The deceptive rhetoric of green electricity: guarantees of origin under the microscope

Green business players are creating a spring of motivation in consumers who are keen to do something for the planet and for future generations, which is only waiting to materialize in the form of concrete, traceable actions. For example, many suppliers offer their customers 'green' electricity supply contracts, leading them to believe that by subscribing to such contracts, they will be helping to reduce CO₂ emissions. In reality, this is not the case, as these contracts are based on a legal mechanism known as a 'guarantee of origin', which has no impact on the physical distribution of production resources. In other words, these contracts have no effect on CO₂ emissions. At most, guarantees of origin provide limited economic support (less than Euros 0.6/MWh, or 0.3% of the consumer price of electricity) to renewable energy producers