EKOenergy
Worldwide ecolabel for renewable energy
Newsletter 127,  26  May 2020
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What's new?
In this issue:

1.  EKOenergy's Ivy Award for ForGreen
2.  EKOenergy's Bamboo Award for Nordic Green Energy Sweden
3.  Consumers confirm: Switching to EKOenergy is easy
4.  New Climate Fund project in Myanmar
5.  Welcome to our Advisory Group
6.  New translations: heat criteria and other documents
7.  Green recovery now!
1.    EKOenergy's Ivy Award for ForGreen
EKOenergy's Ivy Award recognises the licensed seller who has shown remarkable perseverance in promoting EKOenergy-labelled electricity.

We proudly announce that the first Ivy Award goes to ForGreen, the Italian energy supplier selling all their electricity with the EKOenergy ecolabel.

ForGreen often joins our communication campaigns, posts about our ecolabel on their social media channels and mention EKOenergy actively in their publications. They also encourage their clients to use the EKOenergy logo on products and offices. Thanks ForGreen! These efforts have resulted in many nice success stories.

Read more about ForGreen and EKOenergy's Ivy Award on our website  >>
2.   EKOenergy's Bamboo Award for Nordic Green Energy Sweden
The second award we have announced this year is EKOenergy’s Bamboo Award. This award is for the licensed seller who has had the highest growth percentage of EKOenergy sales in the past calendar year.

EKOenergy Bamboo Award 2020 goes to Nordic Green Energy Sweden. Congratulations to the whole team!

There’s no simple formula for success, but we can say that Nordic Green Sweden's proactivity and sustained communication efforts have clearly been central in their growth. They were the first to launch EKOenergy in Sweden and they regularly communicate about EKOenergy's achievements.

Read more about Nordic Green Sweden and EKOenergy's Bamboo Award on our website >>
"I think several factors have led to our success here at EKOenergy. First of all, we are ahead of our time. We were amongst the first to promote a 100% renewable economy, so of course we were ready in 2015 and 2016 when organisations such as the RE100 emerged. "

- Steven Vanholme, EKOenergy, in an interview with DiTech Media
Read the interview here  >>
3.  Consumers confirm: switching to EKOenergy is easy
Thanks to our growing network of licensed sellers worldwide, using EKOenergy-labelled electricity is becoming easier and easier.

"We were fortunate that it was easy, only having to speak to our local energy provider and him proposing EKOenergy" told Ritex's staff in our interview last week.

In addition, Verdonce posted on LinkedIn saying "We are very happy to make the switch to EKOenergy certified, 100% renewable energy at our office, warehouse and little workshop here in Pozuelo! Thanks to the supply from Gesternova Energía the changeover was super smooth."

And in Italy, more than 500 farms use EKOenergy via an agro-energy community.

Check our website, follow us on social media and stay tuned for the upcoming newsletters to learn more!
4.   New Climate Fund project in Myanmar
Thanks to the contributions from EKOenergy users worldwide, we are able to finance renewable energy projects that wouldn’t take place without our help.

One of the newly selected projects is an initiative to scale up renewable energy mini-grids in Rakhine State, Myanmar. It's a project of the Italian NGO Istituto Oikos.

EKOenergy’s Climate Fund will grant 22,000 euros for its implementation.

Istituto Oikos and their local partners will install solar mini-grids in two remote communities, where the main source of income derives from agricultural activities, seasonal works and fishing activities. Candles and kerosene lamps are currently the only lighting devices available.

Read more about the project on our website  >>
"The oil-related investment and plans severely contradict the Estonian Government’s aim to apply for the Just Transition Fund (JTF), which paradoxically intends to ensure a fair socio-economic transformation to a low-carbon economy. "

- Letter from environmental NGOs to the EU, about Estonia's plans to invest in shale oil.
Co-signed by EKOenergy
Read the letter here  >>
5.   Welcome to our Advisory Group
We welcome new participants to EKOenergy's Advisory Group.

Our Advisory Group can give input on any issue related to EKOenergy and its implementation.

The Advisory Group members support the development of the worldwide EKOenergy ecolabel, making it more and more impactful and user-friendly.

Relevant topics include tracking of renewable energy, sustainability (e.g. sustainable biomass and hydropower), selection of EKOenergy’s Climate Fund and Environmental Fund projects, strategic choices with regard to the development of the ecolabel, and the like.

Interested? Get in touch with Steven Vanholme.

For more information (PDF)  >>
6.   New translations: heat criteria and other documents
We continue to add documents in various language versions to our renewed website.

Our criteria for EKOenergy-labelled gas are now available in French, German, Russian and Spanish.

The criteria for EKOenergy-labelled heat and cold are available in Finnish, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian.

You can select the language and click the icons on EKOenergy's criteria page to see more information and access these documents.
"This is the first time that I have worked in a project with such an international scope and now I really see the impact EKOenergy can have in so many countries. It's extremely interesting.”

- Elodie Cuesta, volunteer at EKOenergy's Secretariat
Video made by La Maison de l'Europe (35:34 - 35:46)  >>
7.   Green recovery now!
More than 50 CEOs from the banking and insurance sector – including BNP Paribas, AXA, Allianz, and Santander – have joined the “green recovery alliance” in the European Parliament.

The alliance was launched last month at the initiative of Pascal Canfin, a French centrist MEP who chairs the European Parliament’s committee on environment and public health.

Signatories of the alliance say they are committed to supporting post-pandemic “stimulus transformation plans” that put the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss at the centre of Europe’s economic policy.

Illustration: Raf Schoenmaekers, Komkom Doorn - The text of this chapter: Euractiv. Read the Euractiv article here  >>
We at EKOenergy are always enthusiastic to collaborate with new partners.
For further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
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