DUBLIN, Ireland— E-Fuel GmbH, based in Hoya, Germany, has won the NACS European Convenience Retail Sustainability Award. The award, sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, was presented on June 1 at the NACS Convenience Summit Europe.
As a joint venture of 10 medium-sized German petrol station operators and energy traders, eFuel GmbH aims to make a decisive contribution to the future-oriented and climate-neutral realignment of business models. It focuses on the production of e-fuels, electricity-based synthetic fuels that are produced from renewable energies such as solar power, wind power or hydropower. Because the burning of e-fuels releases just as much CO2 as was extracted from the air during production, these synthetic fuels are CO2-neutral if the electricity is produced from renewable energies.
E-fuels are increasingly seen as a global alternative to electric vehicles, which until now have been the only option for achieving the decarbonization objectives set by countries throughout Europe.
The NACS Convenience Retail Sustainability Award recognizes a retail company that has pursued a significant and compelling sustainability initiative that creates positive social outcomes and produces lasting value for customers, employees and the convenience retail industry. The judges agreed that eFuel GmbH’s innovative joint strategy can have a big impact on CO2 sustainability.
“By investing as a group to drive CO2 neutral fuels, these companies have developed something that they couldn’t have done or achieved individually,” said NACS President and CEO Henry O. Armour. “The award recognizes how smaller businesses in our industry can collectively work together to achieve or even exceed the efforts or larger organizations on their CO2 reduction journey.”
The NACS Convenience Summit Europe (convenience.org/CSE) is where global retailers gather each year to gain and share knowledge on strategic industry issues, while taking a deep dive into how these core, retail-centric themes will impact the industry today and in the future. The 2023 event took place in Dublin, Ireland, from May 30 to 1 June.