Capacitance

Marketing Best Practices for Green Power Purchases

1. DO Be Precise in Your Percentages

You can only claim that a product is "made with renewable energy" if you've acquired enough RECs to cover every megawatt hour of purchased electricity required to manufacture that product. If part of the manufacturing involved electricity not covered by RECs, you should clearly state the percentage of renewable energy involved. For example, it would be deceptive to claim that a product is "made with renewable energy" if you've only purchased enough RECs to cover 60% of the electricity required. A more accurate statement would be"we purchase wind energy to cover 60% of our manufacturing facilities."

The same goes for a building, like a company headquarters or manufacturing facility, that isgetti ng half of its power from renewable sources: "powered by renewable energy" isdecepti ve; "powered by 50% solar energy" is accurate. If one part of your product waspowered by renewable energy, you can claim as much as is accurate and not decepti ve. Forexample, "Bott le was produced with 60% wind energy."

2. DO Include the Source of Renewable Energy

You should specify the source of renewable energy that your RECs came from, like wind or solar, in your claim. For example, "100% solar-powered" or "powered by 50% wind energy." If you’ve purchased RECs from a mix of wind, solar and other sources, then you should make it clear that the product is made from "a mix of renewable energy sources," and specify which source makes up the greatest percentage. The greatest percentage can be calculated annually. For example, "Manufactured with a mix of renewable energy sources, primarily wind."

3. DO Be Transparent About the Source of RECs

In addition to naming the type of renewable energy you invested in, your sustainability reports should include the source of the RECs (i.e. power purchase agreement, REC purchase, green power program, etc). Your stakeholders want to know that you're making a difference, not just checking a box, so you should be transparent about what you're investing in. A major reason why corporations choose to enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a project under development is because more clean energy will come onto the grid as a direct result of their investment. This concept is known as "additionality" - and while it's not required, it is desired, because the impact is clear. If you've entered into a PPA, you can share details about the specific project that was made possible thanks to your efforts.

4. DO Retire RECs BEFORE Making Claims

Whether you purchase RECs or generate your own via on-site renewable energy, you must retire those RECs in order to make claims against them (or make sure your REC supplier is retiring them on your behalf). When you retire a REC through the associated tracking system it cannot be sold again, which means no one else can lay claim to that unit of renewable generation.