The first global consumer label for products manufactured using wind energy has been launched.
The WindMade Product label gives companies the chance to show their credentials to eco-conscious consumers with a globally-recognised, Fairtrade-style mark of authenticity.
It can be applied to all products using a minimum share of 75% of renewable energy in their total electricity consumption, with wind power representing the largest share. It will cover the entire power usage for all product components – from the extraction of the raw materials all the way to the product leaving the factory gate.
CEO Henrik Kuffner said: “The WindMade product label provides consumers with the transparency they demand and with a credible and intuitive tool to make informed purchasing decisions. And in addition, it gives companies an instrument to tap into this large pool of environmentally conscious consumers.”
Windmade is calling on consumers to show their support for wind power by participating in the ‘Show You Care’ campaign, which aims to show leading brands that consumers around the world favour products that are manufactured with renewable energy.
Susanne Fratzscher, Senior Advisor on Renewable Energy of WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative and a member of WindMade’s Technical Committee welcomed the news. She said: “WWF fully supports this label as a way to recognise companies for their efforts while empowering consumer choice. The cradle-to-gate approach ensures that the label is meaningful and it makes it robust and credible to consumers.”
WindMade claims a recent global study of 24,000 consumers in 20 countries showed 73% of consumers around the world would have a more positive perception of a brand if it used wind power as their primary energy source.
New data compiled by the UK Government earlier this year showed an increasing number of people in the UK support the use of renewables to provide the country’s electricity needs and new research this week forecast the global wind industry to spend almost €15 billion (£12.8bn) every year for the next ten years to develop the offshore sector.
