China should establish a national third-party certification process to ensure the boom in renewable energy attracts outside investors, a third-party certificate developer said at a clean energy workshop in Beijing on Thursday.

"It is necessary for China to establish a national creditable label in the renewable energy industry," Freddy Sharpe, chief executive officer of Climate Friendly, said at the "2011 China's Renewable Energy Development: Toward Low-Carbon Cities" Workshop.

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Joel Fleming, an environmental scientist and founding chairman of Climate Friendly, a clean energy company based in Australia, said the "GoldPower" label developed by his company is the only green energy label in China with the support of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

"GoldPower is a global renewable energy label developed by Climate Friendly, in association with the WWF, to provide certificates for leading businesses who want to reduce their emissions," Fleming said.

Total renewable energy use in China – including biogas, wind, solar heat and hydropower – amounted to the equivalent 286 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 8.8 percent of total energy consumption, said Gao Hu, deputy director of the Center for Renewable Research Development Center at the National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC).

"Renewable energy has entered a stage of large-scale development," Gao said at the workshop.

Sharpe said it is difficult for investors to identify legitimate clean energy projects without third-party certificates, even though enterprises are eager to invest in clean energy.

"Smart enterprises will take a strategic move ahead because they want to become the leader in their business community, anticipate new products and fulfill the expectations of customers and employees, especially in green jobs creation," Sharpe said.

Climate Friendly's ongoing green energy projects in China include wind farms and converting landfill gas to electricity.