We thank all sellers of EKOenergy-labelled energy for promoting renewable energy around the world. It's encouraging to work with so many passionate professionals.

Each year, when closing our annual audit, we take the opportunity to highlight and celebrate some extraordinary achievements by granting awards.

EKOenergy's Bamboo Award is for the licensee that achieved the highest growth rate of EKOenergy-labelled sales in the past year. The Bamboo Award 2022 goes to the Finnish energy company Lumme Energia, whose sales of EKOenergy-labelled electricity more than doubled in 2022. Congratulations, Lumme Energia!

EKOenergy's Ivy Award is for honouring a licensee that has made outstanding efforts in promoting EKOenergy-labelled energy. The Ivy Award 2022 goes to Deltaglobal for their passion for promoting EKOenergy-labelled electricity from on-site solar installations in Ecuador. Thanks to Deltaglobal for being an inspiring pioneer in Latin America!

 

- Javier Alvarado, Managing Director of Deltaglobal

Users of EKOenergy-labelled electricity help speed up the energy transition in several ways. For example, they all contribute to the financing of clean energy projects in developing countries.

We receive regular updates from these projects and are always happy to share that information with you.

- In 2020, we granted 22,000 € to Renewable World for a project in Nepal that focused on using solar water-pumping technology and climate-smart agriculture to improve food security. The project benefitted households in 5 of the poorest communities in the Achham district, which are also hardest to reach. The activities we financed were finalised a year ago, but Renewable World's work in the area continues and they sent us a follow-up report last week.

- Renewable World has also sent us an interim report about a project we financed in 2021: The installation of small-scale solar power systems and energy-enabled equipment in 4 rural health posts. This ongoing project is expected to improve the health care of around 4,400 individuals in poor off-grid communities.

- We have received photos from the African Conservation Trust. In 2019, we granted them 28,800 € to improve access to solar power and lighting for people living in extreme poverty in informal settlements. They are now implementing the project in KwaZulu-Natal, South-Africa.

- Association Jeunesse Verte du Cameroun has sent us the final report for the project we financed in 2021 to empower women in urban and peri-urban areas. We've recently prepared a Climate Stories leaflet about this project: Solar-powered sewing machines to support women in Cameroon.

For more news, see the Climate Fund page of our website or follow us on social media.

Consumers of EKOenergy enable us to set up renewable energy campaigns, targeting energy consumers all over the world. We are currently finalising the preparation of our new campaign, which will focus on energy consumption in the video gaming sector.

With this campaign, we aim to:

- inform companies in the gaming ecosystem about the possibility of choosing sustainable renewable energy,

- encourage these companies to switch to EKOenergy-labelled electricity,

- suggest that they communicate about their choice of sustainable renewable energy via their network to inspire others.

With a thriving community and growing influence, the video game ecosystem is a space with great potential. The sector can contribute to the energy transition in many ways, especially through its far-reaching networks. If you know any company that could be interested, don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

 

- UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in reaction to the bad news of the "State of the Global Climate 2021" report

EKOenergy is a supporting association of the first I-REC Standard Conference taking place in Bangkok, Thailand, on 1 and 2 November 2022.

The Conference is an opportunity for I-REC (International Renewable Energy Certificates) market actors, facilitators, stakeholders, and governmental agencies to gather and get up to date on the existing governance structure, upcoming Product Codes, and market developments. It's also a perfect place to share thoughts, visions, and experiences with their peers from around the world.

In 2015, EKOenergy was amongst the first to endorse certificates issued and redeemed in line with the I-REC Standard as valid instruments to prove the origin of electricity and avoid double counting. It's great to see how the I-RECs are contributing to the emergence of vibrant renewable energy markets in more countries every year. This conference is another step in that process.

The early bird registration rate for the I-REC Standard Conference 2022 is available until 1 July 2022.
 

We encourage consumers of renewable energy to communicate about their choice. This way, they help spread the message and inspire others to join the renewable energy transition too. Here are some recent examples of companies who have publicly announced their choice of EKOenergy:

SkyCell, a service provider for the pharmaceutical supply chain, has announced on LinkedIn that they are now using 100% renewable electricity with the Naturemade label in Switzerland and the EKOenergy label everywhere else.

In a video made by Deltaglobal, Ecuadorian food company Tecopesca explains why they use the EKOenergy label in their communication: "The EKOenergy label allows us to present ourselves to our consumers in a different way, proving the origin of our electricity and showing our gratitude to the ecosystem. The ecolabel is of worldwide importance and is allowing us to leverage the growth of our own brand."

Gamadecor, part of the Porcelanosa Group, is setting up an 800 kWp installation which will produce about 1 GWh of electricity annually. The company has announced that it will add our label to their on-site produced electricity.

For each MWh sold as EKOenergy-labelled hydropower, a contribution of 0.10 € is paid to our Environmental Fund. These contributions are used to finance river restoration projects.

All funds go to carefully selected, impactful projects that make a big difference for local nature. Since only a small fraction of EKOenergy comes from hydropower, our Environmental Fund is relatively small.

Last week, we got news from a Finnish project we'd previously financed. We granted 15,000 € to the Finnish Society for Stream Conservation (Virho) for the project in Karkkila, where the local river looked like a degraded canal. Most of the grant was used to finance the restoration of spawning grounds. The remaining part of the grant will now be used to finance a study exploring different options to allow fish migration over a dam in the centre of Karkkila. The options include the construction of a fish passage and the partial or total removal of the dam.

This year, we will have about 40,000 € for river restoration/dam removal projects in Sweden and/or Germany, two of the countries where most of the EKOenergy-labelled hydropower is sold. Contact us for more information.

 

- EKO-María, in an interview for the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation members' magazine

By following EKOenergy on social media, you get relevant updates about the climate crisis, renewable energy and EKOenergy's activities worldwide.

Here are some recent posts:

It's extremely warm in many parts of the northern hemisphere. Not in a few places, but over vast areas on all continents, affecting more than 1 billion people. And it is not even summer yet.