How does greenwashing happen in the energy industry?
Greenwashing. It’s something we’ve been talking about at Good Energy for years. And unfortunately, it’s still a big problem in the energy industry.
The trouble is, it’s not always easy to tell who’s genuinely green and who’s just good at looking the part. Read on to discover four ways energy suppliers make themselves appear greener than they really are.
What is greenwashing?
Greenwashing is when a company makes itself, or its products, appear more environmentally friendly than they really are.
Think of a fast fashion brand shouting about its tiny recycled clothing collection while continuing to produce millions of disposable garments.
The claims might be technically true. But they’re not telling the whole story.
How are energy suppliers greenwashing?
Here are four ways energy suppliers can make themselves appear greener than they really are.
1. Promoting green credentials, without wider context
Energy suppliers might be truthful about where their energy comes from, but they rely on audiences remembering headline figures, impressive green pledges, or simply renewable energy images, while failing to provide the full context.
Shell has come under scrutiny for this kind of activity in the past, with some of their adverts removed for exaggerating the oil giant’s environmental credentials.
What to look for: Don’t be dazzled by green claims. Always question the wider context and look at an energy supplier’s published fuel mix.
2. Using certificates to label electricity as renewable
When renewable electricity is generated in Britain, it comes with a certificate called a Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin, or REGO. Energy suppliers have to use these certificates to back up their renewable electricity claims.
But here’s the catch. REGOs can be sold separately from the electricity they represent.
This means a supplier can buy electricity from the wholesale market, where fossil fuels are part of the mix, and separately buy enough REGOs to label its tariff as 100% renewable.
The result? A renewable electricity tariff. On paper, at least.
It’s allowed under the current rules. But buying certificates alone doesn’t provide the same direct financial support to renewable generators as buying their electricity.
What to look for: Choose a supplier that buys all its renewable electricity directly from renewable generators through a contract (often referred to as a Power Purchase Agreement), with the REGOs included.
3. Offering green tariffs alongside standard tariffs
Some suppliers offer customers the option to pay a little extra for a greener electricity tariff. Great, in theory.
But, the problem is, when a supplier offers green tariffs alongside standard tariffs, it’s likely to be simply re-allocating its existing renewable purchases to its renewable tariff customers – making the standard tariff ‘browner’ for everyone else.
What to look for: If you’re paying extra for a green tariff, check what your money is really funding.
4. Matching renewable electricity annually, rather than half-hourly.
Under current rules, suppliers can match their customers’ electricity use with renewable generation over a whole year. That means that they could buy lots of solar electricity generated in summer and use it to support renewable claims on a cold, dark winter evening.
The numbers might add up over 12 months. But renewable electricity wasn’t being generated when customers needed it.
This is why half-hourly matching matters. It measures how closely renewable generation matches customers’ electricity use throughout the day and night.
The closer that energy suppliers match renewable generation to when electricity is actually needed, the less reliance on non-renewable sources to fill the gaps.
What to look for: Don’t just settle for a renewable label. Check how well your supplier matches renewable generation with customer demand down to the half-hour using our Renewable Reality Check.
Take the Renewable Reality Check
Feeling a bit bamboozled by green claims? We don’t blame you.
The good news is that you don’t need to be an energy expert to see beyond the marketing.
Our Renewable Reality Check uses independent data from the Matched Clean Power Index to show how well Britain’s energy suppliers match their customers’ electricity use with renewable power, hour by hour.
It’s a simple way to look beyond the label and see how green your energy supplier really is.
What makes Good Energy different?
At Good Energy, we’ve spent over 25 years doing renewable electricity differently. And we’ve got the evidence to back it up.
- We actually buy renewable electricity, not just certificates, from over 3,000 British renewable generators.
- We’re ranked No.1 on the independent Matched Clean Power Index, for delivering a 87% match between supply and demand down to the half-hour.
- We’re the UK’s only B Corp certified home energy supplier, meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
