08 Circularity

The demand for products is increasing worldwide, while many raw materials/resources used to make these products are becoming scarcer and/or more expensive. It is, therefore, becoming increasingly important to make smart, efficient use of raw materials, resources and products.

In the move to enable a fully circular economy, the Dutch government has also formulated an interim target: by 2030, society will use 50% less primary raw materials like ores and minerals. Both Gasunie Nederland and Gasunie Deutschland endorse this ambition. Our ambition is to have fully circular business operations by 2040.

In recent years, Gasunie has acted on its commitment to handle raw materials, resources and products responsibly. In this regard, we have taken initiatives on both the inflow and outflow side to reduce our impact. By embracing circularity as a material topic and shaping our new CSR strategy, we are making clear our commitment to increasing circularity and the use of secondary materials.

That said, we do acknowledge that our current policy is incomplete, partly because we have further refined our ambitions. We are working on the further development of a policy that should ultimately see us achieving our targets in the area of circularity. We are doing this in collaboration with other network operators. We are also working on developing a programme with measures that align with our sustainability objectives.

We aim to have the drafting of this new policy and programme completed in 2025. Our starting point for circularity is the 10R model of the MacArthur Foundation, which describes ten levels of circularity, from the most sustainable strategy (the top rung of the ‘ladder’) to the least (the bottom rung). The higher up the ladder, the higher the circularity score.

1. Refuse & rethink
2. Reduce
3. Redesign
4. Reuse
5. Repair
6. Refurbish
7. Remanufacture
8. Repurpose
9. Recycle
10. Recover

Our goal is to start initiatives as high up the R ladder as possible. At Gasunie, we do not see the ‘Recover’ strategy as being circular: all our products must be suitable for recycling or higher. The highest three rungs (R strategies) on the 10R ladder relate to the design phase of a product/service. Within our own operations, we apply these R strategies to the design and development of our own assets.

Our primary focus in applying the principles of the circular economy is on steel*, the key source of both inflow and outflow of resources at Gasunie. Most of our current infrastructure consists of steel products, like steel pipes. Given the many possibilities for circular use of this product group, Gasunie sees plenty of opportunities to contribute to a circular economy.

In the research report ‘Towards a Circular Energy Infrastructure’ (September 2024), several Dutch grid operators, in collaboration with producers, suppliers and industry associations, made seven concrete recommendations to start the transition towards circular energy infrastructure. The results of the research show that we can work faster and more cost efficiently if we apply circular strategies to the core activities of our network operations.

With the other network operators and with our suppliers, we are exploring innovative solutions and sharing practical experiences. For example, for the supply of control valves for Hynetwork’s future hydrogen network, we explicitly included circularity as a requirement in the invitation to tender in 2024. The castings will be made almost completely from scrap in an electric furnace, cutting emissions by 80%.

The Executive Board monitors the progress in implementing current policy on the topic of circularity and drawing up new policy in this area.

Reuse of assets (LT)

Between now and 2030, in the Netherlands and Germany we are aiming to convert hundreds of kilometres of steel gas pipelines, which are becoming redundant due to falling demand for natural gas, into hydrogen pipelines. These pipelines may possibly remain in use for many decades after repurposing. In the two decades after 2030, we may be able to repurpose many more gas pipelines as demand for natural gas declines further and demand for hydrogen increases. We have also taken initiatives to apply reverse logistics to dismantling projects: we are looking to see whether we can recondition components to give these a new life within or outside Gasunie.

Procurement (LT)

To get a better picture of the level of circularity, we request material passports. This initiative emerged from the Groene Netten (green networks) partnership. The material passport shows raw material composition of a product as well as the weight and percentage of each raw material that makes up the product. It also shows (as a percentage) the extent to which each raw material has been recycled and can be recycled at the end of the product’s life cycle.

Our procurement departments in the Netherlands and Germany are jointly investigating whether and from when EU-wide standardised Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) can be used as an alternative to national material passports. In a tender procedure for the procurement of a pipeline, an EPD was requested for the first time in 2024.

The procurement of green steel (steel produced with a scrap content of more than 20%, which is currently the industry standard) is not expected until early 2026 due to insufficient market availability and therefore had no impact on Gasunie’s circularity performance in 2024.

Our goal is to be fully circular as regards both inflows and outflows of steel by 2040. This is sooner than the target year set by the Dutch government. As an interim target, we want to use 50% less primary raw materials by 2030 compared with 2020 by using secondary resources.

Resource inflows

Gasunie purchases significant quantities of steel each year. We challenge our suppliers to show what they can do, and we work with them to create circular solutions and reduce the use of primary raw materials. Gasunie has not yet set any concrete targets for the inflow of resources, as these have not been specifically investigated yet. In the circularity programme we plan to set up, we will set concrete targets with a view to extending service life and promoting product and material innovation.

Resource outflows

To date, we have only focused on resource inflows. We have not yet formulated an overarching policy, actions or objectives regarding how we want to handle steel leaving the production/operational process (waste) in the future. In practice, initiatives are being taken in the area of circularity and the outflow of our components and materials (see action plans). In 2025, we will work on formulating concrete targets for the outflow of steel and allocate people and resources to this.

As regards any of the criteria relating to steel, these have not been validated by an external party other than our auditor.

Resource outflows

The relevant resource outflows (waste flow) arising from the management, maintenance and development of infrastructure for large-scale transmission/transport, storage and conversion of energy mainly concern the decommissioned pipes/pipelines. These resource outflows, divided into hazardous and non-hazardous steel waste, were as follows in 2024:

The figure for hazardous steel waste (in tonnes) recognised in 2024 is based on the 2024 annual statement from Reym, the external party that handles the waste management of our decommissioned pipes/gas pipelines. The materials present in these decommissioned pipelines (natural gas and other) are contaminated metal, bitumen coating, natural gas condensate or HgS (mercury sulphide) scaling, pipes filled with foam concrete, and LSA-contaminated material. A weighbridge is used to determine the weight of this hazardous waste handed over.

The figure for the tonnes of non-hazardous steel waste recognised in 2024 comes from the statement from the external party Milgro. This mainly concerns scrap iron and stock of steel pipelines that no longer meet the set quality requirements.