My paper in Energy Policy Journal is quite
detailed but in simple terms it's about the way companies can buy green energy certificates and
claim that they use green renewable electricity and in turn they can claim to be green and
have low emissions but the reality is that the electricity they're buying is the same
electricity that's already in the grid and buying green certificates doesn't do anything
to increase the amount of green renewable electricity, so it doesn't change anything. An important point that you very credibly raise is the claims made in corporate carbon
disclosure, they are not credible. In your work you present very convincing arguments on this. I highly appreciate your work and I think it is also of high societal interest. Okay, well
yeah thanks, thanks so much Jaap. Thank you Matthew So in short, our research shows that current carbon
accounting methods don't do anything for the environment although they allow companies to claim
to be green. The research has had a significant impact on government, industry and academics
and that has led to a number of other changes.
One of the great benefits of research
like yours is the independent element to it where industry can see a problem but needs someone to
convince the government or someone to convince the regulators that there is not only a
problem but a solution which can be easily implemented. Companies buy green certificates in
order to meet targets or to impress customers and stakeholders. If customer aspect is quite key,
people are much more aware of their impact on the environment and they only want to bank with banks
that are sustainable and are pledging to in future change their investment, so
divest away from energy intensive investments. As a company who produces green
electricity, we're keen to ensure that the green credentials of that electricity
ends up in suitable companies hands.
I looked at data from around the world and
pulled it together for the first time, and a synthesis of the data showed that this is a
global issue. The main findings are that buying green energy certificates does not increase the
amount of renewable generation, it undermines the credibility of greenhouse gas accounting,
and it also misleads companies because they believe that they're doing something positive
for the environment and that's not the case. In short, renewable certificates are not delivering
what consumers think they're delivering and that's not good practice. My paper was published in Energy
Policy Journal and the subsequent debate has had a number of global and significant impacts. It's a big debate going on at the moment and I think Matthew's research has contributed quite a
lot to it.
It's impacted my thinking and it's interesting to see that other banks have also
taken on board the concept of additionality. The international standard for corporate level
greenhouse gas accounting, iso 14064 part one, has just been updated. The main impacts were:
the research has been used in the revision of an iso standard for company greenhouse
gas accounting, it's been used by the UK government Department for Business Energy
and Industrial Strategy, and it's also been used by a large number of companies to inform
their own thinking and practice on this issue. The University has been very supportive through
the whole process.
The university provided support for the research itself and support for travel
to international meetings, particularly the iso international meetings, and also helped with things
like developing a database of over 300 companies who use green certificates in their greenhouse
gas reporting. I think this project is a good example of the way the University of Edinburgh
places a lot of emphasis on research and impact. Your work is impactful on people like me, your work
has sharpened my ideas. So the impact of Matthew's work, it does have quite pertinent impacts
and influences across the nation and across the world really. I think this is an important
issue because it's essential that companies do genuinely reduce their greenhouse gas emissions
and so this is a piece of research I'm very proud of..