The Finnish energy company Porvoon Energia has been an enthusiastic seller of EKOenergy-labelled electricity for many years. We are happy that we can now extend the cooperation with them to the sector of renewable heating too.

Consumers connected to Porvoon Energia's district heating network are getting the option to choose EKOenergy-labelled heat.

Heat sold with our label fulfils EKOenergy's sustainability criteria and the sales also contribute to our work to promote renewable energy worldwide.

You can find more information about EKOenergy's criteria for renewable heat and cold on our website. Check out Porvoon Energia's website for more information about their EKOenergy-labelled EKOlämpö/EKOvärme product (in Finnish and Swedish).

 

- Oskar Tillander, Head of district heating at Porvoon Energia

The REC Market Meeting conference, held in Amsterdam on April 5-6, was a success. With more than 400 attendees, the conference was fully booked and there was an optimistic atmosphere.

It was inspiring to meet many of our licensed sellers and other renewable energy enthusiasts. We are proud that several speakers referred to our ecolabel as a good and pragmatic tool to create additional positive impact.

Thanks a lot to RECS Energy Certificate Association for organising such an interesting event. And thumbs up to all others who contributed to the success, in particular to the co-participants and panelists of the C-stream sessions. It was nice cooperating with all of you.

Unfortunately the two days flew by fast. We are now scheduling follow-up meetings. Feel free to reach out to us whether we had time to talk at the conference or not. We can achieve much more together!

 

- Adam White, while addressing a question about a study regarding an EU-wide green label, at the opening session of the REC Market Meeting conference

Nutri - Lácteos San Antonio from Ecuador is using EKOenergy-labelled electricity from their on-site solar installation. Nutri is a local market leader in milk-based food products.

EKOenergy licensee DeltaGlobal SA installed solar panels with a total capacity of 1 MWp on Nutri's premises and encouraged and enabled them to add the EKOenergy label.

By adding our ecolabel, consumers of on-site solar energy:
 
👉 show that they they think globally & act locally,
👉 help us, as an initiative of environmental NGOs, promote renewable energy use worldwide,
👉 contribute to financing off-grid solar in developing countries,
👉 get the right to use our internationally recognised logo in their communications.

Thank you, Nutri - Lácteos San Antonio, for joining EKOenergy users all around the world!

Despite the many challenges energy consumers and producers are facing worldwide, the interest in EKOenergy-labelled renewable energy remains strong and is growing year after year. We are happy to see that this is once more confirmed by an increase in the sold volumes of EKOenergy.

We are currently verifying how our label was used in 2021. With only 75% of the licensees checked, we have already exceeded the volumes of 2020 (which was a record year too).

There are multiple reasons for this growing interest. Buyers choose EKOenergy to increase the direct and indirect positive impact of their renewable energy consumption. Many value our non-profit approach and our expertise too. A growing number of consumers are using our name and internationally recognised logo in their communications as well. 

EKOenergy is a member of the IRENA Coalition for Action. Merve Güngör from EKOenergy has co-authored the second chapter of their recent paper "Decarbonising end-use sectors: Green hydrogen certification". That chapter gives an overview of considerations for the creation of green hydrogen certification, outlines the benefits and challenges of establishing green hydrogen certificates based on different custody chains and highlights lessons learnt from tracking systems for renewable electricity.

ThinkRE is a licensed EKOenergy seller. Merve Güngör collaborated with ThinkRE for the paper "Action Plan for Businesses in China: How to cover your consumption with renewable electricity" and wrote the first chapter, which outlines renewable energy procurement options and additional ways to increase the positive impact. The chapter also touches upon challenges to keep in mind before entering the Chinese market.

 

- The newest Banking on Climate Chaos report, endorsed by EKOenergy

In 2018, we started a cooperation with the Siemenpuu Foundation for the selection and long-term monitoring of projects in Mali, Myanmar and Nepal. The Siemenpuu Foundation was founded more than 20 years ago by 15 Finnish NGOs and acts as a financier of democracy and environment-related initiatives of civil society actors in developing countries as well as a development cooperation organisation in Finland.

Through our cooperation, we want to combine the financial capacity of EKOenergy’s Climate Fund and Siemenpuu’s experience in development cooperation.

Recently we signed a cooperation agreement for another 4 years. As part of that agreement, the Siemenpuu Foundation has now launched a new call for renewable energy projects in Mali and is now preparing for the next steps in Myanmar too.

 

- EKO-Mariia on VKontakte, about her European Solidarity Corps project at EKOenergy's Secretariat

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:

The latest IPCC report, published on the 4th of April, points out that the world can still hope to stave off the worst ravages of climate breakdown but only through a “now or never” dash to a low-carbon economy and society. Everything will need to change: energy, buildings, transport, food and industry.

“Climate change is the result of more than a century of unsustainable energy and land use, lifestyles and patterns of consumption and production. This report shows how taking action now can move us towards a fairer, more sustainable world.”

Text based on an article in The Guardian. See also the website of the IPCC.