Green Electricity
Your guide in the green power jungle Our Grüner Strom-Label
You want to change your electricity tariff, but lose the overview in the electricity comparison? When choosing your green electricity tariff, look out for our seal of approval! This guarantees you 100% genuine green electricity and the expansion of renewable energies.
Guarantees the expansion of renewable energies
A fixed amount per kilowatt hour flows into the expansion of renewable energies and into innovative energy transition projects - guaranteed!
Real green electricity with added value
Guaranteed green electricity 100% from renewable energy sources. Relabeling of nuclear and coal-fired electricity is excluded!
Supported by associations for environment, peace & consumers.
Behind the seals of approval are NABU, DUH, BUND & other civil society organizations.
Independent certification
The highest environmental standards and demanding criteria are regularly audited.
Pioneer since 1998
First green electricity label in Germany.
Energy transition projects
Tariffs with the Grüner Strom-Label actively promote the energy transition.
Guarantees the expansion of renewable energies
By choosing an electricity tariff with the Grüner Strom-Label, you have a double added value! You can be sure that you are buying 100% green electricity and automatically support the development of renewable energies.
This is because energy transition projects are implemented with a fixed amount per kilowatt hour consumed.
More than 90 million euros have already been 1.80invested in over 1,800 ecologically valuable projects .
By choosing a green electricity tariff with the Grüner Strom-Label, you support, for example: new green power plants, future technologies such as storage and smart grids, energy efficiency measures, e-mobility, citizen energy projects.
100% real green electricity
Wherever the Grüner Strom-Label is on it, it also contains 100% green electricity.
A relabeling of nuclear and coal-fired electricity into green electricity - otherwise common practice in the green electricity market - is excluded with the Grüner Strom-Label!
Legally, the term green electricity is not sufficiently defined and corresponding tariffs are only linked to a guarantee of origin , which only proves the generation, but not the supply, of electricity from renewable sources.
We guarantee you that the electricity you purchase also comes from renewable energy plants.
Together for the energy turnaround
Supported by associations for environment, peace & consumers.
Leading associations from civil society are behind the Grüner Strom-Label and Grünes Gas-Label. They play a key role in shaping the criteria for the labels.
Independent certification
The criteria of the Grüner Strom-Label are verified by an independent institute and are significantly co-determined by our supporting associations.
GUTcert ensures that all criteria are objectively assessed and fulfilled. Our honorary board of directors reviews the appraisals.
The certification is based on a detailed catalog of criteria , which was drafted by energy experts and is regularly reviewed and revised by the supporting associations.
Pioneer since 1998
The Grüner Strom-Label is the first seal of approval for green electricity on the German energy market.
The label was founded in 1998 by leading associations for environmental, peace and consumer:in.
The association behind it - Grüner Strom Label e.V. - is a pioneer in the certification of green electricity in Germany. Since the liberalization of the energy market in 1998, the association has made it its business to ensure greater transparency in the electricity market.
Obtain green electricity
Almost every energy supplier today offers green electricity. But not every green electricity tariff brings about an actual environmental benefit. Tariffs with the Grüner Strom-Label distinguish tariffs with added value.
The Grüner Strom-Label briefly explained
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Information material
Together for the energy turnaround
Your contact person
What you should know about green electricity
Grüner Strom-Label
Frequently asked questions
With Green Electricity-certified green electricity tariffs, guaranteed investments flow into the expansion of renewable energies. The level of investment is determined by a fixed amount per kilowatt hour consumed. Thus, your green power purchase indirectly influences investments in the energy transition.The funding areas include the mobility transition, energy infrastructure, energy efficiency, and other projects that serve the energy transition, such as nature conservation, development cooperation, and education.
The full range of funding opportunities can be found in the criteria catalog for the Grüner Strom-Label. Selected energy transition projects can be found here.
The Grüner Strom-Label is awarded for a green electricity tariff, not for the provider itself. The label criteria therefore relate primarily to the tariff.Thus, the Grüner Strom-Label can be found on tariffs of independent green electricity providers as well as on tariffs of municipal utilities that sell conventional electricity in addition to the certified green electricity.
Nevertheless, the Green Electricity certification also looks at aspects concerning the supplier. For example, the Grüner Strom-Label will not be granted to any company that is still directly involved in a coal-fired power plant on the cut-off date of 1.1.2027, i.e. operates a coal-fired power plant itself or is involved in an operating company with share capital/share capital. Participation in nuclear power plants is also an exclusion criterion.
You can find all the energy suppliers that offer certified green electricity here.
Among them are several nationwide providers as well as local and regional energy suppliers. In our tariff portal of the environmental associations for switching energy providers. You will find all tariffs and can easily switch to a real green electricity tariff with a Grüner Strom-Label.
Green Electricity
Green electricity is electrical energy that comes from renewable sources. It can be generated from solar radiation, wind and water power, biomass, geothermal energy or sewage gas.
Electricity from renewable sources is ecologically and socially sound because it protects the climate and reduces the consumption of fossil, finite resources. In addition, it does not produce hazardous waste, such as radioactive waste from nuclear power plants.
When you buy green electricity, it doesn't mean that green electricity is actually coming out of the pipe. Every kilowatt hour generated flows into an electricity lake, from which it is then redistributed to end customers. In other words, everyone gets the same physical electricity. But every single green electricity customer helps to make the electricity lake ever greener.
However, green electricity does not automatically promote the energy transition. For this, additional investments must be made in the expansion of renewable energies. This is guaranteed by tariffs that carry the Grüner Strom-Label.
The numerous green power products available on the energy market differ significantly from one another.
The energy markets cannot prevent energy providers from relabeling their nuclear and coal-fired power as "green power" with the help of additionally purchased certificates of origin. The reason is that the certificates can be traded independently of the actual quantities of electricity. Under this model, an energy supplier can supply its green electricity customers with electricity from conventional power plants. For this electricity, the utility buys an equivalent amount of (very cheap) guarantees of origin and can then re-declare its electricity as green electricity. The electricity purchased for customers and the guarantees of origin therefore do not come from one and the same power plant.
In addition, the decisive point in a green electricity tariff is whether or not the consumers provide an additional environmental benefit with their purchase decision. An additional environmental benefit arises when the purchase of green electricity promotes the nature-friendly expansion of renewable energies. However, this is not the case with many green electricity offers.
If, for example, an energy supplier only purchases electricity from old hydroelectric power plants for its green electricity customers, then an already existing amount of green electricity is only diverted to a certain group of consumers. The consumers who previously received the hydroelectric power may now (unknowingly) be supplied with nuclear power because they do not specifically ask for green power. The bottom line is that everything remains the same, new plants are not built, and the share of green electricity in the European electricity mix is no higher than before. Such supposedly "green" tariffs promise an additional environmental benefit that cannot be proven. In terms of this promise, they are deceptive packages.
The Grüner Strom-Label identifies for consumers the purchase of 100% genuine green electricity as well as guaranteed investments in renewable energies and innovative energy transition projects.
The guaranteed investments in the nature-compatible expansion of renewable energies are an essential distinguishing feature compared to many other green electricity labels and green electricity tariffs, where customers only receive electricity from already existing green power plants. This is because merely shifting "green" electricity quantities back and forth does not result in any additional environmental benefit.
Green electricity tariffs for private customers require an investment of at least 0.5 cents per kilowatt hour. Many energy providers also invest more than 0.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
If you want to compare an electricity tariff via the tariff portal of the environmental associations, the subsidy component and thus your energy transition contribution will be displayed for the respective energy provider.
For commercial customers, the subsidy is lower due to the higher consumption values: it ranges from 0.1 cents to 0.4 cents per kilowatt hour.
Yes. Green electricity tariffs do not necessarily have to bear a label. Certification by the Grüner Strom-Label or other seals of approval is voluntary. There are electricity providers who do not have their tariffs independently verified at all. Here, consumers must decide for themselves how credible the offer is.
On the one hand, it is not the energy providers that are certified, but only the individual tariffs. Secondly, the certification of green electricity tariffs with the Grüner Strom-Label is voluntary. Suppliers can decide for themselves whether they wish to have their products certified according to our criteria. Therefore, we cannot make any statement about the quality of your non-certified green electricity tariff. You can find more information about our certification here.
We recommend the tariff portal of the environmental associations for switching energy providers.Here you'll find only green electricity-certified green electricity rates. When changing tariffs, you don't have to be afraid that the lights will go out at some point. The power supply is guaranteed by law - even when you switch providers. By switching, you can save energy costs, protect the environment and promote the energy transition. Here you will find helpful information on switching.
