HS Orka aims to reduce its climate impact and in 2016 set targets until 2030. The goal was to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents by 40% per kWh by 2030, compared to 2014. Measures to achieve this goal include the reduction of HS Orka’s own energy consumption, create value from carbon dioxide streams, re-vegetation measures and the increase of environmentally friendly cars in the HS Orka vehicle fleet. HS Orka also intends to increase the proportion of recyclable waste to 95% by 2030. The year 2016 and the beginning of 2017 were characterised by an increase in the quantity of non-recycled waste which can be attributed to HS Orka moving its headquarters to Eldborg in Svartsengi. In the beginning of the year, the company sent a container, filled with waste from the last construction phase in Eldborg, for analysis and sorting. The analysis revealed that 60% of the waste was recyclable. HS Orka has learned from the experience and is now focused on the responsible disposal of waste.
HS Orka’s utilization of carbon dioxide in 2017 was less than anticipated. CO2 emissions increased by 1 g CO2-equivalents per kWh between years, from 39 g CO2-equivalents per kWh to 40 g CO2-equivalents per kWh. Direct emissions from the company‘s power plants are high compared to other emission sources. Thus, measures, other than utilisation of carbon dioxide, to decrease emissions have not had measurable impact. However, these measures are equally as important and initial steps were taken to make re-vegetatation a part of all new construction projects. Additionally, systematic work to exchange lighting with energy-efficient lighting started.
The Directorate of Customs classifies motor vehicles according to their CO2 emissions and in categories A to J, where vehicles in class A emit 0-80 g CO2 per driven km. HS Orka uses this classification to analyse its fleet annually. In 2017, 17% of the company's vehicles were in Class A. This is a 10% increase from the previous year. The percentage of renewable energy in Iceland is the highest in the world and the share of renewable energy sources in transport will increase with advancements in the development of hybrid and electric cars.