Pixartprinting is a leading European printing company, specialising in the provision of personalised online printing services. Each month they deliver personalised stationery, packaging and more to over 900,000 business or brand customers across Europe. Their activities in Italy are powered with 100% EKOenergy-labelled electricity. You can read more about it in our interview with Alessio Piazzetta, Chief Manufacturing Officer at Pixartprinting. This is another great result of the productive cooperation between EKOenergy and the Italian energy supplier ForGreen. Exactly 4 years ago, ForGreen began to supply 100% EKOenergy-labelled electricity to all their consumers. This has allowed them to tap efficiently into consumers' growing desire to contribute towards the energy transition. Together we are unstoppable!
2. Our ecolabel now covers renewable heat (and cold) too
After several months of study and consultations, we have launched our ecolabel for renewable heat (and cold). The following types of heat can now get the EKOenergy ecolabel: - Heat produced with heat pumps that are powered with sustainable renewable energy. - Heat recovered from waste heat through heat recovery installations that use sustainable renewable energy. - Geothermal heat or solar heat from installations that fulfil our sustainability criteria. - Heat produced with EKOenergy-eligible renewable gas. You can find more details in the new criteria catalogue: https://www.ekoenergy.org/ecolabel/criteria/renewable-heat/. Are you interested in launching EKOenergy-labelled heat or cold in your country? Contact us for more information!
"Energy companies seldom lie, but the words they use don't tell consumers much about how ecological energy really is. (...) That's why the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation recommends EKOenergy!" Article about renewable energy contracts in Suomen Kuvalehti.
3. EKOenergy for Turkey
Merve Güngör represented EKOenergy at the Solar Istanbul 2020 Conference, which took place from 11 to 13 March. Thanks a lot to the organisers for involving us in this great event. In her presentation, panel discussion, and meetings, Merve focused on reliable tracking of electricity and on the importance of making switching to renewable energy easier for consumers. Electricity production in Turkey is still dominated by coal and gas, but the interest in renewable energy is growing fast. Many RE100 companies have activities in Turkey and local companies are getting interested in 100% renewable energy too. EKOenergy pleads for a further standardisation and harmonisation of energy tracking rules in Turkey. This will make it easier for consumers to find their way and will further speed up the energy transition. EKOenergy-labelled energy has been available in Turkey since 2015. For tracking, we rely on IREC-certificates.
4. Do you want to help us select Climate Fund projects?
With our Climate Fund, we finance renewable energy projects that fight energy poverty and that wouldn't have taken place without our support. All projects are selected through an open and transparent process. We recently organised a call for projects and are now looking for consumers, licensees and experts who want to join the jury to give their opinion on 15 shortlisted projects. Each proposal is about 4 pages long. We will need your comments by the end of April. Contact Steven.Vanholme@sll.fi for more information.
"3 750 km, 3 days, 104 kg CO2 instead of 391 kg CO2. From Helsinki to Barcelona by ferry, bus and train. That's Gloria's choice after #EUSolidarityCorps #volunteering @EKOenergy_ #MakingAChange means making green decisions!" @EuropeanYouthEU on Twitter.
5. Fossil banks, No thanks!
EKOenergy was one of the signatories of an advert in the Scottish Herald, calling upon the Royal Bank of Scotland to formally end the bank's financial support for the coal, oil and gas sectors. A few days later, the bank’s CEO announced a series of measures, including a termination of all lending and underwriting activities to companies with more than 15% of activities related to coal and a termination of all lending for projects involving exploration for new oil and gas reserves. Congratulations to all those who worked hard to get this result, in particular to the friends of Fossil Banks, No Thanks! Keep up the good work!
6. The EU wide green energy label that already exists!
The EU Commission is currently studying the relevance and feasibility of an EU-wide EU ecolabel for green energy. This is a task given to the Commission by the EU's new Renewable Energy Directive (article 19, paragraph 13). As part of the study, a survey has been sent to a range of stakeholders. We hope that many of you will take the opportunity to remind the EU Commission that NGOs have already developed a global energy label, which works well in the EU too. Rather than using taxpayers' money to reinvent the wheel, we encourage the EU to make use of what exists already and switch to EKOenergy-labelled energy for all their activities. Click here for a short presentation on EKOenergy's work within the EU.
"Our EKOenergy tariff is 100% renewable electricity & 100% green gas. Your bills also go towards funding climate projects across the world. It's the greenest energy tariff on the market right now!" Green Energy UK, on Twitter.
7. Let's tackle the climate crisis as we tackle Corona
The coronavirus has transformed everyday life so significantly that the effects are already visible from space. What would it look like if the world responded to the climate crisis with a similar sense of urgency? There are similarities between the situations - in both cases, the scientific community is offering clear warnings about what to do. And both involve public health. Climate change is already killing people too. If the world was responding to climate change like it’s responding to the coronavirus - the level of urgency that the science says is necessary - things would look dramatically different. We would see a lot of different things happening all at the same time. Governments would come up with the funds to build the infrastructure needed to fully roll out renewable energy. It’s cheap enough and available, but the regulatory systems that would enable people everywhere to get clean energy would require massive government investment. The text of this article is entirely copied from: Adele Peters, in Fast Company.
We at EKOenergy are always looking to grow our network. If you want more information about becoming a partner of ours, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
