Umweltbundesamt
Click to enlargeGuarantees of origin (GO) for electricity produced from renewable sources are to be traded internationally. The GO register at the UBA is publishing the results of a research project about the recognition of foreign guarantees of origin.
Article 15 of EU Directive 2009/28/EC defines the requirements which guarantees of origin must meet. They must, for example, include the date of issue and identify the source of energy. However, not all the criteria are easy to check quickly and with certainty, which is why UBA launched a research project to review whether the GO from selected countries can be recognised in general. A consortium of lawyers (Becker Büttner Held Rechtsanwälte (BBH)) and consultants (Öko-Institut e. V.) conducted an evaluation of their national legal and energy management systems in a research project carried out on behalf of the Federal Environment Ministry.
The results for the individual countries have been published in English-language summaries. The UBA explicitly points out that these summaries do not amount to statements about whether future applications for recognition of GOs from the concerned countries will be granted eligibility for recognition. The UBA will instead continue to meet its legal mandate to review the eligibility for recognition of GOs, according to current standards and on a case-by-case basis. The results of investigations will be incorporated into these reviews.
All other states which were not selected for review of eligibility for recognition of their GO will be reviewed by the Federal Environment Agency directly. The results will not be published on this website. The omission of any state does not imply that the UBA does not recognise its guarantees of origin.
The UBA’s motto, For our environment (“Für Mensch und Umwelt”), sums up our mission pretty well, we feel. In this video we give an insight into our work.
