The Finnish HYY Yhtymä Group switched to EKOenergy. The HYY Group is a multibusiness corporate group in the service sector. Its focus is on real estate, investment, accommodation, catering and publishing operations.
Several famous buildings in the city centre of Helsinki are now powered by EKOenergy!
2. EKOenergy for Asia
Recently, we have been asked several times if EKOenergy can work in Asia. The answer is yes!
Although we started as a European ecolabel, our criteria can easily be implemented outside Europe. Until recently, the absence of a reliable electricity tracking systems was a problem. But this has changed with the introduction of the International Renewable Energy Certificate - system, I-REC.
Several Asian organisations, suppliers and consumers are now interested in making use of the emerging green electricity market. And some have asked for our advice. EKOenergy's recommendation for Asia is the same as the one for Europe: let's join strengths, and let's use the emerging market to support the worldwide energy transition.
3. Report: Wind turbines and bats
Several EKOenergy members (environmental organisations) have asked the EKOenergy Secretariat to focus on the impact of wind turbines on bat populations.
The current EKOenergy criteria focus mainly on the location of wind turbines. But is this the best solution for bats? Or can we do more?
EKOenergy has signed a cooperation agreement with the German company Energysolutions24. The company is specialised in direct marketing and is interested in promoting EKOenergy, both in Germany and abroad.
Energysolutions24 will actively inform its current German commercial partners about EKOenergy. At the same time, the company wants to offer its services to EKOenergy-suppliers elsewhere in Europe.
The G7 has called for a transformation of electricity generation towards clean sources by 2050. They said fossil fuel emissions should not be allowed in any sector of the economy by the end of the century.
Their targets are not binding - but they send a clear message to investors that in the long term economies will have to be powered by non-polluting energy.
The world's leaders have effectively signalled the end of the fossil fuel era that has driven economies since the Industrial Revolution.
This is a seismic shift - and an acknowledgement from the leaders, prompted by Angela Merkel, of the scale of the threat from climate change.
Text copied from www.bbc.com / picture: Bundesregierung/Denzel