| 1. UN Energy Compacts Progress Report features EKOenergy |
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The UN's Energy Compacts Annual Progress Report, published last week during the UN General Assembly, includes a case study on the tangible impact of our global non-profit ecolabel: EKOenergy: Powering a Sustainable Future. The case study highlights EKOenergy's concrete contributions to realising the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Sustainable Development Goal 7, Affordable and Clean Energy for All.
The Energy Compacts are a platform developed by UN-Energy to secure voluntary commitments that accelerate the transition to renewable energy and provide access to electricity and clean cooking technologies by 2030.
"The global energy transition, while crucial, often faces challenges such as accessibility, environmental sustainability, and alignment with broader development goals. EKOenergy is a global non-profit dedicated to renewable energy, ensuring that the benefits of the energy transition reach people and communities who might be left behind."
Thanks a lot to all those involved in our work. Your growing support allows us to achieve more impactful results each year! Also, thanks a lot to the authors of the report for noticing our efforts and for the clear overview of our work. |
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"EKOenergy leverages a positive communication strategy, focusing on concrete actions and good examples. By pooling small contributions from many, they ensure efficient and impactful use of funds, enabling the steady growth of renewable energy projects."
- UN Energy Compacts Progress Report 2024, Case study EKOenergy |
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We are happy and proud to be an association partner of the RE-Source event again. This year's edition takes place on October 24th and 25th in Amsterdam.
RE-Source is the perfect place to learn about Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and meet with key players from both the buyer and supplier sides. More than 1,400 participants are expected, including hundreds of representatives from corporate clean energy buyers.
When preparing or signing PPAs, remember that our non-profit label can easily be combined with power procured via PPAs as long as our criteria are fulfilled. Choosing EKOenergy is an effective way to increase the positive impact of any renewable power contracts.
Adding our non-profit ecolabel to power procured via a PPA
- enables the off-taker to contribute to multiple Sustainable Development Goals,
- introduces an extra dimension of leadership by supporting off-grid solar projects that we finance in low- and middle-income countries,
- supports us in our work to promote the energy transition worldwide, ensuring positive impacts well beyond your own PPA contract,
- facilitates your communication about renewable energy,
- and much more!
For the programme and registration, check out the RE-Source website. |
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| 3. EKOenergy is and remains readily available in China |
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Most of the EKOenergy used in China for the past eight years was based on International Renewable Energy Certificates, I-RECs. In 2016, one of the first renewable energy deals ever in China, if not the first, included the EKOenergy label. In the years thereafter, the demand for EKOenergy in China has been growing steadily.
Because of new Chinese energy market regulations, I-RECs will no longer be available next year. For the details on the timing, check out the I-TRACK website. Instead, companies that want to prove the origin of their power will have to use Chinese Green Electricity Certificates (GEC), issued and managed by China’s National Energy Administration (NEA).
The GEC system is not new. It has gradually developed since 2017, and EKOenergy has followed this development since its inception. Since last year, some EKOenergy users have begun using GECs to prove the origin of their EKOenergy-labelled electricity. We are ready for the next step and hope that the GEC system will lead to an even faster uptake of renewable energy (and EKOenergy), also among Chinese businesses.
We thank all the stakeholders who have worked hard to raise awareness of energy tracking in the Chinese market, particularly the I-TRACK Foundation and the many market players in the I-REC and GEC markets. We are looking forward to continued cooperation with many of you. The setting has changed in China, but the goals remain the same: We can and must speed up the energy transition.
For more information, contact your EKOenergy supplier, or contact EKOenergy's Secretariat. |
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"Use additionality labels such as EKOenergy!"
- Nima Faroghi, in his presentation at the GO Conference in Iceland. (We agree! In locations where all electricity comes from renewable sources, choosing EKOenergy makes even more sense than elsewhere.) |
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| 4. News from previously funded solar projects |
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EKOenergy's Climate Fund provides the necessary financial resources for disadvantaged communities in low- and middle-income countries to implement renewable energy projects
Many of the funded projects ensure safe drinking water by installing solar-powered water pumps. Last week, we received updates from two of these.
Renew'N'Able Malawi sent the mid-term report about their ongoing project in the Thyolo district. They are building an energy kiosk at a school, to produce electricity for lighting and refrigeration and to power a barbershop. The project partners also drill a borehole and install a solar-powered water pumping system to provide clean drinking water to the school and surrounding communities. Next to the school, they will build a greenhouse with a solar drip irrigation system. We are happy to read that the activities are going well and are on schedule. The commissioning is scheduled for the last week of November.
We also received a report from FELM and ICC. In 2023 and 2024, they received grants from our Climate Fund to install solar-powered irrigation systems in remote villages in northeast Cambodia. Global warming and economic problems are causing many difficulties for the livelihoods of indigenous peoples in the project area. Many villagers still rely on traditional farming for a living. However, traditional farming is no longer sufficient to support families due to poor soil fertility, fast-changing weather patterns, and the increasing number of people encroaching on forest land for agriculture, leading to the loss of non-timber forest products and wildlife that the community used to depend on. The installation of solar-powered pumps facilitates irrigation and leads to better crop yields. It also contributes to improved hygiene, better access to clean drinking water, and safety for women by reducing long trips to fetch water.
Thanks a lot to all those who make such projects possible, in particular the sellers and consumers of EKOenergy-labelled electricity and the involved organisations and communities. |
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| "Our group grows more vegetables and better crops because we now have more irrigation water. However, climate change still threatens farmers' livelihoods because temperatures are rising, and many natural water sources are drying up, leaving many without enough water." - Sal Fet, in a report about a solar project funded by EKOenergy |
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| 5. EKOenergy's Bamboo Award 2024 goes to Väre |
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EKOenergy-labelled renewable energy is available for consumers of all sizes, thanks to the steadily growing network of authorised EKOenergy providers worldwide. Working with so many knowledgeable and dedicated people is an absolute honour, and we are thankful to all of them.
Once a year, we take a moment to highlight and award some extraordinary achievements. In our previous newsletter we announced the winners of this year's Oak and Ivy Awards.
The winner of the third Award, EKOenergy's Bamboo Award, for the fastest growth rate of EKOenergy sales, is now also public. It's the Finnish energy supplier Väre! Väre’s sales team made special efforts to promote EKOenergy to their business clients, and they are now reaping the fruits of these actions. Congratulations to all those involved! |
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| "Many people want to do their part but aren’t always sure how. The label makes it simple for them to support energy that actively contributes to environmental projects and drives positive change globally." - Björn Visell, Business Area Manager B2B & Public, Nordic Green Energy Sweden |
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| 6. Review of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 2 Guidance |
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The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the worldwide standard for carbon accounting. Its Scope 2 Guidance sets the rules for the allocation of carbon emissions related to the production of purchased electricity and heat. Most of the rules are now under review.
As part of the review process, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol secretariat has composed several Technical Working Groups. We are happy to see many familiar faces among the new members of the Technical Working Group for the review of the Scope 2 Guidance. Including experts with whom we have cooperated on various occasions over the past ten years.
Our input and expectations are simple:
1) Don't change the basic rules, but elaborate on what exists. Start where the current version stops, at the chapter that lists ways to create additional positive impact using the market-based approach.
2) The texts can be shortened considerably. A Guidance shouldn't be an encyclopedia. The sector develops fast, so the more details, the quicker the text risks becoming outdated. A shorter text will also be easier to translate for use by companies of all sizes everywhere in the world.
3) We need a standard that supports a range of solutions, able to serve energy consumers of all kinds in countries with very different legal and economic backgrounds. The current Scope 2 Guidance lists EKOenergy as a good solution, and obviously, we hope the new version will do so too. |
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| 7. Concrete results: River restoration in Germany |
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Besides contributing to EKOenergy's Climate Fund, consumers of EKOenergy-labelled hydropower also contribute €0.10/MWh to our Environmental Fund. These additional contributions enable us to fund carefully selected and impactful river restoration projects.
Last week, we received photos and a newspaper article about one of the river restoration projects we funded earlier this year: a project in the Ohre river in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
The environmental organisation BUND received €30,000 from our Environmental Fund for a series of measures to improve the ecological situation of the Ohre near the town of Jersleben. These measures include the removal of culvert pipes in two locations to enhance the ecological connection for fish in the area between the Mühlgraben and the Ohre. BUND also intends to place deadwood in the river as a habitat for fish and invertebrates. The work happens in coordination with the Börde district and the entities in charge of the water management in the area.
Photo: BUND, UHV |
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| 8. The incredible speed of the decline of coal in the UK |
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Yesterday, September 30th, 2024, the UK closed its last coal power plant. It almost went unnoticed: No blackouts, no protests, no political polarisation, no drama, no sadness. Everyone seems to agree that no one is going to miss coal!
The pace at which the UK achieved this milestone is astonishing. UK policies have incentivised the rapid deployment of renewable energy, while simultaneously tightening restrictions on high polluting coal power plants.
Coal power provided almost 40% of UK power generation in 2012, shrinking to 2% by 2019 and now fallen to zero. In 2012, coal generated 143 TWh of electricity in the UK, equivalent to Sweden's total power demand in 2023. Since 2000, 25 coal plants have closed or switched to other fuels, 15 of those since 2012.
These policies have delivered a massive drop in carbon emissions from electricity generation, from 160 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2012 to 41 MtCO2e in 2023.
Thanks a lot to all those involved in this transition! In the coming ten years, the same can, must, and will happen in all other countries!
For more information on the UK's exit from coal, see the article The UK’s journey to a coal power phase-out on the website of Ember. |
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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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