growers to see not just their Svensson screen energy savings at any moment, but what their natural gas use might have been had they adopted a different approach to their day’s growing. The same goes for the CO2 reduction.

Based at Hellevoetsluis in Netherlands, Arkesteijn says that growers are increasingly becoming aware of a coming overlap between their financial interests, and environmental concerns.

What might previously have been a matter of soft data —company ethos, personal engagement or brand—is now making its way into the hard data of the company income statement.

At Svensson’s Kinna headquarters in Sweden, Emelie Hultberg, Sustainability Controller, says the changes that are coming to larger growers are right there to see in the job title of her relatively new role with Svensson.

“I studied textile engineering, entrepreneurship and innovation before my PhD on sustainability and circular business models,” she says.

“Five years ago people like me might have been part of quality assurance in a company like Svensson,” she says. “I never imagined that here at Svensson I would be hired into the finance department!”

Figure 1 Most users today use Energy Monitor’s data dashboard to save money, with missed savings shown in red above. But cash savings also mean CO2 savings when the fuel is fossil-based and Energy Monitor will specifically report these as well.

Hultberg says it’s a sign of the times facing Svensson and other suppliers to horticulture, as well as growers themselves.

“The new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) which people are all talking about all over Europe seeks to put sustainability and financial data on a par.”

Small to medium-size enterprises will begin to feel two kinds of pressure.

One is from above. Investors are looking to finance or own greener companies and this may well mean higher capital costs for those who use coal and other fossil fuels. Meanwhile, purchasing officers at exchange-listed companies are increasingly asking their suppliers about CSRD compliance, even if those companies are too small to face reporting obligations.

The other pressure is from the grass roots up. Consumers, who for years have been expressing preferences for greener products, are expected to be empowered with CSRD data to make even more pointed demands of wholesalers.

“Right now,” says Hultberg, “it’s a matter of creating transparency.”

Arkesteijn shares an example: “A five-hectare tomato greenhouse in the Netherlands saved €200,000 in energy costs over a year using Svensson’s screens,” he says. “That translates to significant CO₂ reductions – with one cubic meter of natural gas equating to about 1.5-1.9 kg of CO2.”

“These figures aren’t just theoretical — growers can see their savings grow daily, tracked precisely by the Energy Monitor’s dashboard — and that goes for CO2 as well.”

Hultberg says there will be more environmental impact data available than ever before, and in many companies, the sustainability part of the annual report will be longer than the company’s financials.

“Tools like Energy Monitor, with its live CO2 emissions reductions reports, will come into focus as the new directive beds in, because improved screen use gives day to day leverage to impact emissions,” says Arkesteijn.

"To be clear," says Arkesteijn, "we didn't set out to make a CO2 monitor, and that's not what the tool does, but what it will do is show how much energy and CO2 can be avoided by a wise use of the screen system that a grower has at their fingertips."

Hultberg agrees: “And once these data are being reported and transparency comes, the next demand from investors and consumers will be YOY .”

Svensson Energy Monitor: Key Facts

• Real-time tool integrated with LetsGrow.com for greenhouse growers
• Calculates current and historical energy savings from Svensson climate screens
• Provides automated advice on optimal screen strategies (eg, when to open or close screens)
• Tracks CO₂ savings by linking reduced gas consumption to emissions avoided
• Includes a Climate House Advisory for expert guidance
• Helps growers save energy, reduce costs, and improve sustainability

CSRD: Are you affected and when

The EU Directive covers the following…

• Large companies with 500+ employees who are already covered by the Non-Financial Reporting Directive must report in 2025 for fiscal year starting on or after 1 Jan, 2024.
• Large Companies meeting at least two of the following criteria must report in 2026 for fiscal year 2025:
• More than 250 employees.
• Net turnover exceeding €50 million.
• Balance sheet total over €25 million.
• Listed SMEs: Small and medium-sized enterprises with securities listed on EU-regulated markets must report in 2027 covering fiscal year 2026.
• Non-EU Companies: Non-EU parent companies with substantial EU operations must report in 2029 covering fiscal year 2028, specifically those:
• Generating net turnover over €150 million in the EU for two consecutive financial years.
• Having at least one large or listed SME subsidiary, or a branch with net turnover exceeding €40 million in the EU.

Figure 1 Most users today use Energy Monitor’s data dashboard to save money, with missed savings shown in red above. But cash savings also mean CO2 savings when the fuel is fossil-based and Energy Monitor will specifically report these as well.