Energy Purchased: Renewable (OI3324)

NOTE: This metric will be deprecated in a forthcoming update to the IRIS Catalog of Metrics. Users are advised to instead report Energy Purchased: Total (OI8825), disaggregated by Primary Energy Source (OI3781), all options under Renewable.

This metric is intended to capture the amount of renewable energy purchased for use by the organization itself. Renewable energy sources include solar, wind, geothermal, hydro energy, and biomass, among other forms. Organizations may refer to the glossary for additional information.

Large-scale hydropower is often excluded from the definition of renewable energy. Although water itself is a renewable resource, the natural ecology of rivers is not, and hydroelectric dams can adversely affect aquatic ecosystems. Organizations can refer to the Low Impact Hydropower Institute (http://lowimpacthydro.org) for further guidance on creating low-impact hydropower operations.

In some contexts, this metric can serve as an indicator of whether the outcome being sought by an investor or organization is occurring (the WHAT dimension of impact). For more on the alignment of IRIS metrics to the five dimensions of impact, see IRIS+ and the Five Dimensions of Impact (https://iris.thegiin.org/document/iris-and-the-five-dimensions/). No single metric is sufficient to understand an impact; rather, metrics are selected as a set across all dimensions of impact. When possible, the selection of metrics to measure and describe the five dimensions should be based on best practice and evidence.