WindMade and the case for transparency

Morten Albæk introduces the first global consumer label identifying corporations and products made with wind energy.

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I am writing to share a story of how a certain historic initiative came to be. This initiative goes above and beyond the status quo of energy policy and development to show the world that so much more is needed. This initiative gathers the voices of an impressive and diverse set of stakeholders who know all too well that it is time for us to finally reach our renewable energy goals. This initiative demonstrates how corporate, philanthropic dollars can be allocated in new, powerful ways. And this initiative will allow our billions of global citizens to clearly and directly inform their favourite brands that they want more. I am writing to introduce you to WindMade.

About 18 months ago, a couple of my colleagues at Vestas and I started mulling over an idea to create a global consumer label for wind energy. We had noticed that a growing number of non-utility companies were becoming more sophisticated energy users and purchasers. In fact, companies were following several paths for energy procurement, from sourcing clean energy via certificates, to signing power purchase agreements with utilities and developers, buying wind turbines for on-site installations, and even investing in wind farms directly. We believed that the more consumers knew about what their favourite brands were doing with respect to procuring clean energy, the more these consumers would buy products from that brand, thus encouraging companies to procure even more renewable energy. Global labels like Fair Trade and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) have proved that labels can indeed create these cycles, but we were fairly confident that a global label did not yet exist for renewable energy. Our observations eventually transformed into conviction, and we decided it was time to mould our ideas into something real.

I am excited and proud to announce that WindMade is now a real organization, issuing real labels, to real members. It is the first global consumer label for brands and products made with wind energy. It took a great deal of work and creativity to reach this point, and we could not have pulled it off without the tremendous support from several partners. Last year, we gathered an impressive group of founding partners to create an independent non-profit organization for this historic initiative. Each founder represents an important stakeholder group and ensures that WindMade takes a comprehensive approach.

Vestas is the lead sponsor and pioneering organization behind WindMade;

• WWF offers expertise as the leading global sustainability organization, and has already developed many certification standards;

• UN Global Compact represents the global policy sector, and has proclaimed WindMade the first global consumer label ever endorsed by the United Nations;

• The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) represents the voice of, and support from, the global wind industry’s members;

• PricewaterhouseCoopers serves as the verification expert to ensure that the third party audit process is credible and functional;

• Bloomberg is the official data provider for WindMade;

• The LEGO Group represents WindMade’s target audience: forward-thinking consumer brands.

The founding partners also appointed a group of respected sustainability experts to develop a certification standard that is rigorous yet practical for today’s corporate sustainability officers. Finally, we worked with our cutting-edge, creative partner, Droga5, to develop a sleek and concise label that delivers consumer-savvy style, supported by a credible foundation.

The WindMade label shows consumers exactly how much renewable energy their favourite brands use to run their operations. To accurately communicate the different approaches to clean energy procurement, WindMade has created a family of labels. The first label, which was revealed on October 10th 2011, displays how much wind generated electricity is consumed as a share of a company’s overall electricity consumption. In 2012, WindMade will also start issuing labels that can be placed on actual products to inform customers about how much wind electricity was used in its production.

By the time you read this, our launch event will have taken place, so please check out our first global brands on the WindMade web site. They represent a diverse cross-section of global industries, further enforcing the fact that renewable energy is no longer a niche corporate purpose. They also highlight the fact that there are numerous options and methods for clean energy procurement around the world, proving that any country in the world can procure high-quality, clean energy, if it wants to.

At Vestas, we understand that WindMade is historic in more ways than one because it also demonstrates a new model for corporate philanthropy. Vestas believed so strongly in the power of a credible and usable consumer label for renewable energy that we chose to devote a full-time team to the idea, gathered a distinguished group of founding partners, and then funded a non-governmental organization that Vestas no longer controls. In other words, Vestas invested money, human capital, and our brand reputation, to create a global organization that aims to grow our entire industry, only to hand it back to society. While some might call this an overly complicated marketing strategy, we consider it to be a cutting-edge philanthropic model that will significantly contribute to the continued growth of the wind industry.

Additionally, since WindMade was created on the basis of our perceptions concerning the topic of corporate renewable energy strategies, Vestas also saw the need to devote more resources to the collection of concrete data about the corporate sustainability trends. This information is being handed back to the world, because we believe that transparency is essential to accelerate the growth of renewable energy.

To contribute to our greater vision of transparency, we partnered with Bloomberg New Energy Finance to develop the Corporate Renewable Energy Index (CREX) to document and track the growth in corporate renewable energy trends. The CREX sheds light not only on the number of companies that procure renewable energy, but also reveals how much and from what source. The CREX is the first index of its kind, providing transparency to global purchases of renewable energy by creating a level of transparency that has never existed before.

We also commissioned TNS Gallup to conduct a global consumer wind study to understand the growing demand from the consumer side. In the largest survey of its kind, 31,000 consumers in 26 countries were asked about their opinions on topics such as renewable energy, products made with renewable energy, and about how corporate actions impact consumer behaviour. Key findings from this survey showed that not only do a majority of consumers consider climate change as the greatest single global challenge, but 90% of consumers worldwide want more renewable energy, and 79% would have a more positive perception of brands produced with renewable energy.

In the future, Vestas will continue to update and refresh the data for the CREX and the Global Consumer Wind Study (GCWS). For now, we look forward to seeing the number of WindMade members grow. The first WindMade companies are critical for strengthening the WindMade brand because they will demonstrate to the world that wind and other renewable energy industries are not only here to stay, but are also becoming increasingly relevant and attractive to a growing group of global stakeholders.

The lack of clarity about how markets for technologies, like wind and solar, are evolving is creating barriers for future growth. In fact, WindMade, CREX, and the GCWS, grew out of a firm belief that humankind is born sensible. And these three initiatives will continue to be supported by Vestas and our partners due to another firm belief: that activating this sensibility, through transparency, will foster the needed positive behavioural change. We believe that increased transparency will unveil the facts about what consumers and companies want, which will encourage increased investment in the global supply of renewable energy. WindMade, the CREX and the GCWS combine to form a powerful triumvirate of transparency, providing communication tools for global corporations and their stakeholders to see the truth behind the demand and supply of renewable energy.

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● Morten Albæk is Group Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Customer Insight, Vestas Wind Systems A/S. Vestas is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines. It is the largest supplier of wind turbines in the world. In January 2011, Vestas was awarded the Zayed Future Energy Prize.