ALL REGIONS
RE100 praised at Business & Climate Summit
Policy uncertainty remains the biggest challenge to companies going 100% renewable, but RE100 is demonstrating rising demand and the need for investors and policymakers to respond. So concluded a RE100 panel at the close of the Business & Climate Summit, London.
Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA; Iarla Flynn, Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs at Google; and Simon Heller, Group Head of Environmental Management at UBS joined moderator Jessica Shankleman, Bloomberg News, to share their company’s progress towards their 100% goals, and discuss how to accelerate the take up of renewables around the world.
Hosted by global law firm DLA Piper, which recently released its Spring/Summer 2016 Carbon Matters briefing, the event provided a key networking opportunity for around 100 guests from RE100 companies, energy solution providers and RE100 partner organisations.
It followed the launch of a new report by We Mean Business showing that business initiatives like RE100 could help to drive companies to deliver at least 60% of the emissions cuts pledged by countries in Paris.
RE100 also welcomed AstraZeneca, CaixaBank, Colruyt Group and SAVE S.p.A Group - which manages airports in Venice and Brussels - to the campaign, which now unites 68 world leading companies committed to 100% renewable electricity.
In the week of the Summit and the new companies joining the campaign, we generated around 3.8 million impressions of #RE100 on Twitter.
EUROPE
RE100 wins British Renewable Energy ‘Pioneer’ Award
The RE100 campaign won the 2016 British Renewable Energy ‘Pioneer’ Award, for accelerating the corporate uptake of renewable energy through 100% commitments. “As well as encouraging the world’s leading businesses to think with their feet, RE100 gives companies a unified voice that the market – and policy makers – must listen to”, said Damian Ryan, now Acting Head of The Climate Group.
Several RE100 members also received awards. Marks and Spencer won the ‘Leadership’ award, as a company that is mainstreaming renewables through the scale of its investment or its commitment to securing its energy needs from renewables. The company is already 100% renewable in the UK.
Other companies shortlisted for the leadership award included Unilever, BT Group, Aviva plc and Biogen UK Ltd - part of Biogen.
RE100 webinar offers insight into UK renewable energy market
More than 30 people joined a RE100 webinar on June 15 on which guest speakers Merlin Hyman, Chief Executive, RegenSW & Alan John, Partner, Osborne Clarke LLP looked at how the UK renewable energy market is changing in response to government policy and the development of new technologies and business models, as well as options for companies to source renewable energy in the rapidly changing context.
Nestlé invests in wind energy to power UK & Ireland operations
Nestlé signed a deal to power around half of its UK and Ireland operations with wind from the Scottish highlands. The company has entered an initial 15 year Power Partnership Agreement with Community Wind Power, which will see a new wind farm created in Dumfries and Galloway producing enough renewable electricity power around 50% of Nestlé's electricity demand in the UK and Ireland.
Google signs new deals for wind energy in Norway and Sweden
Google is investing in two new wind farms in Norway and Sweden, which will provide 236MW of renewable energy. The company now has seven Power Purchasing Agreements (PPAs) in Europe and 18 globally - equivalent to taking one million cars off the road.
INDIA
Indian companies attend RE100/EP100 capacity building workshop, Mumbai
Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bharat Forge were among the Indian corporates brought together by The Climate Group, to discuss how transitioning to 100% renewable electricity and doubling energy productivity can maximise business value and drive down emissions. Krishnan Pallassana, India Executive Director, The Climate Group, said: “By joining RE100 and EP100, India’s leading companies can demonstrate real leadership in helping the country meet its climate goals."
Indian blue chip firms ready to take green pledge
India’s leading business newspaper, The Economic Times, has reported on Indian companies readying themselves to pledge to source 100% renewable electricity. Following in the footsteps of Infosys and Tata Motors, at least 10 blue chip firms, from a variety of sectors, are in talks with The Climate Group about joining RE100.
LOOKING AHEAD
July 20: Joint RE100 - Business Renewables Center Marketplace webinar, 16:00hrs BST - Steve Abbott, Rocky Mountain Institute, will review how the BRC’'s Marketplace platform and others are helping large companies to purchase renewable energy. Using data from the Marketplace, he will highlight the hottest markets based on project availability and corporate buyer interest.
August 10-12: India Energy Access Summit (IEAS), New Delhi, India - The Climate Group and Clean Energy Access Network will host the IEAS 2016 in partnership with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The summit will focus on financing energy access scale up as well as address the policy and regulatory framework for an enabling environment.
August 31- September 1: The second summit (II Climate Summit of the Americas), Guadalajara, Mexico hosted by the Government of Jalisco - The government of Jalisco will resume the effort and spirit of last year’s first summit, hosted by the Government of Ontario, and reconvene subnational governments of the Americas along with the business, academic and civil society sectors to follow up the agreements reached in 2015. We will use this platform to increase awareness of the need for policy to support corporate sourcing of renewables.
September 19: Signature Event, Climate Week NYC, U.S. - This is The Climate Group’s global flagship event. Run annually for the last seven years, the event has become a milestone in the international climate calendar and a focal meeting point for leading governments, investors, businesses, innovators and opinion formers. There will be a RE100 side event on September 20. Sponsorship opportunities are available. For information contact Chris Brown, Head of Sponsorship and Business Development, The Climate Group: cbrown@theclimategroup.org.
September 29: SolarPower Europe’s 100GW celebration, 18:00-22:00hrs CET, BMW Brand Store, Brussels, Belgium - SolarPower Europe is bringing together 200+ senior executives and decision makers from the energy sector and European and national institutions to celebrate 100GW of solar power being installed across the continent. The agenda is available here. Register here by September 10. The event will be livestreamed on Facebook. Follow #EUSOLAR100GW on Twitter.
November 7-18: UNFCCC COP22, Marrakesh, Morocco - We are collaborating with IRENA, WBCSD, the Global Solar Council and CAN International to ensure corporate demand for renewables is integrated into key events and discussions at COP22.