For each MWh of EKOenergy sold, the seller contributes at least €0,10 to EKOenergy's Climate Fund. This money is used to finance diverse climate projects. We have just agreed to donate €30,000 to a project of Istituto Oikos to install PV systems to several rural secondary schools in Arusha region in Tanzania. This project is a follow up of an earlier project financed by EKOenergy. We will also donate €10,000 to the Belgian organisation Solar without Borders for their Solar Kiosk project in Togo. We will of course keep you informed about these projects. Thanks to all the EKOenergy consumers. We also welcome donations.
2. Welcome to three new EKOenergy sellers
EKOenergy continues to grow. We have 3 new licensees. South Pole Group is a leading provider of global sustainability solutions that help public and private actors develop climate proven policies and strategies. This includes carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates, amongst others. In Italy, the new 100% renewable supplier ForGreen will sell all of its electricity as EKOenergy. Their focus will be on solar energy from Italy. Also the German energy supplier EnviaM starts selling EKOenergy. Looking forward to new adventures with 3 very different but equally interesting new partners. You'll hear more about it.
3. RECs Market Meeting focused on consumers
The 6th edition of the annual RECs Market Meeting was a success. More than 200 participants from around 100 companies and organisations discussed the recent evolution of the renewable electricity market. It was particularly interesting to see several of the RE100 companies actively involved. There were contributions from Nestlé, Unilever and many others. Important issues were the fast growing demand for renewable electricity, the role of renewable electricity purchase for carbon accounting and CSR reporting, as well as the internationalisation of the green electricity market. EKOenergy helped organise a pre-conference workshop about electricity tracking. We thank the organisers for giving us the opportunity to be involved in this great event.
4. Solar for Sumba: works have started
The Dutch development organisation HIVOS and its local Indonesian partners launched an ambitious project to make the medium-sized Indonesian Island Sumba 100% renewable. Sumba is one of the poorest parts of Indonesia. In 2010 the island had an electrification rate of only 24.5%, a consequence of a dispersed population and the high cost of grid extension. In 2015, EKOenergy donated €28,000 to to finance solar installations on an elementary school and a junior high school in Kanata village (Waingapu). The works have now started and the installation will start producing electricity before the end of the month.
5. New EKOenergy product in cooperation with fishers
Ekösähkö, a daughter company of Loiste Energia, is a Finnish electricity supplier selling only EKOenergy certified electricity. They have now launched a special EKOenergy product, in cooperation with the Finnish Federation of Hobby Fishermen. The electricity is from wind turbines and biomass. On top of the normal EKOenergy requirements, Ekosähkö also donates 2.5% of the price to the "Size matters" project: a project to increase awareness about which fished can be caught and which fishes should be released. Click here for more information (in Finnish)
February smashed a century of global temperature records by a “stunning” margin, according to data released by Nasa. The unprecedented leap led scientists, usually wary of highlighting a single month’s temperature, to label the new record a “shocker” and warn of a “climate emergency”. The Nasa data shows the average global surface temperature in February was 1.35C warmer than the average temperature for the month between 1951-1980, a far bigger margin than ever seen before. The previous record, set just one month earlier in January, was 1.15C above the long-term average for that month. Text copied from The Guardian
