The contribution of corporate initiatives to global renewable electricity deployment

Climate change is gaining importance on the agenda of senior decision makers in the private sector. Hence, corporate renewable electricity (RE) procurement may become more relevant to the energy transition. RE100 is the largest corporate initiative to foster RE procurement with 315 corporate members as of 2021. Yet, the contribution of such initiatives to the energy transition remains unclear, because public reporting is aggregated on the global level. Here, we develop an approach to map the electricity procured by RE100 companies to jurisdictions worldwide, which allows estimating whether and where RE100 can have a transformative impact. We find that these companies source electricity in 129 jurisdictions, accounting for <1% of total electricity generation (RE and non-RE), thus dampening the hopes about the impact of RE100 on the global energy transition. RE100 companies procure 1.4% of available RE, exceeding 20% in nine jurisdictions. To increase its impact, RE100 should focus on interim targets and expansion. By 2030, stringent and frequent interim targets could lead to a cumulated additional 361 TWh of RE procured by RE100 companies, and a realistic membership expansion could lead to procurement of 7.7% of globally available RE by RE100 companies. Corporate procurement initiatives, such as RE100, can increase their impact on the energy transition by formulating ambitious interim targets and sourcing requirements, and by orchestrating corporate interests in countries with less ambitious renewable energy targets.

Automated summary

Climate change is increasingly important to senior decision makers in the private sector, making corporate renewable electricity procurement more relevant to the energy transition. The largest corporate initiative, RE100, has 315 members and aims to foster RE procurement. However, the impact of such initiatives remains unclear due to global level reporting. A new approach is developed to map RE100 companies' electricity procurement to jurisdictions worldwide, revealing limited impact on global energy transition. To increase impact, RE100 should focus on interim targets, expansion, and aligning corporate interests in countries with less ambitious renewable energy targets.