The UN Energy 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Compact

I am pleased to announce that Gridcognition is now officially a signatory of the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact.

This UN Energy Compact, is focused on the need accelerate the decarbonization of the world’s electricity systems to mitigate climate change and ensure access to clean and affordable electricity for all in line SDG7.

The Principles

The Compact is defined in terms of the following principles:

1. Time-matched procurement: 24/7 CFE focuses on matching each hour of electricity consumption with carbon-free electricity generation. Hourly matching helps connect clean energy purchasing to underlying electricity consumption.  
2. Local procurement: 24/7 CFE means purchasing clean energy on the local/regional electricity grids where electricity consumption occurs. This is the only way to drive the electricity-related emissions that a consumer is directly responsible for to zero.
3. Technology-inclusive: 24/7 CFE recognizes the need to create zerocarbon electricity systems as fast as possible, and that all carbon free energy technologies can play a role in creating this future.
4. Enable New Generation: 24/7 CFE focuses on enabling new clean electricity generation, in order to support the rapid decarbonization of electricity systems
5. Maximize System Impact: 24/7 CFE focuses attention on maximizing emissions reductions and solving for the dirtiest hours of electricity consumption.

Our Take

As we’ve written about previously on this blog, we think 24/7 CFE is a critical of the energy system transition.

However, as reflected in the current UN Energy principles (above), a lot of the current focus of 24/7 CFE is on the supply-side: procuring carbon free electricity.

We think the demand-side is just as important, and we will be writing more about this soon, and how our simulation and optimisation technology can help co-optimize supply-side and demand-side solutions to accelerate the shift to carbon-free.