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Clean Energy Buyers Seek A Role in Europe’s Green Stimulus

Clean Energy Buyers Seek A Role in Europe’s Green Stimulus

(Bloomberg) -- Clean energy buyers want the European Union to ensure its 750 billion euro ($851 billion) economic recovery package helps increase the uptake of renewables by corporates.

Companies including Nestle SA, Unilever Plc and Hennes & Mauritz AB, pressed the European Commission to introduce measures such as credit support and speedier roll-out of renewable power purchase agreements as part of the rescue plan. The call comes as EU leaders get ready to discuss the planned stimulus on June 18.

Agreements to sell clean power direct to companies offers more stable revenue for developers over a long period of time, and locks in power at a fixed price.

“Europe can lead the world toward a green economic recovery,” the companies said in a letter to Frans Timmermas, the commission’s executive vice-president. “Corporate sourcing of renewables has the potential to unlock significant investment in support of that.”

These agreements are becoming increasingly important to renewable energy projects in Europe. For years, government subsidies underpinned green power plants, but that dynamic has started to shift.

Europe’s stimulus program is set to be the world’s greenest recovery package, with aid bound to support only those projects that are in sync with the region’s plan to reach climate neutrality by 2050.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.