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NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

- Alphabet and Google Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat Calls on Global

Community to Join Compact in Address to United Nations General Assembly

Leading energy buyers, suppliers, solutions providers and governments announced

today the formal launch of the 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Compact in partnership

with Sustainable Energy for All and the UN Energy. The Compact represents a new

global effort to accelerate the transition to a carbon-free electricity sector

to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. SEforALL and Google made the

announcement today during the United Nations High level Dialogue on Energy in

New York. In addition to Google, founding signatories of the Compact include

The AES Corporation, Orsted, EDP, the city of Des Moines, Iowa, the government

of Iceland, and others.

A carbon-free electricity sector is the foundation for creating a net-zero

emissions global economy. Electricity generates 25% of the world's greenhouse

gas emissions, and is key to decarbonizing other sectors of the economy,

including buildings, transport, and industry. Meeting this challenge will

require a rapid acceleration in the pace of clean energy deployment, the

development of advanced carbon-free energy technologies, and significant policy

changes.

SEforALL and Google are calling on companies, governments, and other

stakeholders to join the Compact in the lead up to November's COP26 Conference

in Glasgow and commit to advancing policies, procurement practices, tools, and

data that are critical to fully decarbonizing the world's electricity systems.

The Compact lays out a set of principles and actions that actors can take to

adopt, enable, and advance 24/7 Carbon-free Energy, focusing on hourly

decarbonization of local and regional electricity grids.

"The world is at a crossroads. We can either continue with business as usual or

embrace change that leads to a more sustainable and equitable future. This

starts with making the important link between energy and climate. The Energy

Compacts that have been put forward as part of this historic UN High-Level

Dialogue on Energy have resulted in ambitious commitments and actions that will

help address energy poverty while working towards decarbonization. The 24/7

Carbon-Free Energy Compact represents a critical partnership across business,

countries, cities and others that will propel us closer to our 2030 Global

Energy Goals," said SEforALL CEO & Special Representative to the UN

Secretary-General Damilola Ogunbiyi.

"Tackling climate change requires government and business to work together with

urgency and focus. The Compact is the first collective action group to bring

together companies, national and local governments, and other stakeholders to

drive innovation and investment in 24/7 carbon-free electricity grids, and we

are hopeful that it will facilitate significant progress. Time is not on our

side-- we need to act now-- and we look forward to others joining with Google

in our efforts," said Google CFO Ruth Porat.

Founding signatories of the Compact include: 8 Rivers Capital, The AES

Corporation, ClearTrace, the city of Des Moines, Iowa, EDP, Energy Tag, Fervo

Energy, FlexiDAO, Google, the government of Iceland, Iron Mountain, the city of

Ithaca, New York, LevelTen Energy, M-RETS, Orsted, Power Ledger, Statkraft,

Tomorrow, and X. Signatories of the Compact commit to advance the procurement

practices, market mechanisms, policies, technologies, and energy data

transparency needed to enable the rapid and cost-effective achievement of 24/7

carbon-free energy for all.

"As a developer of cutting-edge clean energy solutions, 8 Rivers is excited to

work with Google and the world-class partners in this Compact to accelerate the

global energy transition to a 24/7 carbon-free power system, so anyone can

access reliable clean electricity any hour of the day," said 8 Rivers Capital

Chief Executive Officer Cam Hosie.

"Taking action against climate change is the most important and urgent issue

facing us today, and AES is proud to join the 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Compact.

Together, we're co-creating new solutions, such as the first-of-its-kind

agreement to supply 24/7 carbon-free energy to Google's data centers in

Virginia, that will accelerate a smarter, greener energy future," said AES

President and Chief Executive Officer Andrés Gluski.

"As we strive for a net zero future, it's clear that corporations — who are

among the largest energy consumers — need solutions to help them accurately

manage and track power-related emissions. We are proud to support and enable

the transition to a carbon-free energy future," said ClearTrace Chief Executive

Officer Lincoln Payton.

"I want to commend and thank the many global partners who join me in supporting

the transformation of electric grids to 'absolute zero' - or full

decarbonization - by adopting, enabling, and advancing the 24/7 CFE Compact

Statement. Our commitment as a City to decarbonized energy systems supports a

future for clean energy and ensures that all residents have access to

affordable, reliable and sustainable energy," said Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa,

Frank Cownie.

"EDP is thrilled to join the Global Compact for 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy. We are

proud to be at the forefront of the development of new technologies to

accelerate the decarbonization of electricity systems and promote the

globalization of access to clean energy," said EDP Chief Executive Officer

Miguel Stilwell Andrade.

"24/7 carbon-free energy is a critical development in energy procurement

practices and EnergyTag is delighted to be a signatory of this Compact.

EnergyTag is an industry-led, non-profit initiative to define and build a

market for granular energy certificates, which enable consumers to verify the

source of their electricity consumption on an hourly basis and harness consumer

demand for 24/7 carbon-free energy to drive investments," said EnergyTag

Founder Dr. Toby Ferenczi.

"24/7 carbon-free energy is the next step in advancing progress to address

climate change. Fervo Energy is excited to sign on to this important effort and

to continue driving forward geothermal innovations to create a truly carbon

free grid," said Fervo Energy Chief Executive Officer Tim Latimer.

"At FlexiDAO, we provide software solutions and advisory to help companies

achieve their net-zero goals and become true leaders of the energy transition.

For this reason, we are extremely excited to partner with Google and to join

the 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Compact," said FlexiDAO Chief Executive Officer

Simone Accornero.

"Iron Mountain recognizes both the urgent need to decarbonize our energy grid

and the opportunity we have as an energy buyer to make a meaningful impact. We

support the ultimate ambition of meeting each kilowatt needed every hour with

generation from a local carbon free source and have made this a cornerstone of

how we buy and consume power," said Iron Mountain Director of Energy and

Sustainability Chris Pennington.

"Carbon free electricity is essential to achieve full decarbonization. By

joining the 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Compact, the City of Ithaca, N.Y.,

reiterates its commitment to expanding access to carbon free electricity as a

pathway to a clean energy future," said Director of Sustainability for the City

of Ithaca, New York, Dr. Luis Aguirre-Torres.

"Matching every kilowatt-hour of electricity consumption with carbon-free

electricity sources requires a transformative approach to energy procurement,

and LevelTen is committed to building the software solutions required to give

more organizations this opportunity. Together, with our network of energy and

sustainability advisors, we look forward to helping more energy buyers achieve

their 24/7 carbon-free goals," said LevelTen Energy Chief Executive Officer

Bryce Smith.

"M-RETS is excited to participate in this initiative as the first registry to

support an hourly REC claim in partnership with Google. This initiative is an

important step in facilitating a data driven renewable energy market," said

M-RETS President and Chief Executive Officer Ben Gerber.

"Ørsted's vision is to create a world running entirely on green energy, and

this includes meeting demand every hour of every day. We already know the

solutions to get a long part of the way towards 24/7 renewable energy and we're

committed to facilitating the last difficult stretch of the journey together

with our partners," said Ørsted Senior Vice President - Region Continental

Europe Rasmus Errboe.

"The movement to 24/7 renewables with hourly matching through PPAs and RECs is

the best solution to scale renewable energy because it puts a price signal on

when and where power is needed and supports an energy system that is stable,

low cost and low carbon. The Powerledger platform can stamp the time and

location data from clean energy production onto renewable energy certificates

and other commodities, enabling energy retailers like eKwateur and RE100

companies on registries like M-RETS to seamlessly trade, match and manage their

portfolios on an hourly basis," said Powerledger Chairman & Co-Founder Dr.

Jemma Green.

"With the increased penetration of renewable energy on the grid, it becomes

even more crucial to measure emissions at a high resolution. At electricityMap

we're very excited to see this initiative come to fruition, and we hope that it

will help bring the measurement of emissions closer to the physical reality,"

said Founder and CEO of Tomorrow Olivier Corradi.

"We are proud to join this crucial Compact. At X, we recognize that the

complexity of decarbonising the grid in the time required to tackle climate

change requires commitment and collaboration of governments and businesses

throughout the value chain and across the world to the actions necessary to

design and operate a decarbonized power grid. Our moonshot is to work with

partners to develop and apply advanced computing to support the design and

operation of a decarbonized, affordable, reliable and resilient power system,"

said X Vice President Audrey Zibelman.

Each signatory will capture their specific commitments in their own Energy

Compact, an innovation introduced by SEforALL and backed by UN-Energy as a key

outcome of the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy. The Energy Compacts are public

and trackable commitments, with specific actions, made by governments,

companies and others to achieve energy transition goals by 2030 – including

universal access to affordable and clean energy. For more on the Energy

Compacts registry, visit https://www.un.org/en/energycompacts/page/registry.

For more on the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact, visit

https://www.un.org/en/energy-compacts/page/compact-247-carbon-free-energy.

Stakeholders across the energy ecosystem are invited to sign on to the 24/7

Carbon-free Energy Compact, and can do so by contacting Sustainable Energy for

All at energycompact@seforall.org.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Sustainable Energy for All

Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) [http://www.seforall.org] is an

international organization that works in partnership with the United Nations

and leaders in government, the private sector, financial institutions, civil

society and philanthropies to drive faster action towards the achievement of

Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) – access to affordable, reliable,

sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030 – in line with the Paris

Agreement on climate. SEforALL works to ensure a clean energy transition that

leaves no one behind and brings new opportunities for everyone to fulfill their

potential.

SEforALL is led by Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN

Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy.

Follow her on Twitter @DamilolaSDG7 [http://twitter.com/DamilolaSDG7]. For more

information, follow @SEforALLorg [http://twitter.com/SEforALLorg].

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For further details on the reports or any interview requests, please contact:

Sherry Kennedy

Sustainable Energy for All

sherry.kennedy@seforall.org

media@seforall.org

+43 676 846 727 237

Source: SEforALL