The world’s first independent standards and certification system for oil and gas production is expanding into renewable energy, Equitable Origin (EO) announced today.
The international non-profit organisation believes that setting social and environmental standards and certifying responsible development will help renewables projects clear hurdles and secure local community support as low-carbon energy sources expand with efforts to mitigate climate change.
Since its founding in 2009, Equitable Origin has undertaken stakeholder engagement, standards development, and certification of responsible operations in the oil and gas industry.
Its expansion to renewable energy sites such as wind farms and solar installations comes in response to demand from stakeholders affected by renewable development projects, according to EO president and co-founder David Poritz.
He said:“Their concerns underscore an important, yet often-overlooked reality: the expansion of renewable energy sources is essential to tackling the global climate change crisis, but renewable projects have some of the same local impacts on people and the environment as non-renewable projects. Reducing impacts will help remove potential barriers to renewable energy development at the local level.”
EO’s chief executive Soledad Mills said the expansion is an appropriate next step for the organisation, whose mission is to ensure energy development meets the highest social and environmental standards.
“The EO100 Standard, though originally designed for oil and gas production, is comprehensive enough to apply to all forms of energy development,” Mills explained, referring to EO’s groundbreaking voluntary standard for responsible practices.
“We are currently developing sector-specific supplements to the EO100(TM) Standard, as we did for shale development and fracking earlier this year.
EO is in discussions with a number of renewable energy companies and will be actively seeking input from additional companies, as well as community organizations and nonprofit groups.
EO’s expansion announcement comes ahead of two major international summits that will be integral to future climate action and renewable energy development.
In September, the United Nations General Assembly will adopt its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a meeting in New York.
The SDGs will play a major role in securing an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb climate change at the December COP-21 summit in Paris.
