Embedding Social and Environmental Benefits in Renewable Energy

Renewable energy deployments are on the rise. The U.S. alone is expected to add 132 to 157GW of new renewable energy capacity in the next five years. How and where that renewable energy is deployed can drive radically different outcomes — with the potential to maximize positive impact for a range of stakeholders or limit benefits to just a few.

Traditionally, renewable energy procurement and project selection focuses on financial and logistical criteria (e.g. price, risk, volume, location, timing). These are essential criteria but they do not provide a comprehensive view of everything that matters. Some renewable energy projects displace more fossil fuels than others, some are built at the cost of critical habitat for plants and animals, and others share jobs and infrastructure benefits with the local community. By incorporating additional social and environmental criteria (e.g. additionality, land use, emission avoidance, job creation) into the renewable energy procurement process, buyers can conduct a holistic evaluation of projects and better identify the ‘best’ renewable energy projects.

In this webcast you’ll learn:

• Why a holistic approach to renewable energy procurement is important
• How a large company has applied this approach and received buy-in from the full organization
• How you can incorporate a number of critical environmental and social criteria into your evaluation process

Moderator:

• Sarah Golden, Senior Energy Analyst & VERGE Energy Chair, GreenBiz

Speakers:

• Megan Lorenzen, Sustainability Manager, Salesforce
• Bruce McKenney, Director for Strategic Initiatives, Energy & Infrastructure, The Nature Conservancy
• Henry Richardson, Senior Analyst, WattTime.org
• Alex Klonick, Manager, REBA

If you can’t tune in live, please register and we will email you a link to access the archived webcast footage and resources, available to you on-demand after the webcast.