Now is the time to spread positive energy and be the change you wish to see in the world.

More than one-third of 2025 is already behind us — but we still have nearly two-thirds ahead to make a positive difference this year! While the chaos and violence in many parts of the world can feel overwhelming, it's important to remember that most of us have more power than we realise.

With EKOenergy, we'll continue encouraging people and companies to
- support the energy transition by switching to renewable energy,
- help us bring solar power to disadvantaged communities,
- enable us to reach out to energy users in over 80 countries,
- share positive news instead of doom-scrolling,
- and more!

By choosing EKOenergy-labelled energy, or by offering EKOenergy to your clients, you support our efforts to promote renewable energy worldwide! Together, we can move faster and achieve more!

"A silent majority of the world’s people wants stronger climate action. It’s time to wake up."
 

- Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope in The Guardian

In 2023, EKOenergy granted €313,581 to the NGO Renewable World to deploy a range of solar-powered solutions in the fishing community of Takawiri Island on Lake Victoria, Kenya.

Renewable World is partnering with Adili Solar Hubs, a youth-led social enterprise, to establish a solar installation that powers both a water purification system and an ice-making machine. These technologies address two critical needs: safe drinking water, previously sourced from the often-contaminated Lake Victoria, and reliable ice production, essential for preserving fish and supporting sustainable income generation for local fishers.

The water purification system has been fully operational since the end of last year. Now, Adili Solar Hubs has shared that the project has reached a second significant milestone: "The ice-making machine is running at full capacity, producing up to 1,500 kg of ice per day with an incredible efficiency of 11 kg of ice per kWh." This efficiency enables the system to provide fishing communities with affordable ice, which is crucial for maintaining the quality of their catch.

"But this is just the beginning," they added. "With this success, we are now well-positioned to scale this solution to more communities, creating a lasting impact across the region."

"Energy security = Renewable energy
Competitive. Predictable. Resilient."
 

- RE100, We Mean Business Coalition, and others in The Financial Times, and Ember, on its website

EKOenergy's Climate Fund enables people in disadvantaged communities in low- and middle-income countries to implement their renewable energy projects.
 
Over the past few weeks, several people involved in such projects shared news on social media or sent us updates via email. It's always encouraging to hear about the concrete and impactful results from projects we fund.

- Amazon Watch published a video about a recently finalised project deploying solar-powered communication tools in Indigenous communities in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon. In 2024, we co-funded the project with a €40,000 grant from our Climate Fund. Solar energy now plays a vital role in supporting territorial defense and advancing climate justice in these communities by enabling 24-hour internet access and device charging. For example, solar-powered radios link villages across vast distances, allowing communities to stay connected, monitor threats, and protect their ancestral lands from extractive industries. The newly installed system already proved its effectiveness and necessity last week, when a local leader was, unfortunately, attacked, in what appears to be another targeted assault by drug traffickers encroaching on Indigenous land.⁠

- The organisations involved in a project we funded in Gambia posted an update and a thank you message. In 2024, we granted €26,000 to install solar panels in three forest stations in Gambia to enhance water supply, forest monitoring, and tree planting activities. The recent post is about the installation at the forest station in Dumbuto, where solar power is now used to pump water. "Approximately 2,500 community members of Dumbuto use the borehole of the forest station for household use and for domestic animals. The solar system also pumps water to the forest station tree nursery, which provides seedlings for the surrounding communities.🌱💧"

- We received final reports from various projects and used these as the basis for new Climate Stories leaflets. We recently published Green energy to ensure access to clean water in northern Tanzania (PDF) and Solar energy to empower a rural community in Togo (PDF).

 

- Tahir Mahmood Saleh, on LinkedIn

In 2024, we granted €50,000 from our campaign budget to the nonprofit organisation RePower Ukraine to support their actions to deploy solar installations at hospitals all over Ukraine. From that grant, €39,600 has been used to fund a 52.55 kW solar system at Kharkiv Regional Clinical Trauma Hospital. In addition to our financial support, Midsummer, Menlo Electric, sun.store, and JinkoSolar donated components for this project.

Today, 13 May, the installation was officially inaugurated during an online ceremony. In our short speech, we stressed the potential of solar to power necessary activities in challenging environments, bring people together, and give hope.

Every day, the Kharkiv Regional Clinical Trauma Hospital treats approximately 600 patients with varying degrees of injury, from needing just one or two stitches to performing emergency surgeries to repair internal organs damaged by shrapnel after explosions. Thanks to the new installation, the hospital now has a reliable source of energy that ensures the uninterrupted operation of critical equipment in the surgery and intensive care units.

We are proud to be one of the supporters of the 4th edition of the European Dam Removal Award, a prize for the most inspiring removal of barriers from European rivers.

If you were involved in a project to restore river connectivity and support free-flowing rivers somewhere in Europe last year, check out the Dam Removal Europe website to find out more about how to apply for the award. The application deadline is 6 June.

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most endangered worldwide. Removing river barriers, particularly the many unused barriers, can make a substantial positive difference for aquatic species. Removing barriers can also support a nature-based climate adaptation. Climate change leads to more frequent extreme weather events, such as sudden downpours and floods, followed by long periods of drought. Barriers built 50 to 100 years ago are not designed for such conditions. Instead, we should look for opportunities to store water naturally in the landscape: in healthy watersheds, wetlands, forests, and floodplains, ultimately replenishing aquifers and nourishing freshwater ecosystems.

River connectivity is one of the aspects of EKOenergy's hydropower criteria and one of the objectives of our Environmental Fund, which supports river restoration projects in countries where EKOenergy-labelled hydropower is used. 
 

"Very glad to welcome Taiwan Institute of Economic Research and Taiwan Testing and Certification Center to our office today! 🌏 At EKOenergy ecolabel, one of our key criteria is that a reliable tracking system must be in place and we’re always working to better understand how different systems shape the market."

 

- Joanne Lin, Seller Partnerships Manager, EKOenergy, on LinkedIn

So far this year, we have welcomed 16 new authorised sellers from three continents, and we expect several more in the coming weeks. The newcomers include local players as well as large international companies; some focus on sustainability consulting, and others are energy traders and retailers. Welcome to all!

We are happy and proud that a steadily growing number of renewable energy experts recommend EKOenergy to their clients as a readily available and efficient tool to create an additional positive impact. Many energy consumers are interested in doing more to support the energy transition. Still, very few have the time to dig deeper into the topic, let alone find or develop impactful solutions by themselves. That's where EKOenergy comes in!

Together, we can do more to speed up the energy transition and improve access to clean and affordable energy for all! Are you interested in learning more? Don't hesitate to get in touch.

All contributions to EKOenergy’s Climate Fund support carefully selected, impactful renewable energy projects in communities that need them most. As EKOenergy has grown significantly over the past few years, so has our Climate Fund. However, we still receive many more project proposals than we can fund, resulting in a queue of good projects waiting for support.

Would your company like to support renewable energy projects with high social impact, demonstrating your commitment to advancing social justice and the global green transition?

If you are not an EKOenergy user yet, check out the many advantages of relying on our internationally recognised ecolabel. If you are already using EKOenergy, remember that we also welcome occasional or long-term additional contributions to the Climate Fund. We have projects from a wide range of sectors and countries ready for funding, which you can also highlight in your communications if you wish.

How would you like to help electrify health centres for Maasai nomadic communities in Kenya? Or perhaps ensure access to solar power and clean drinking water for schoolchildren in Malawi? Feel free to contact our Climate Fund coordinator Laura Blomberg for more information.

 

- Usman Muhammad (Mareri) on LinkedIn

Stay connected with EKOenergy on social media to receive relevant updates on the global climate crisis, renewable energy, and climate action. By occasionally reacting to our posts, you help us spread our message and ensure that our future posts will also appear in your feed.

Here are some of our recent posts on various social media channels:

- Happy Earth Day! This year's theme is "Our Power, Our Planet".  If Earth Day puts you in the mood to "use your power" and you are looking for a pragmatic and impactful way to do so, remember that you can easily switch to EKOenergy in more than 80 countries. (From our LinkedIn)

- Here we are, to celebrate new opportunities, commemorate what can be achieved through solidarity and determination, and at the same time, warn that our world is in a crisis and that we need urgent, decisive action to ensure the well-being of all. #Mayday ! (From our Instagram)

- Today is Chinese Language Day (United Nations)! Many of EKOenergy’s materials are available in Chinese, and you can also contact us in Chinese. / 今天是联合国中文日！ EKOenergy 的许多资讯都有中文版本，您也可以随时用中文联系我们！/ 今天是聯合國中文日！你知道EKOenergy很多資訊都有中文版本嗎？有任何問題也歡迎用中文和我們聯繫！ (From our LinkedIn)

- SolarPower Europe reported today that the world installed a record 597 GW of solar power in 2024 – a 33% surge over 2023. (From our Bluesky)

- We had a well-filled week again. Most of the time, we were in front of our laptops: contacting energy companies and large consumers, reading Climate Fund project proposals, writing texts, selecting new European Solidarity Corps volunteers, verifying the 2024 reports of our authorised sellers, and much more. (From our Facebook)

- As you can see in the photo, our "Now Is The Time" campaign had the wind in the sails quite literally today! With the campaign, we are doing all we can to give renewable energy, international solidarity, and climate action extra wind in the sails. All support is welcome because, together, we can move faster and achieve more. (From our Instagram)

Ember published some very interesting data again. The solutions to many of our challenges are right in front of our eyes and within reach. However, amidst over-information and disinformation, far too many still fail to grasp the opportunities. 

- 74% of the global population lives in countries that are net importers of fossil fuels. Many countries rely on fossil fuel imports for the vast majority of their overall energy needs, including Japan (87%), Korea (81%), Türkiye (69%), and Germany (67%). In comparison, China has kept its import reliance relatively low, at 21% of its energy needs, by relying on domestic coal and clean electricity and electrifying its economy, to avoid increasing its import dependency on oil and gas.

- The import cost of a solar panel 'pays back' in just one year, compared to the import cost of burning gas in a power plant. In 2024, $100m of solar panels could save $100m of gas imports in the first year, creating an 'import payback' within only one year. Over a 30-year lifespan of solar panels, this could result in savings equivalent to 30 years of gas import costs at 2024 prices.

- The world is already producing so much solar and wind electricity that it could power all transport worldwide. In other words, if there were only electric vehicles, today's production of wind and solar is already enough to power all of them, thus replacing all gasoline.

For more, check out the article on Ember's website.