Consumer Leadership

Leadership

The first hallmark of leadership is choosing to use green power to make a difference. Electricity generation in the U.S. is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Green power purchases increase the nation’s supply of renewable energy by accelerating the adoption of carbon free electricity.

Expanding Green Power Leadership

As the number of organizations increasing their use of renewable energy to 100% of their annual electricity use grows, interest in making more of a difference with green power purchasing is growing too. These organizations are expanding their leadership.

EPA's Green Power Partnership offers the following ways organizations can increase the impact of their green power purchasing and use.

• Green Power Use
  Significant green power use demonstrates leadership, drives demand, and increases market impact. Green power should be sourced from high-quality renewable resources that meet nation voluntary market standards. These high quality resources should have been built within the last 15 years, and all renewable electricity use should be substantiated through Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).
• Intention and Ambition
  Intention and ambition to establish and achieve a renewable energy or emissions reduction target using green power are indicators of leadership and success. Organizations that set targets and publicly acknowledge them are more likely to achieve them.
• Communication
  Communications related to an organization's green power use are critical in demonstrating leadership. Communications related to green power use help raise awareness, provide social proof, inspire others, and support market principles and best practices.
• Influence
  Influencing others to use green power is a significant area of leadership. Organizations can be very influential and should consider how their influence could be used to increase access to and availability of green power and green power use in their communities. These communities could be neighboring communities, employees, business communities, and customers.
• Transparency
  Transparency speaks to an organization's willingness to collaborate, share information, report data, and advance best practices and market principles. Leading organizations should follow market principles and practices, demonstrate accountability in reporting and involvement in related groups, programs, and initiatives, and actively advance knowledge to others.
• Innovation, Sustainability, and Grid Improvements
  Innovation, sustainability, and grid improvements demonstrate leadership related to a range of actions that support the realization of a renewable electricity future. Organizations can show this through various activities, including deployment of storage, electrification of operations, support of resilient grid infrastructure, and supporting market principles and best practices.

Examples of Leadership

To see leadership in practice, the Green Power Leadership Awards highlights Green Power Partners’ exceptional achievements and leadership in the green power marketplace annually. The Awards highlight that there are many types of leadership. Organizations considering how to expand their leadership should examine their unique needs and assets to determine the best approach.