Description
RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the United States. The company is the world's second-largest offshore wind power generation and Europe's third-largest company in renewable energy. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, the RWE Group was ranked as the 297th-largest public company in the world.
RWE confirmed in December 2015 that it would separate its renewable energy generation, power grid and retail operations into a separate company, Innogy SE, during 2016, and sell a 10% holding in the business through an initial public offering. The restructuring was prompted by efforts to reduce the group's exposure to nuclear decommissioning costs, required due to a German government policy of closing all nuclear power stations by 2022.
In July 2019, RWE's handling of the conflict with activists in the Hambach Forest were strongly criticized in the media. The company finally agreed to refrain from clearing the forest until autumn 2020.
In July 2020, RWE completed a far-reaching asset swap deal with E.ON first announced in 2018, whereby the international renewable generation portfolio of E.ON and Innogy were transferred to RWE.
