On October 13, WindMade became a trademark label for companies to use as a sign they are employing wind energy. Companies can buy wind power and in doing so receive a label to display the purchase of wind energy. The label is backed by UN Global Compact, WWF, Vestas Wind Systems, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) the LEGO Group, Bloomberg and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. The logo will act as a sign for companies to communicate with others that they are using wind and possibly other renewable sources of energy as part of their overall power consumption. “WindMade is the first eco-label supported by the UN Global Compact,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of UN Global Compact. ”It is fully aligned with our mission to promote greater corporate sustainability as the critical business contribution to sustainable development. As a tangible and meaningful consumer label, WindMade can go a long way in advancing the use of renewable energy around the globe.” In order to purchase the label companies must use 25 percent wind power as an energy resource. The wind power can be procurred through a company-owned generator, through a long-term agreement with another wind power provider company, or through the purchase of WindMade-approved Renewable Energy Certificates. The WindMade label is managed by the WindMade non-profit organization whose primary focus is “dedicated to accelerating the adoption of renewable energy by improving companies' ability to communicate their wind energy investments to their stakeholders.” “The criteria set out by the standard will ensure that companies using the WindMade label will contribute to more investment in renewables over and above what would be built anyway and hence boost clean power,” said Samantha Smith, Director of the WWF Global Energy and Climate Network Initiative. “We believe that the industrial take-up of the ambitious WindMade standard is a perfect market contribution to the needed strong governmental renewable energy targets for 2030. This will drive the development of new wind power generation,” she continued. “Today we release the technical standard for a new and unique label for companies that consume clean energy,” said Morten Albæk, SVP Global Marketing and Customer Insight at Vestas, the company spearheading the WindMade initiative. “But this is only the beginning – together with the growing membership of WindMade we must continue to evolve and improve the standard – starting with the development of the product standard which is already underway.” CEO of WindMade, Henrik Kuffner stated “the interest in the WindMade label has been considerable. Already now, many companies are committed to switching to green power, driven by strong consumer demand for sustainable and responsible corporations. However, to date, these forward-looking companies did not have the possibility of receiving an independent global certification for their power procurement. WindMade will now fill this gap, and provide consumers with the transparency they require to make informed choices.” A global launch event of WindMade and which companies are first to take interest in the label will be announced in New York on November 18, when the UN Global Compact will host the event. WindMade has already mentioned talks of phase two of the label, which will include WindMade products. The products could be released as early as 2012. BM
