General Motors announced today that it has received a 2019 Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The awards recognize companies for their commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation’s voluntary green power market. EPA presented GM with the award for Direct Project Engagement at the 2019 Renewable Energy Markets Conference in San Diego, California.
“We are proud for this recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” said Erin Lawrence, energy and carbon optimization engineer at General Motors. “Our efforts and those of other sustainably minded corporations help accelerate the development of renewable resources and advance this market in the U.S. Leveraging renewable power is a demonstration of our commitment to reducing carbon emissions while supporting our RE100 goal to have 100% of our electricity use from renewable energy by 2050.”
EPA considers green power as electricity generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. GM was one of only seven organizations nationwide to receive a Leadership Award for direct project engagement. The program recognizes EPA Green Power Partners that distinguish themselves through direct project engagement with on- and offsite projects using a variety of financing structures to access certified renewable green power. GM received the award for helping to develop a diverse renewable energy supply portfolio, including:
- Exceeding its original renewable energy goal of 125 megawatts (GM has achieved 416MW).
- Advancing its renewable energy goal as a signatory of RE100, a global initiative uniting influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.
- Executing the first green tariff in Michigan with Consumers Energy.
- Three new virtual power purchase agreements for wind energy totaling over 800 million kilowatt-hours coming online in 2018.
GM is continuing to leverage a four-pillar strategy announced as part of its RE100 goal in 2016 to pursue a zero emissions future. Energy efficiency, renewables, storage and policy are key to advancing the technology needed to achieve this effort. GM is currently accessing about 703.5 million kWh of power annually from a portfolio of various renewable energy systems, equivalent to the electricity use of about 86,750 average U.S. homes annually.
GM has been engaged in various renewable power projects for decades, including landfill gas, wind and solar projects, and is a founding member of the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, working to help increase demand for and delivery of renewable energy.
An organization-wide EPA partner, GM is currently No. 6 on EPA’s Green Power Partnership Top 30 On-site generation list. GM recently earned a spot on the EPA National Top 100 List of the largest green power users from the Green Power Partnership. Ranked No. 29, GM is the only automotive company on this list. It also ranks No. 14 on EPA’s list of Green Power Partners from the Fortune 500®.
SOURCE: GM
