Washington, D.C. (March 11, 2021) — Today, the Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC) announced a new global initiative focused on helping thermal energy users work together to address shared challenges and accelerate thermal decarbonization efforts.
“This new effort reflects RTC Members’ ambitious goals around renewable thermal and their commitment to collaborating on solutions,” said Blaine Collison, the RTC’s Executive Director. “This pilot gives RTC Members and other thermal energy users a new mechanism to dig into very specific challenges with their peers. This is a way to develop solutions, and then share those back out with the larger community.”
Europe-based consultants Verco and Galvanised have joined the RTC team to support the initiative. “Decarbonizing thermal energy is a global challenge,” said Andrew Todd, Director of Corporates for Verco, a leading net zero advisory and solutions business. “Whilst the challenges are complex with significant geographic and technical considerations many project ideas have already been shared which are likely to have broad appeal and offer good potential for collaboration.”
More than 30 consumer-facing brands have participated in developing the pilot.
Oliver Hurrey, founder of Galvanised, who convenes global corporates around collective sustainability challenges, said: “On the journey to net-zero, the challenge of thermal energy has been an elephant in the room that is right now affecting significant and strategic decision-making in manufacturers, worth millions of dollars. The interest from some of the world’s leading companies and brands to work together to take collective action, share ideas and make investments is very promising indeed. And more are welcome to join us and share their burden.”
About the Renewable Thermal Collaborative:
The Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC) is the global coalition for companies, institutions, and governments committed to scaling up renewable heating and cooling across their operations. RTC Members recognize the growing demand and necessity for renewable heating and cooling and the urgent need to meet this demand in a manner that delivers sustainable, cost-competitive options at scale.
RTC Members include: AstraZeneca, Cargill, Diageo, Kaiser Permanente, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal USA, Mars, Nike, Novo Nordisk, the City of Philadelphia, Procter and Gamble, Roche, Stanley Black and Decker, Stonyfield Organic, Unilever, the University of California, Wisconsin Office of Energy Innovation.
The Renewable Thermal Collaborative was founded in 2017 and is facilitated by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, David Gardiner and Associates, and World Wildlife Fund.
Contacts:
Blaine Collison, Executive Director, Renewable Thermal Collaborative, blaine@dgardiner.com