Together we are unstoppableEKOenergy's Annual report 2016

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Table of content1. Introduction: the future is clean.............................................................................................4

2. 2016 in a nutshell: deeds, not words..................................................................................... 5 2.1 Promotion of a 100% renewable world......................................................................... 5 2.2 Protecting biodiversity.................................................................................................. 6 2.3 Development of the label............................................................................................. 6

3. United by positive energy..................................................................................................... 7 3.1 The EKOenergy Network.............................................................................................. 7 3.2 Cooperation with many.................................................................................................8

4. Launching the ecolabel in many countries.............................................................................9 4.1 General......................................................................................................................... 9 4.2 Co-branding................................................................................................................ 10 4.3 Promoting the EKOenergy ecolabel in Europe........................................................... 10 4.4 Campaigns.................................................................................................................. 15 4.5 Outside Europe........................................................................................................... 17

5. The ecolabel on products and buildings............................................................................. 18

6. Money for climate projects.................................................................................................. 19 6.1 Projects financed in 2016............................................................................................ 19 6.2 Preparing for the next climate projects.......................................................................21

7. River restoration activities................................................................................................... 21 7.1 Projects of the environmental Fund............................................................................ 21 7.2 LIFE Freshabit project................................................................................................. 23 7.3 Not afraid of physical work......................................................................................... 24

8. Communication................................................................................................................... 25 8.1 Newsletter...................................................................................................................25 8.2 Social media................................................................................................................ 25 8.3 A multilingual website................................................................................................. 26 8.4 Leaflets and visuals..................................................................................................... 27 8.5 Videos......................................................................................................................... 27

9. Auditing and verification..................................................................................................... 27 9.1 Annual audits of the licensed sellers........................................................................... 28 9.2 Bioenergy audits......................................................................................................... 28 9.3 Controlling EKOenergy eligibility of power plants......................................................28

10. An EKOenergy-label for energy........................................................................................ 29 10.1 Renewable gas.......................................................................................................... 29 10.2 Future: heat, self-production,....................................................................................30

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11. On the stage and in the media.......................................................................................... 31 11.1 Unique story, unique expertise................................................................................ 31 11.2 Conferences............................................................................................................. 31 11.3 In the media............................................................................................................. 32 11.4. Awards.................................................................................................................... 34

12. Interaction with other ecolabels and standards................................................................. 34 12.1 LEED Standard......................................................................................................... 34 12.2 CDP Guidelines........................................................................................................ 35 12.3 Standards and ecolabels for hotels.......................................................................... 35 12.4 IRENA's Coalition for Action.................................................................................... 36 12.5 Cooperation with I-REC........................................................................................... 36 12.6 Bra Miljöval.............................................................................................................. 37 12.7 Creating a network of ecolabels and standards in Finland......................................37

13. Volunteers, trainees and staff............................................................................................ 38 13.1 At the Secretariat..................................................................................................... 38 13.2 Elsewhere................................................................................................................. 40

14. Budget and volumes.......................................................................................................... 40 14.1 Budget..................................................................................................................... 40 14.2 Volumes.................................................................................................................... 41

15. Thanks............................................................................................................................... 41

16. More information / Contact............................................................................................... 42

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1. Introduction: the future is clean

From many perspectives and for millions, if not billions, 2016 was a horrible year. The wars inSyria and Yemen are apocalyptic. Racism, xenophobia and many other forms of inhumanity andeven outright barbarism overwhelmed the internet and society in general. Political parties withunfavourable attitudes towards social and ecological programmes swept into power in manycountries. Farmers all over the world suffered from record droughts. The Great Barrier Reef islost, and so is the Arctic ice sheet. Methane is escaping from what was once permafrost, butthere is still money and political support for new oil and gas pipelines.

Do we seriously think that we are having our priorities and strategy right when actively andhappily promoting an ecolabel for renewable electricity? Well yes, we do!

However desperate the situation may seem, there is also some very good news! Renewableenergy is now cheaper than fossil fuels. Solar is around half the price of coal. Solar and windenergy are booming worldwide. It looks like the use of coal has peaked, a decade earlier thanpreviously predicted, and as a result the global annual human greenhouse gas emissions havestalled for the third year in row. All this is good, but not good enough to stop dramatic climatechange.

Much more needs to be done, in a very short time. Economically and ecologically, renewableenergy is absolutely the right choice. But the minds and hearts of people (consumers andvoters) haven't adapted to the new reality yet. This is where EKOenergy comes in. We activelyencourage people to choose renewable energy and we motivate them to proudlycommunicate about their choice. We also develop tools to increase the impact of their choice,such as our Climate Fund.

Also important: we deploy in a spirit of international solidarity, we focus on positive messagesand concrete action, we stress involvement and cooperation. These are not just importantprinciples, they are key ingredients of our success.

In this Annual Report, you read more about our actions and results in 2016. We grew a lotcompared to 2015. (And we are sure this growth will persist in 2017 and beyond).

Of course, this is not going to be enough to save the world. But we are not alone. We are apart of a fast increasing movement actively supporting a 100% renewable world, at all levels,and in all countries: the RE100, the Global 100% renewable campaign, the 48 countries whichat the last Climate Summit promised to transform towards 100% renewable energy….

Together we are unstoppable!

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2. 2016 in a nutshell: deeds, not words

At the end of 2012, 16 environmental NGOs from 14 European countries launched theEKOenergy network. Together we wanted to develop concrete tools to support our work onbehalf of nature and climate. Three months later, in February 2013, the members of theEKOenergy network approved the criteria of an international ecolabel for electricity.

In the months and years thereafter, both the Network and the label developed well andexperienced a steady growth. One of our elements of success is our focus on deeds, notwords. We focus on concrete action and learn by doing.

In 2016, our fourth year of activities, we continued to make progress on many fronts.

2.1 Promotion of a 100% renewable world

The EKOenergy ecolabel is a concrete tool to guide consumers towards 100% renewableenergy and to help them make a real difference.

- We donated 90,000 euro to renewable energy projects in five countries: two healthcenters in Cameroon as well as five schools in Tanzania got access to solar energy and 4Togolese villages got an energy kiosk. We supported a small solar project in a village of Alpacafarmers in Southern Peru. A project to bring solar energy to disadvantaged families inNicaragua will start early 2017.- We joined strengths with Protect Our Winters, an organisation of winter sports athletesand together we launched the 'Save our Winters' campaign.

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- Our growing success in countries such as Finland, Spain, Italy and Germany encouragesus to actively enter new and more ambitious countries. This year we made a lot of progress inRussia and we drastically increased our efforts to bring EKOenergy's ideas to Poland andTurkey.- We actively communicate about the opportunities of a 100% renewable economy,particularly via social media.

2.2 Protecting biodiversity

- We donated 50,000 euro to a river restoration project in Southern Finland, to restore thespawning areas of salmon and we donated 30,000 euros to the Finnish Association for NatureConservation to prepare a dam removal project.- The LIFE Freshabit project started, which allows us to focus more than ever before onriver restoration- We screened over 200 power plants in more than 20 countries. Our ecolabel is aconcrete tool to stimulate dialogue between power plant operators and natureconservationists. Getting to know each other's concerns and constraints is the first steptowards finding a solution.- We regularly communicate about the impact of climate change on biodiversity. Mainly onsocial media.

2.3 Development of the label

- We recruited a marketing director. For the first time, we have somebody focusing fulltime on marketing.- We developed an ecolabel for renewable gas, which will be launched in early 2017- Many switched to EKOenergy and proudly communicate about it: the city ofLappeenranta (Finland), the ice hockey club Mikkelin Jukurit (Finland), the window companySchüco, breweries Saimaan Juomatehdas (Finland), Lesster (Italy) and UrbanBeer (Spain) andmany more.- We organised several ambitious promotion campaigns, focusing on eco-hotels, on LEEDbuildings and on breweries

Much more happened too. All this doesn't only prove that we are growing, it also proves thatwe are getting better at what we are doing.

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3. United by positive energy

Along with the fast growth of renewable energy production, cooperation is definitely one ofthe prerequisite for successfully combating climate change. This is something we have trulyunderstood : cooperation is a key element of EKOenergy's approach.

3.1 The EKOenergy Network

EKOenergy functions as a network of not-for-profit organisations. Several of our members arethe main environmental NGO in their country, both in terms of members as in terms ofvisibility. Other members are smaller NGOs specialized in energy or in sustainabledevelopment.

Every member organization appoints one person to the EKOenergy Board, the Network’shighest governing authority.

In 2016, 6 more members joined the EKOenergy Network. • National Energy Foundation (UK) • Rwanda Environment Conservation Organisation (Rwanda)• Cameroon branch of Terre des Jeunes (Cameroon)• Center of Environmental Solutions (Belarus)• Cittadinanzattiva (Italy) • Bariq21 (Algeria)

The EKOenergy network has now 45 members, from 35 countries.

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We are also actively contacting environmental organizations in the Arab world and in LatinAmerica.

An important role of the members is to provide the EKOenergy Secretariat with relevantinformation (challenges, opportunities,...) from their own country. This allows us to take intoaccount many different concerns, also when the relevant information is only available in a locallanguages. As a result, our ecolabels and campaigns are widely supported and easy toimplement in different parts of the world.

E.g. In 2016 members have been involved in the development of the ecolabel for gas (seechapter 10.1).

We are now actively encouraging the members to look for opportunities to become moreactive in the promotion of EKOenergy certified energy too. The Latvian and UK members havewritten EKOenergy in their action programmes for 2017.

3.2 Cooperation with many

We actively join strengths with other stakeholders too. Successful cooperations in 2016 were:

- Our cooperation with Finnish nature administration and with hydropower plant owners toget the LIFE Freshabit project started. See chapter 7.2.- Our cooperation with the Finnish branch of Protect Our Winters. See chapter 4.4.- Our cooperation with EKOenergy sellers, developing joint marketing strategies andimplementing them. See chapter 4.- Our cooperation with the German Green Building Association to inform European LEEDcertifiers about the LEED's 'Green power' rules. See chapter 12.1.- Our cooperation with the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, hosting andsponsoring the EKOenergy secretariat in all possible ways.- Our cooperation with the Agency in charge of the Erasmus+ program, as well as withsending and coordinating organisations in 11 countries. This allowed us to host 18 EVSvolunteers in 2016. See chapter 13.- Our cooperation with the IREC Secretariat to bring renewable electricity markets to newareas. See in particular chapter 4.5 and 12.5.- We signed a cooperation agreement with the Green Key network. Green Key is aninternational ecolabel for the tourism and hospitality industry. Green Key will use the expertiseof EKOenergy when informing its network about renewable energy. EKOenergy will set up aninternational campaign focusing on green energy in the hotel sector. See chapter 12.3.- At policy level, we follow the discussions within CAN (Climate Action Network) and we

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actively share CAN's position papers.

We continue to reach out to others. Many more organisations and companies are planningactivities or projects in which we would be eager to help and to bring in our experience: BEUC(Consumer organisation), the RE100, national and international labeling organisations, IRENA,REN21...

Very encouraging is also that others reach out to us, or spontaneously refer to us as anindependent proof of quality. E.g. 10 Finnish political youth and student organisations started acampaign to convince the Finnish state to use 100% renewable and sustainable electricity inthe public sector. Their campaign text referred explicitly to EKOenergy and EKOenergy'ssustainability criteria.

4. Launching the ecolabel in many countries

4.1 General

EKOenergy's 'home' is Finland. This is not only where the Secretariat is located, this is alsowhere about 70% of the activities take place. But the internationalisation is gainingmomentum. 17 new (non-Finnish) sellers joined. And several of those who signed in the pastare becoming more active.

There are of course differences between countries, but in general, the process always followsthe same pattern. In all new areas we are confronted with the 'chicken-egg' problem. How tofind sellers if there are no buyers? And how to find buyers if there are no sellers? Usually signthe first licence agreements with sellers after 18-24 months of activities in a specific countryand it takes sellers another 12 month to really get started.

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4.2 Co-branding

We are gradually developing our communication towards major stakeholder groups. It's notenough to have the good criteria and a dynamic group of supporters. We have to actively tellcompanies how using a renowned ecolabel is good for their own brand too. Marketing support for large consumersWe develop marketing strategies for new EKOenergy-consumers. These are discussed and prepared with the communication departments of the consumers and are based on three basic steps:

• EKOenergy launch (press release, blog text and content for social media). • Feature article or video clip explaining EKOenergy’s link to other CSR-activities• Publicity as a front-runner company in EKOenergy campaigns.

Marketing support for sellersEKOenergy has limited resources for direct sales campaigns and face-to-face sales meetingsare possible only in Finland. Therefore it is crucial to support and train the hundreds ofindividual EKOenergy sellers working for our Licensed sellers. It is equally important toconstantly communicate and learn from the sellers in order to understand best practices anddevelop sales strategies proactively within changing markets. EKOenergy is often the mostexpensive electricity option in the sellers’ portfolio (and sometimes 'competing' with thesellers' own green products). Therefore it is important that the sellers understand theadditional benefits of our ecolabel.

During our meeting with the sales teams, following issues are discussed:• International trends and false myths about ecolabelled electricity: Why EKOenergy is a

rational choice for both individual and large consumers?• Marketing strategy for large consumers (see above). We also try to reach out to existing

clients of the electricity seller and encourage them to upgrade to EKOenergy.

4.3 Promoting the EKOenergy ecolabel in Europe

Belarus - The home country of EVS volunteer Katsiaryna Viadziorchyk (September 2015 - July 2016).We contacted environmental NGOs. The Center for Environmental Solutions joined ourNetwork. - We translated our website to Belarusian.

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Czech Republic- EVS volunteers Pavla Holečková and Lenka Kašová worked on EKOenergy in the Czechrepublic (July 2015 - July 2016).- There are contacts with interested real estate companies (looking for EKOenergy forLEED) and with a handful of Czech suppliers. The process is ongoing.

Denmark and Norway- EVS volunteer Gabriella Vangstrup (January-July 2016) was in charge of our contacts inDenmark and Norway.- The website has been translated to Danish.- We contacted many Danish environmental NGOs as well as most of the Danish electricitysuppliers.- We contacted hundreds of potential consumers of EKOenergy in Denmark. E.g. climatemunicipalities, companies with CSR strategy (quite many), LEED projects, DGB-DK...- In Norway we mostly worked on hydropower. We looked for the most sustainablehydropower plants, and checked if these could be used for EKOenergy sales. See also chapter9.3.

Estonia- Imatra Elekter launched EKOenergy in Estonia.- Jalotofu and Loodusvägi launched the first product with the EKOenergy logo onto theEstonian market (Tofu).

Finland- Structurally we made a lot of progress inFinland. For the first time, we have aMarketing person, who last year focusedalmost exclusively on sales in Finland.- The LIFE Freshabit project gives us a lotof room to focus on river restoration, and onour contacts with producers and sellers ofhydropower electricity. (See also chapter 7.2)- We launched the "Save our winters"

campaign in cooperation with Protect our Winters Finland, a group of winter sports athletesconcerned about climate change. (See also chapter 4.4)- The city of Lappeenranta switched to EKOenergy.- Otava, Saimaan Juomatehdas, Mikkelin Jukurit, Finlayson, Espoon Asunnot and othersswitched to EKOenergy and now use the EKOenergy logo in their communication.

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France- EVS volunteer Sophie d'Argentré was incharge of EKOenergy in France (October 2015- October 2016).- We were in frequent contact withPlanèteOui, a 100% renewable electricityseller. They started selling EKOenergy inDecember 2015. - We actively approached potentialconsumers: hotels, restaurants, music festivals,sports events, LEED certifiers…

- We approved another French hydropower plant for the sales of EKOenergy: Sauveterre,on the Rhone. - Laboratoires Jyta was the first French company to publicly tell about their switch toEKOenergy- We translated our course "Green power for LEED and carbon accounting" to French. See http://www.usgbc.org/education/sessions/green-power-comment-acheter-de-l’électricité-renouvelable-pour-leed-et-son-bilan-- Origo Renouvelable, a French seller of Guarantees of Origin, signed our LicenceAgreement.

Germany- EVS volunteers Daniel Gulde (January - September 2016), Theresa Knechtel (February -July 2016), Catrin Buchfink (from August) and Christiane Lösel (from October) were in charge ofEKOenergy in Germany.

- 5 German suppliers and 1 German sellersof Guarantees of Origin signed the LicenceAgreement. 3 of the suppliers have started tosell. 2 more will start in January 2017.- Natürlich grün is the first supplier inGermany only selling EKOenergy.- We attended the German Guarantee ofOrigin conference in Dessau, on 26-27 April.- We attended the International Wind Fairand the Bischoff und Ditze Green Energyconference in Hamburg, from 26-29September.- Schüco, one of the leading suppliers of

high-quality window, door and façade systems, switched to EKOenergy, and so did a Germancity.- We actively contacted all German electricity suppliers (over 1000).- We are now mentioned on Label Online: http://label-online.de/label/ekoenergie/

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Italy- EVS volunteers Ginevra Poli (July 2015 - June 2016) and Vincenzo Bordino (from July)were in charge of EKOenergy in Italy. They worked in close cooperation with the localvolunteer Costanza Boggiano Pico.- 2 more suppliers signed EKOenergy's Licence Agreement: ForGreen and ACEA. Wedeveloped an active cooperation with ForGreen´s marketing department.- Our Italian member, REEF, officially ceased to exist. Cittadinanzattiva became our newmember. We are also in active contact with Legambiente, the main Italian nature conservationorganisation.- We now have our first Italian consumers who are very publicly sharing that they switchedto EKOenergy. These are bespoke paper producer Favini, artisan winemaker Monteverdi Viniand craft brewery Lesster.- We established partnerships with the nationwide event Festival dell'Energia and theNGO Italian Climate Network. We are member of the DivestItaly campaign.

Luxembourg- Eida is the first licensed EKOenergy seller in Luxembourg. They decided to start acooperation with EKOenergy because the local environmental organisations had encouragedthem to do do so. Sales started in September.

Netherlands- Trainee Marjolein van Hassel (From August) was in charge of EKOenergy in theNetherlands. She actively reached out to sellers and potential buyers. She also updated theDutch translation of our website.

Poland- EVS volunteer Monika Aniszewska was in charge of EKOenergy in Poland (FromOctober). She actively reached out to sellers and potential buyers. The also updated ourPolish material.

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Russia- EVS volunteers Katsiaryna Viadziorchyk (September 2015 - July 2016) and Olga Usova(from September) were in charge of EKOenergy in Russia.

- We developed strong relations withRussian legislative body, the Market Council,responsible for green certification andcreation of tracking system.- We organised a 2 days workshop for theMarket Council, about the Greenhouse GasProtocol Scope 2 Guidance. The represen-tatives visited the offices of Fingrid, Grexel,and, moreover, they had a whole day meetingwith I-REC representatives.

- We developed first contacts with interested Russian sellers and Russian buyers.- We translated our online course "Green power for LEED" to Russian:http://www.usgbc.org/education/sessions/зеленая-энергия-покупка-возобновляемой-электроэнергии-для-leed-и-учета-в

- L'Oréal Russia switched to EKOenergy in October.

Spain- EVS volunteers Ana Baudot (August 2015 - July 2016) and Eleym Chej (from October)were in charge of EKOenergy in Spain.- Licensed seller Gesternova actively worked on promoting EKOenergy. They actively useour name on social media and they renewed their webpage about EKOenergy. - We got a new Spanish seller, ecovatios, who signed the agreement to become anauthorised seller of EKOenergy last May. They are ready to sell 100% renewable energyproduced by local solar farms.- Several Spanish consumers told publicly about their switch to EKOenergy certifiedelectricity too: Ecorgánic, Boutique&Spa Capítulo Trece, 100x100 madera, UrbanBeer...

Sweden- Nordic Green Energy Sweden launchedtheir EKOenergy electricity product with agreat party in the ABBA Museum inStockholm. A fantastic and inspiring launch!- To make the party complete, a secondSwedish seller jumped on the EKOenergytrain too: LOS Energy.- The first Swedish consumers made the

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switch to EKOenergy- We started a brainstorm process with the Swedish ecolabel "Bra Miljöval" (GoodEnvironmental Choice) about how to interact and how to cooperate.

Turkey- EVS volunteer Merve Güngör was in charge of EKOenergy in Turkey (from September).She studied the market situation and got in contact with Turkish environmental NGOs as wellas with potential users of the label.- We wrote several articles for Turkish magazines. These will be published in 2017.

United Kingdom and Ireland- EVS volunteer Amy Corrigan was in charge of EKOenergy in the UK and Ireland.- The British National Energy Foundation joined the EKOenergy network as a member.Previously they ran the Green Energy Certification Scheme and we hope they will be moreinvolved with EKOenergy soon.- We have our first British supplier (Green energy UK). But sales have not started yet.- We actively reached out to many larger companies with headquarters in the UK.

4.4 Campaigns

In 2016 we organised several campaigns, targeting specific sectors.

For each campaign we wrote texts, designed visuals, made new presentations... All texts existin many languages.

Although we only used free social media channels and our website, emails and phone, we wereable to reach thousands of people working in the targeted sector.

LEED Campaign- LEED is system of green certification forbuildings. Using EKOenergy is explicitlyrecommended in the LEED Standard. - Goal of the campaign was to: (1) inform LEED certifiers in each country,that using EKOenergy for LEED buildings willget them extra points for certification (2) deepen our cooperation with GreenBuilding Councils in European countries(3) inform larger building companies and

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their CSR departments, that using EKOenergy will not only get them points for certificate butalso bring in marketing advantage- We took 1 month for intensive preparation of database of contacts, designing themessages we want to spread and creating visual materials- During the campaign run, we reached over 1000 LEED certifiers from different countrieswith personal message and we contacted all Green Building Councils in Europe- Additionally we received positive feedback about possible conversion of LEED buildingsto EKOenergy in Denmark, Czech Republic, Spain, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Germany

Ecohotel campaign- Goal of the campaign was to: (1) convince the most environmentallyfriendly accommodation facilities in eachcountry to set an example and switch toEKOenergy, (2) inform green certifications for hotels suchas Green Key about EKOenergy.- We particularly focused on hotels inSpain, Czech Republic, France, Austria andGermany- Hotels in at least 4 countries wereinterested, but the limited availability ofEKOenergy (only one seller in France or nolocal seller at all in the Czech Republic or

Austria) made them decide to wait.- At least 4 hotels switched to EKOenergy. We also got in touch with the Green Key networkand signed a cooperation agreement with them.

Brewery campaign- We actively contacted breweries in 8 countries and invited them to follow the example ofthe Finnish Saimaan Juomatehdas.- The Spanish brewery UrbanBeer and the Italian brewery Lesster switched to EKOenergy.There is also interest from other countries. We are pretty sure that more will follow.

Protect Our Winters- Protect Our Winters is an international network of professional winter sport athletes.Their aim is to mobilise the winter sport community to lead the charge towards positive climateaction. In November, the Finnish branch of Protect Our Winters, together with EKOenergy,launched a campaign to convince ski resorts and winter sport events to switch to EKOenergy-certified electricity. Winter Olympians Enni Rukajärvi and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen are the faces of

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the campaign.- We were participating with a stand at the Ski Expo in Helsink, the biggest winter sportsfair in Finland, from 4th to 6th November.- 5 ski resorts have already decided to switch to EKOenergy!- See also the campaign website and the campaign video athttp://www.pelastetaantalvet.fi/

Celebrities- We asked celebrities to show there support for EKOenergy. We actively used quotes from e.g. Aleksandra Blinnikka, Jaja Vaňková, Alexander Megos. The ice hockey team Mikkelin Jukurit wears our logo now on their jerseys and we also got the support from celebrities in our Protect Our Winters campaign (see above).

4.5 Outside Europe

In 2015, EKOenergy decided to become active outside Europe too. This was a direct responseto decision of large corporate consumers to expand their green electricity purchases from thetraditional liberalised markets to the whole world. See also www.re100.org : 100 internationalcompanies decided to purchase 100% renewable electricity worldwide.

We have 3 target groups.- We get in contact with environmental NGOs and invite them to join our network. Allmembers of the network have voting rights and there is no better way to 'prove' ourinternational character than by involving NGOs from all over the world in our decision makingprocess.NGOs from Algeria, Cameroon and Rwanda joined the network (see also before, chapter 2...)We also actively contacted NGOs from Argentina, Brazil, Canada (Québec) Chile, Jordan,Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, South Africa, the United Emirates....- We are in contact with sellers in eastern-Asia, the Arab Emirates, Brazil, as well as with

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international traders of electricity tracking certificates. We added a Mexican solar farm, aBrazilian wind farm and a Chinese wind farm to our list of eligible power plants.- We consistently contact and advise the CSR departments of large internationalcompanies.

We are currently looking for opportunities to host a Japanese or Chinese trainee at ourSecretariat.

5. The ecolabel on products and buildings

One of our ambitions is to make it easier for consumers to proudly communicate about theirgreen electricity purchase. Everybody can help spread the message that 100% renewable ispossible. "Let’s switch to EKOenergy, and show to others that we are doing it".

In the past year, it has become clear that consumers are indeed interested in using our logo,e.g. on their own products, or on their buildings.

In Finland, Otava is now printing the EKOenergy logo in all books they publish and SaimaanJuomatehdas has added the logo to their beer and cider cans. Finlayson has our logo on alltheir shops and the ice hockey team Mikkelin Jukurit have the logo on their jerseys.

In Spain, France and Italy consumers have switched to EKOenergy with the intention to startusing our logo in a similar way.

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6. Money for climate projects 6.1 Projects financed in 2016

For each sold MWh of EKOenergy, minimum 0.10 € (ten eurocents) go to EKOenergy's ClimateFund. That money is used to finance climate projects that would not have happened withoutthe contributions.

Via last year's sales, we collected 99,000 euro for the Climate Fund.

We decided to donate this money to projects selected after our first call for Climate projects(2013-2014). That call focused on the alleviation of energy poverty through the promotion ofrenewable energy. (9,000 euro is not spent yet, and will be used in 2017)

Solar for schools in Tanzania- We donated 30.000 euro to a solar project of the Italian NGO Istituto Oikos.- With this money, 5 schools in the Arusha area (Tanzania) will get solar energy.- The project is part of a larger project, bringing solar energy to 20 schools in the Arushaarea and creating an entity to take care of the solar panels. These activities are co-financed bythe Energy and Environment Partnership (EEP - funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ofFinland (lead donor), UK Department for International Development and the AustrianDevelopment Agency).- The project has been implemented and we have added the pictures to our website(Climate Fund) and to our Flickr account.

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Solar energy for health centers in Cameroon- 20.000 euro to a solar project of the Swiss organization Solafrica.- Solafrica, a spin-off organization of Greenpeace Switzerland, leads projects in Kenya andCameroon for dissemination of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. The mainaim is to train local experts, as well as to support the development of community-based solarcompanies.- Our new donation has been used to install PV panels at two health centers in SouthernCameroon. Use of electricity provides a significant improvement to the healthcare system inthe rural areas of Cameroon, e.g. by allowing for the use of solar powered fridges to conservevaccinations and medicine and by having light at night.- The installation happened end of December.

Energy kiosks for Togo- 15.000 euro for a solar project of the Belgian organization Solar zonder grenzen (Solarwithout Borders) to start 4 extra ’solar kiosks’ in Togo.- Solar kiosks are constructions equipped with solar panels and batteries, which arecentrally located in villages without electricity supply. Local residents can rent a rechargeablelamp and charge it using solar power. Also other devices, such as mobile phones, can becharged for a minor fee. Each solar kiosk is run by a self-employed local operator trained bySolar without Borders. The kiosk operator can make a decent living out of this. This is anincentive for local entrepreneurship.- One of the installed kiosks is the first 'Smart kiosk combined with a minigrid'. Theconcept is simple: 3 solar panels, a battery and wires going to 6 neighbouring houses. Theneighbours prepay for the electricity with their mobile phone and can use it for lighting and forsmall electrical devices.- All 'our' kiosks have been installed and we have added the pictures to our website (Ourresults -> Climate Fund) and to our Flickr account.

Revolving loan fund for solar in Nicaragua- We donated 20.000 euro to a project of the US based NGO Green Empowerment inNicaragua.- Green Empowerment and the Nicaraguan NGO ATDER-BL are working to create arevolving- loan fund that will provide rural families with 15-month interest-free microcredits forthe purchase of solar systems. Targeting communities where grid extension is not foreseenover the next eight years based on cost and distance considerations, the program will applymicro-credit best practices gleaned from prior successful implementation.- The implementation will start early 2017.

Solar of Alpaca farmers in Southern Peru- We donated 5000 euro to the NGO Practical Action.

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- That money, combined with a 2,100 euro donation from Kinect Energy, will be used tofinance two 120W solar panels, batteries, inverters, accessories and their installation, alongwith two spinning machines, plus training on operation and maintenance for two additionalfamilies in a community of Alpaca farmers in Southern Peru.- The installation happened end of December.

6.2 Preparing for the next climate projects

A new call for climate projects was launched in the second half of June. More than 300organisations sent us a project proposal. The selection is ongoing and will be finished aroundFebruary 2017.

We are also studying different financing models. Until now, we always donate money. But assolar becomes profitable and as we want to support economically viable projects, it may insome cases make sense to become co-owner of the solar panels we finance. E.g. via acooperative structure. In that case we can make sure that eventual profits flow back to newinvestments in renewable energy.

7. River restoration activities

7.1 Projects of the environmental Fund

For each sold megawatt-hour of EKOenergy hydropower, a contribution of minimum 0.10 €(ten eurocents) is paid into the EKOenergy Environmental Fund. The money of EKOenergy'sEnvironmental Fund is used to finance the implementation of river restoration projects.

Based on the sales of 2015, we collected 61,410 euro for our Environmental Fund. Combinedwith contributions of the previous year and with donations, there was about 80,000 euroavailable.

The money of the environmental fund is spent where the electricity has been produced orwhere it has been purchased. As most of the sales of EKOenergy certified hydropower in 2015took place in Finland, we focused on Finnish river restoration projects.

Vihtijoki river restoration project – Southern Finland- We donated 50,000 euro to a river restoration project project of Virtavesien hoitoyhdistysry (Virho)- The project aims at restoring the Vihtijoki river (Southern Finland) so that salmon fish can

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live and spawn in the river again. A further aim is to make the Vihtijoki river a model for futureFinnish restoration projects.- Virho opened up blocked side-streams, carried stones into the river to provide shelter forjuvenile fish, and created new spawning grounds with gravel. A lot of the work is done byvolunteers.- The project was selected via a public vote in which EKOenergy consumers could decidewhich river restoration project EKOenergy’s environmental fund should finance this year (after apreselection by a jury of experts). The public vote was organised in cooperation with Fortum,the main seller of EKOenergy certified hydropower.- The project is finished and a report has been submitted.

Kaakon jokitalkkari – The River Janitor of South Eastern Finland- In 2015 (!) EKOenergy donated €10,000 to the Kaakon Jokitalkkari project. This is aproject to protect and restore salmon populations in the rivers of Southeast Finland.(www.kaakonjokitalkkari.fi). - Most of the actions took place in 2016. The money has been used for restorationactivities in the Virojoki. E.g. the restoration of spawning places. - The project is finished and a report has been submitted.

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Virtaankoski dam removal project - Central Finland- We donated 30,000 euro to a project of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.- The money will be used to study and prepare the removal of an unused dam on theTainionvirta river in Central-Finland. The Tainionvirta flows into the Päijänne lake and the dam isone of the last remaining obstacles hindering the migration of the almost disappeared troutpopulation of that lake. Spawning areas upstream of Virtaankoski power plant have alreadybeen restored.- During the project, the permit application will be drafted (a permit is required to removea dam) and their will be contacts with potential donors (to pay for the actual removal).

7.2 LIFE Freshabit project

The Life programme is the EU’s fundinginstrument for supporting environmental andclimate change projects. The Nature &Biodiversity component of Life co-financesbest practice nature projects. It focuses onthe implementation of the European Birdsand Habitats Directives and management ofthe Natura 2000 network. Natura 2000 is theEuropean network of important nature areas.

EKOenergy and the Finnish Association forNature Conservation have a major role in theEU-funded Life project for freshwater habitatsin 2016-2022.

Metsähallitus (the Forest Administration in Finland) coordinates this large scale project whichcovers the whole of Finland. State and local authorities and non-governmental organisationsalso contribute towards the project. The goal of the Freshabit Life project is to improvecondition of lakes, rivers and streams by various methods, that range from hands-on riverrestoration to environmental education and research.

EKOenergy implements actions and campaigns to make hydropower more sustainable.- We inform big electricity consumers (e.g large companies) about environmental problemsrelated to hydropower. We tell to the big electricity users why they should use oursustainability criteria if they are purchasing hydropower.- We contact hydropower producers to make them more aware of the environmentalproblems related to hydropower, and advise on ways to mitigate these problems. We search

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for hydropower plants that are willing to meet our strict criteria and make the requiredinvestments to be able to sell EKOenergy-certified electricity.- One of the concrete actions of the Life project, is the launch of a new concept: Fishpassage electricity. Fish passage electricity is electricity with a slightly higher price, butconsumers get the guarantee that the extra money will be used to build fish passages. Theconcept will be later replicated in other parts of Finland, and abroad.

7.3 Not afraid of physical work

EKOenergy's volunteers and staff are mainlyoperating from the Secretariat in Finland. Forthe projects we rely on experienced organisa-tions. But from time to time, we get out andhelp in the field.

On 14 June, the EKOenergy Secretariat joinedsome local volunteers to help out restoring ariver in Vihti. The team were shown theoutstanding work the volunteers had done inprevious years to restore the local troutpopulation, and learnt about future plans tobring salmon back to the region. Later theteam were taken to Vihtioki river to get theirhands dirty restoring the river! The main taskwas shoveling buckets of gravel and depositingthem in the river to create spawning areas forfish.

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8. Communication

8.1 Newsletter

In 2016, we published 20 newsletters, each ofthem containing 5-9 items. The number ofrecipients grew from 1227 to 1620.

All newsletters can be found at our website:http://www.ekoenergy.org/news/newsletter-archive/. Or click on the following link toregister:http://www.ekoenergy.org/news/order-the-newsletter/.

We stopped News for EKOenergy users, the 'light version' of the EKOenergy Newsletter. Therewas too much confusion about which target group should get which newsletter (resulting in alarge overlap of addressees). Interested consumers get now the same newsletter as all otherstakeholders.

8.2 Social media

Facebook- We post about 7 updates per week onour English Facebook page www.facebook.com/EKOenergyInternational. About 1/3 ofthe posts are about our own activities andachievements. About 1/3 of the posts is aboutrenewable energy and about the transitiontowards a 100% renewable economy. Alsoclimate change and its consequences are often

focused on.- We post about 5 updates per week on our Finnish Facebook page. Mainly about our ownresults and activities in Finland, as well as about energy-related activities from partnerorganisations.- The International Facebook page has 3734 "likes" (up from 3172 at the end of last year).The Finnish Ekoenergia facebook page, which is older and targets a Finnish audience has 5763"likes" (up from 5230 "likes")

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Twitter- We send 2 to 5 tweets per day. Our twitter account @EKOenergy_ has 2717 followers,including some big organisations and think tanks (up from 2299 followers last year). We almostexclusively tweet in English.- Gesternova, our Spanish seller actively uses twitter (and EKOenergy's name) in itsmarketing.

LinkedIn- About once to twice a week, we post updates on EKOenergy's LinkedIn account:https://www.linkedin.com/company/ekoenergy---ekoenergia. Our organisation's page has 314followers.

Instagram- We post several pictures per week on our account: https://www.instagram.com/ekoenergy/. Most of these are our own and they give a nice overview of the diverse activitiesat the EKOenergy Secretariat, as well as of EKOenergy's results. We have 2580 followers (upfrom 950 in 2015).

Xing- About once a week, we post an update on Xing, the German social network. We use Xinggroups to spread our messages.

8.3 A multilingual website

The website www.ekoenergy.org still functionsvery well as a multilingual website. Most of thewebsite is available in about 26 languages(most of these date from 2013). In 2016, wehave been particularly active in updating theBelarusian, Czech, French, German, Italian,Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian,Spanish and Turkish pages. We also added acouple of pages in Arabic. The updates inmany languages are time consuming, but thismultilingual aspects makes us unique in

Europe (and the world) and is further proof of our international character.

We started a thinking process to make our website much more attractive and user friendly.During a first stage (early 2017) we will improve the design and outlook of our website. During

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a next stage (second half of 2017 or in 2018) we will improve the way the website works as adatabase/archive (listing of power plants, licensed sellers, financed projects....)

We are getting a google grant to promote our website via Google Adwords. We arecontinuously evaluating which keywords generate most traffic to our website.

8.4 Leaflets and visuals

We developed new leaflets in manylanguages and for different target audiences.

We also created a lot of visuals: in particularfor our campaigns (see 4.4), but also visualsfor Facebook and other social media.

8.5 Videos

We posted 7 videos on youtube: - A French and Russian video about electricity tracking (extract from our French andRussian LEED courses)- A French, Spanish and Russian video about renewable electricity for LEED and carbonaccounting.- A video featuring surfer Aleksandra Blinnikka- A video explaining the work of EKOenergy in 50 seconds.

Besides, we also made videos for presentations at the final conference of the EuropeanCertifHy project (19 October) and for the Open Markets Committee of the AIB and RECS (1December).

9. Auditing and verification

One of the essential characteristics of each ecolabel is the auditing and verification. Aconsiderable amount of time of the EKOenergy Secretariat goes to the coordination of variousauditing and control processes.

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9.1 Annual audits of the licensed sellers

The audit of last year's EKOenergy sales happened quite smoothly. Partially because thenumber of sellers was still relatively limited in 2015 (less than 20 of our licensees actually sold in2015). This is gradually changing and we will need to get ourselves ready to deal with largeramount of data.

Main outcomes:• In 2015, we certified 987,6 GWh of electricity. We hope to double this number in 2016.• Sellers were in general happy about the auditing process and the way of billing.

9.2 Bioenergy audits

Electricity from biomass power plants can only be sold as EKOenergy if the power plant isaudited every year.

Currently this is only relevant for Finland. In no other country there has been need/interest inselling electricity from local bioenergy plants.

Environmental engineer Minna Hänninen was in charge of this year's audits, as she was lastyear. The organisation and reporting took her about one week. From the side of the powerplant operators, the audit process went well and proved to be user friendly. The suggestionsfor improvement, as well as some technical specifications, will be used during the next reviewof the EKOenergy criteria, likely mid 2017.

The biomass power centrals that qualify for EKOenergy are listed at http://www.ekoenergy.org/power-plants/.

9.3 Controlling EKOenergy eligibility of power plants

Every week, new power plants are added to our EKOenergy map.

For solar farms and wind farms, the process is relatively simple: We check if the location isoutside protected areas as listed in our criteria. Therefore, most new licensed sellers start withEKOenergy certified wind and solar.

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For hydropower, the approval process is morecomplex and consists of consultation of localexperts as well as reading of environmentalreports.. In 2016, we studies and approvedhydropower plants from Austria, France andNorway.

The search for suitable hydropower plants isusually a direct result of a concrete interest by a seller or buyer. In France and Germany, localsubsidised electricity cannot be marketed/sold as green, which makes it difficult to find wind orsolar. Some sellers also explicitly want to sell electricity products from renewable energysources 'that are always available'.

• Austria: In April, we approved the power plant of Bischofshofen, on the Salzach. In Julywe approved the Danube power plant Melk. Both are large hydropower plants withrenewed fish passes.

• France: In July we approved the hydropower plant of Sauveterre, where a fish passage is being built.

• Norway: In October we approved 5 power plants in the Orkla-Grana Basin: Ulset,Litjfossen, Brattset, Grana and Svorkmo.

We also studied hydropower plants in Taiwan and India, as well as many other hydropowerplants in Austria, France and Norway.

For the full list of qualifying hydropower plants and the decisions, see: http://www.ekoenergy.org/power-plants/.

10. An EKOenergy-label for energy

We have the ambition to gradually start certifying other types of renewable energy too. In2016 we particularly prepared the launch of the EKOenergy ecolabel for renewable gas.

10.1 Renewable gas

We have been considering the development of an ecolabel for renewable gas since mid 2014.We actively looked for funding for this project, but didn't manage to get any, unfortunately. InJanuary, we started the process with our own resources.

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Renewable gas includes gas produced from bioenergy as well as different types of "renewablepower to gas".

From February to May, we contacted over 200 stakeholders, mainly from European countries.Gradually we developed a first version of possible criteria for renewable gas. From 16 July to 5October, we organized a public consultation about this first text. Based on the comments, wedeveloped a second version of the criteria, which has been submitted to a new publicconsultation in November. The proposed criteria have now been sent to the members of theEKOenergy Network for approval. We expect to be ready for launch by mid-February.

The criteria text covers the following aspects:• Origin and production. With regard to

the used bioenergy, we have copiedthe list of energy allowed for theproduction of EKOenergy electricity. Amore thorough review of our bioenergycriteria will take place in 2017.

• Tracking• Climate and additionality (contributions

to our Climate Fund)• Auditing and verification

We foresee a slow launch. In the coming years,our focus will continue to be on the growth of our electricity label. In regard to renewablerenewable gas, we will mainly focus on 'niche' markets.

10.2 Future: heat, self-production,....

In 2016, we have also been brainstorming about expanding the reach of our label to e.g.district heating, as well as to many forms of self-production (e.g. solar on the roof to cover ownheat and electricity needs). Different scenarios are on the table, but we need more time tostudy and evaluate them.

We notice a growing demand for such an evolution, both from the side of the sellers as fromthe side of the consumers. The same topics will also be part of our talks with the Swedish BraMiljöval label, which has already criteria for heat and biofuels.

We are currently looking for external financing for our work in these fields.

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11. On the stage and in the media

11.1 Unique story, unique expertise

As becomes apparent throughout this annual report, EKOenergy's story is in many way unique:we created a new international ecolabel 'out of nothing', we are growing very fast, we are ableto show very concrete results, we are very open and transparent, volunteers play a crucial rolein our development,...

Apart from that, we have unique expertise too. EKOenergy has become an expert on greenelectricity marketing and disclosure. We know the European rules and because of our frequentcontacts with stakeholders in 20 different countries, we also have a fairly good, and evenunique, overview on the implementation of the European Directives (Disclosure rules ofElectricity Market Directive and tracking rules of article 15 of the Renewable Energy Directive)in various part of Europe. Because we follow both the legislative work and the practice, we alsoknow pretty well where practice matches theory, and where it doesn't.

One nice consequence of this uniqueness, is that we are invited to conferences, we get intothe media and we are also are getting awards!

11.2 Conferences

- EKOenergy attended the RECS Market Meeting, in Amsterdam, from 7 to 9 March. Wemoderated a pre-conference workshop about electricity tracking. - We also talked about green electricity at the conference "LEED in Europe", Berlin, 28March. - Presentation about renewable electricity and EKOenery at the Environmental Days of theParishes of the Finnish Lutheran Church, 4 April.- Presentation and workshop at a seminar of Finnish Business and Society, 28 September.- We presented EKOenergy at the Bischoff & Ditze Renewable Energy Conference inHamburg, 29 September.- We talked about tracking systems at the final conference of the CertifHy project, Brussels,19 October (via video).- Presentation at the seminar "Energy of the future for Espoo", 20 October.- We got the opportunity to present EKOenergy at the GoodFestival in Lausanne,Switzerland, on 5 November. (GoodFestival is a unique multidisciplinary platform ofresearchers, entrepreneurs and innovators of various horizons with similar state of mind and all

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united around the same objective: build a better world.) . Elea Kunz, former EVS volunteer andcurrently living in Switzerland represented us. - We presented EKOenergy and commented on the ICS system at the Open MarketsCommittee of the AIB and RECS International, in Baden (CH), 1 December 2017 (via video)- ...

11.3 In the media

- Finland Politics dedicated an article to the history of EKOenergy.https://finlandpolitics.org/2016/05/26/ekoenergy-the-finnish-ngo-pushing-europe-to-buy-eco-labeled-green-electricity/.

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- The Magazine GineersNow published aninterview with Katsiaryna Viadziorchyk fromthe Secretariat. See page 68-71 ofhttp://gineersnow.com/Magazine/the-real-heroes-of-renewable-energy-industry .- In October, the very popular Finnish TVshow Kuningaskuluttaja (Customer is king inEnglish), did a show focussing on energy. Theybroadcasted an interview with Riku Eskelinen,Program manager of EKOenergy. Riku talked

about the importance of sustainability criteria and about how EKOenergy is a not-for-profitinitiative that helps consumers navigate the complex electricity market. This resulted also in anarticle on their website.http://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2016/10/13/sahkosopimuksen-nimi-ei-kerro-energian-vihreydesta-apua-vihersavyn-valintaan.- Article about EKOenergy in Kodikkaasti-lehti, http://www.e-julkaisu.fi/espoon_asunnot/ kodikkaasti/3-2016/, and 3h+K-lehti, http://www.ekoenergy.org/3hk-lehden-haastattelu-ekoenergia-merkittya-sahkoa-koteihin/- ...

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11.4. Awards

- In July, we got the good news that we were one of the 100 climate projects, showcasedby the French ministry of Environment, Energy and Sea as a part of the '100 Projects for theClimate' initiative. Apart from the visibility, this also means a small (but very welcome) financial

support. See also http://www.100projetspourleclimat.gouv.fr/en/.

- In November, we were one of the winnersof the Good100 PremaGyan Award, an awardfor “sustainable innovators with projects thatexempl i f y compass i on and w i sdom.Compassion, because they are working onsustainable development – addressing povertyor doing something about climate change,wisdom because they have a sustainablebusiness model.” The Award was given at theGoodFestival in Lausanne, Switzerland.

12. Interaction with other ecolabels and standards

12.1 LEED Standard

Since October 2014, EKOenergy is mentioned in all European versions of the LEED Standard.(www.usgbc.org/leed). This generates demand all over Europe. However, being mentioned isnot enough. LEED works with a point system and project developers will not chooseEKOenergy if they experience the process as burdensome. As this is a new requirement, LEED

certifiers are often not eager to recommendthis to their customers. Besides, LEED alsoaccepts 'equivalents' without clearly definingwhat is meant with this.

We developed a campaign targeting LEEDbuildings and LEED certifiers, to tell themabout the possibilities of EKOenergy and wetranslated our LEED course to French andRussian. See also chapters 4.3 and 4.4 of this

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Annual Report.

The USGBC (i.e. LEED) is now rewriting the European version of its criteria. We are in closecontact and we hope that they will drastically simplify the wording of their European ACP (i.e.the interpretation guide of its criteria in Europe), e.g. by simply referring to "eco-labeledelectricity produced on the same market". We sent our text suggestions to the USGBC and getthe support of the German Green Building Association.

In April, Steven Vanholme talked at a LEED conference in Berlin. During the conference, thehosting hotel used EKOenergy.

We are trying to develop a similar relation with BREEAM, another international buildingstandard (and a competitor of LEED).

12.2 CDP Guidelines

CDP works with 5000 of the largest corporations in the world to help them calculate theircarbon emissions and to help them develop effective carbon emission reduction strategies.

In February 2016, CDP published an update of its technical notes for accounting of scope 2emissions (i.e. emissions related to the production of purchased electricity). In the text CDPexplains how companies can do more, and it refers explicitly to EKOenergy:

“Ecolabels are a way for companies to do

more with their purchases. EKOenergy,

mentioned by the GHG protocol Scope 2

guidance, is such an option: it is a mark of

quality which comes on top of tracking

certif icates. Electric ity sold with the

EKOenergy label fulfills strict environmental

criteria and raises funds for new renewable

energy projects. Involvement, transparency

and ‘deeds not words’ are important principles of EKOenergy’s work.”

12.3 Standards and ecolabels for hotels

For about 2 years we have been following up the review of the European Ecolabel for TouristAccomodation. Referring to 100% renewable electricity, let alone to ecolabeled electricity,

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turned out to be quite sensitive. But the outcome is satisfying: the basic requirements of theEuropean Ecolabel for Tourist Accomodations ask now for 50% renewable electricity contracts.But extra points can be earned for 100% ecolabeled contracts. In many countries, EKOenergyis the only ecolabel.

Luonto Liitto (the Finnish Nature League, which is a different organisation than the FinnishAssociation for Nature Conservation) and the Finnish branch of Hostelling Internationalpublished criteria for sustainable hotels. One of the requirements is that the hotel usesEKOenergy. The first hotel to implement the new criteria is Hostel Domus Academica in

Helsinki.

In December we signed a cooperationagreement with the Green Key Network. BothGreen Key and EKOenergy are growing(internationalizing) not-for-profit networks andwe have compatible expertise. We will supporteach other whenever possible.

12.4 IRENA's Coalition for Action

IRENA's Coalition for Action had the ambitionto create an international ecolabel forelectricity. Everything they want to create, wehave already.

At the end of 2015 we joined IRENA'sCoalition for Action and since then we are in contact with the Secretariat. We regularlyreminded them that we want to cooperate and that our label can become theirs.

IRENA's Coalition for Action changed its plans in the end of 2016. The development of an ownecolabel is no longer on the agenda. New plans (for other activities) will be discussed inJanuary 2017.

12.5 Cooperation with I-REC

I-REC is an international standard for trackingsystems. It is rather new, and a direct result ofnew carbon footprinting rules of the

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Greenhouse Gas Protocol and its Scope 2 Guidance. These rules allow the purchase of greenelectricity to be taken into account in carbon footprinting reports if the purchase of greenelectricity is proven by a tracking system that fulfils specific quality criteria. I-REC has theambition to bring green electricity sales to parts of the world where these were thus far notcommon.

We are also amongst the first to make use of the IREC system. I-REC is gradually starting itsactivities in India, in the Far East, in the Middle East, in Latin America. We follow thisdevelopment and we inform stakeholders in these countries about our existence. Whereverthere are green electricity sales, there can be EKOenergy certified sales, if we find powerplants that fulfil our quality criteria (which is currently the case in China, Taiwan, Mexico andBrazil).

12.6 Bra Miljöval

Bra Miljöval is a Swedish ecolabel. It workswith many products, also with electricity. Asmore and more consumers (and sellers) inSweden get interested in EKOenergy, westarted a dialogue with Bra Miljöval. Weagreed to start a process to find the best way

to cooperate.

In December 2016 we welcomed trainee Mervi Ukkonen, to coordinate the process and to lookfor extra funding to set up an intense cooperation between two renowned ecolabels with asecretariat in the nordic countries.

12.7 Creating a network of ecolabels and standards in Finland

We are actively involved in creating a platform for a network of ecolabels, standards andenvironmental programs active in Finland. Several meetings took place in 2016.

We are also seriously considering to create a hub for eco-labels under the wings of the FinnishAssociation for Nature Conservation.

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13. Volunteers, trainees and staff

13.1 At the Secretariat

EVS VolunteersIn 2016 the EKOenergy secretariat hosted the following EVS volunteers (European VoluntaryService):

- Charlotte Bodenmüller (DE), April 2015to January 2016, project 'EKOenergy forGermany', 2014-3-FI01-KA105-008502- Pavla ('Paja') Holečková (CZ). June 2015to June 2016, project 'Enhancing co-operationof young forest conservationists', 2015-1-FI01-KA105-008642 (only 1/5 on the EKOenergyproject; shared with the forestry departmentof the Finnish Association for NatureConservation)

- Ginevra Poli (IT), July 2015 to June 2016, project 'EKOenergy for the Western-Mediterranean Area', 2015-1-FI01-KA105-008582- Ana Baudot (ES), August 2015 to July 2016, project 'EKOenergy for the Western-Mediterranean Area', 2015-1-FI01-KA105-008582- Katsiaryna Viadziorchyk (Katya Vediorchik, BY), August 2015 to August 2016, project'United by EKOenergy', 2015-1-FI01-KA105-008617- Lenka Kašová (CZ), October 2015 - June 2016, project 'EKOenergy for Czech Republic',2015-1-FI01-KA105-008598- Sophie d'Argentré (FR), October 2015 to October 2016, project 'The next step of

EKOénergie', 2015-1-FI01-KA105-008597- Gabriella Vangstrup (DK), January toJuly 2017, project 'Wind in the sails ofEKOenergy', 2015-3-FI01-KA105-022182- D an ie l Gu lde (D E ) , Janua ry toSeptember 2016, project 'Wind in the sails ofEKOenergy', 2015-3-FI01-KA105-022182- Amy Corr igan (UK) , January toDecember 2016, project 'EKOenergy 2 theUK', 2015-2-FI01-KA105-009132- Theresa Knechtel (DE), February to July

2016, project 'United by EKOenergy', 2015-1-FI01-KA105-008617

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- Vincenzo Bordino (IT), July 2016 - June2017, project 'Leadership with EKOenergy -Southern Europe', 2016-1-FI01-KA105-022504- Catrin Buchfink (DE), August 2016 - July2017, Project 'Leadership with EKOenergy -Germany' 2016-1-FI01-KA105-022404- Merve Güngör (TR), September 2016 -August 2017, project 'EKOenergy for Turkey',2015-3-FI01-KA105-022181- Olga Usova, (RU), September 2016 -

August 2017, project "EKOenergy for Neighbours", 2016-2-FI01-KA105-022784- Monica Aniszewska (PL), October 2016 - July 2017, Project 'Break free - Switch torenewable energy', 2016-2-FI01-KA105-022782- Christiane Lösel (DE), October 2016 - July 2017, Project 'Leadership with EKOenergy -Germany' 2016-1-FI01-KA105-022404 - Elyem Chej (ES), October 2016 - September 2017, project 'Leadership with EKOenergy -Southern Europe', 2016-1-FI01-KA105-022504

Together 105 months of volunteering for EKOenergy.

For more information on the EVS (European Voluntary Service) program, seehttp://ec.europa.eu/youth/programme/mobility/youth_people_en.htm.

Other volunteers- Elina Sorri (FI), September 2015 - February 2016, coordination of the selection of theEnvironmental Fund Projects and writing of a biomass project. - Nandita Rajan (India), Summer 2016 and sporadically in Autumn.

Trainees - Felina Hinz (DE) May - June 2016, Layout and design- Nikita Gruzinskiy (FI-RU), "TET-opiskelija", 1 week in May- Marjolein van Hassel (NL), August 2016 - January 2017, Hanzehogeschool Groningen,- Lauri Heikkinen, trainee, työkokeilu, October 2016 - April 2017- Ammar Al Kaysi (IR & FI), language trainee, 2 weeks in November 2016. - Mervi Ukkonen, trainee, työkokeilu, December 2016 - February 2017

Staff- Full time staff until 1 November 2016: Riku Eskelinen (Program manager), Steven Vanholme(Program Manager), Petter Nissinen (Key Account Manager)- Full time staff from 1 November 2016: Steven Vanholme (Program Manager), Petter

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Nissinen (Marketing Director). Riku Eskelinen became head of the Projects Team of the FinnishAssociation for Nature Conservation on 1 November 2016. From 1 January 2017 he will bereplaced by Ms Virpi Sahi, who will be EKOenergy's Environmental Director, mainly in charge ofour hydropower and bioenergy related work.

13.2 Elsewhere

TranslatorsIn 2016, about 25 out-of-office translators helped us translate (together) about 150 webpagesand other documents to about 20 languages.

Former volunteers of the Secretariat remain activeWe are happy to see that many of those who have spent months at the Secretariat remainactive after the end of their project. Charlotte Bodenmüller joined us at a conference in Berlinand in Dessau (DE), Marie Schaardt joined us at a series of events in Hamburg (DE), Elea Kunzrepresented us at the GoodFestival in Lausanne (CH), Daniel Gulde visited one of our licensedsellers to give more information about our goals and approach (DE), Pavla Holeckova remainsan important contact person for energy sellers in the Czech Rebublic (CZ). Several volunteersalso actively send us ideas and inform us about opportunities.

14. Budget and volumes

14.1 Budget

IncomeLicense fees (based on careful predictions of the sales): 109,000 €European Voluntary Service program: 67.000 €European LIFE program: 40,000 euro

(Apart from this also, we also manage the money of the Climate Fund and Environmental Fund,but this money is used for the projects - See chapter 6 and 7)

CostsMainly salaries + living costs of the volunteers.

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Graph: EKOenergy's growingresources - Note: income of 2016is not based on real volumes ofcertified electricity, but on a verycareful estimation

In 2016, EKOenergy's books have been audited by Joakim Rehn of Grant Thornton. The auditreport is available at the EKOenergy Secretariat (in Finnish). Contact us for more information.

Our accounts of 2017 will be checked by the same accountant.

14.2 Volumes

In 2015, we certified 987,605 GWh of electricity sales. In about 10 countries. About 80% of the EKOenergy certified sales took place in Finland)Data of 2016 not known yet. We hope to end between 1,5 and 2 TWh.

15. Thanks

EKOenergy thrives on the enthusiasm of many.Listing everybody who helped and supported usin 2016 would be impossible.

Our special thanks go:

- to the suppliers and consumers ofEKOenergy. You proved that we are on the rightway, and your enthusiasm pushes us forward. - to our volunteers and trainees - to the Finnish Association for NatureConservation, for hosting us and giving us a lotof administrative and technical help.

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16. More information / Contact

See www.ekoenergy.org. The website is available in more than 25 languages.

Or contact the EKOenergy Secretariat: c/o Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, Itälahdenkatu 22 b A, 00210 Helsinki, Finlandinfo@ekoenergy.org+358 50 5687385 (Steven Vanholme) and +358 40 646 3441 (Petter Nissinen) www.ekoenergy.org/about-us/contact-us/

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