100% Clean Energy Tariff To Tackle ‘Greenwashing’ | Dyball

The new tariff is different from other green tariffs in that it ‘guarantees’ that 100% of the electricity will come from renewable energy projects. The company claims that it makes them stand out from other clean tariffs that have previously been accused of greenwashing by the energy regulator Ofgem.

Energy suppliers have increased the number of ‘green tariffs’ to attract and retain consumers concerned over the environmental impacts of their energy consumption.

However, many of these tariffs have been accused of being misleading as the energy supplier hasn’t invested in renewable energy projects. To deter this Ofgem has said that it will act against those suppliers who duped consumers.

Consumer groups have also accused energy suppliers of claiming that they have green credentials but then exploiting an industry loophole that enables them to buy cheap renewable energy certificates to match the energy they supply to customers, whilst in reality sourcing the power from fossil fuels.

A report released last year showed that just 6 of the green tariffs on offer out of 54 were entirely green with their energy coming from renewable sources.

“With an increasing number of green tariffs in the market, it’s important that consumers understand how ‘green’ their tariff is in terms of supporting the UK renewables industry. There are lots of suppliers running around, slapping a bit of green paint on their logo and trading bits of paper to claim they’re green. But buying and selling certificates doesn’t help tackle climate change – building wind farms and solar projects is what we need to do,” said Keith Anderson, CEO of Scottish Power.

Going green is all the rage now and energy supply companies need to get on board with it or potentially fall behind their competitors.

Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to the environment so any supplier that demonstrates that it is going above and beyond to ensure that their energy is sourced from clean renewable sources will gain an advantage over those that don’t.

It’s not just energy suppliers that are shifting their focus to renewable energy, many other business sectors are also using green issues to promote themselves and demonstrate they’re socially responsible.

Royal Bank of Scotland (soon to be renamed to NatWest) has announced that it will no longer provide funding to companies that generate the bulk of their revenues from fossil fueluse.

“We will not provide finance to mining companies generating more than 40% of their revenues from thermal coal, or power companies generating more than 40% of their electricity from coal,” the bank said in a statement.

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