Renewable energy certificates are environmental and social attributes of energy generated from renewable energy sources. There are different kinds of certificate, depending on the purpose, the obtaining processand the countries in which the company operates. They are divided into:
- I-REC
- REC
- G.O. (origin warranties)
Renewable energies play a fundamental role in tackling problems such as climate change, environmental degradation and security of energy supplies. The use of "clean" energy for many companies has become a necessity.
Although the production of renewable energy has doubled in the last decade, the offer on the market has slightly grown as the energy requirement has increased more considerably. International bodies have therefore decided to encourage energy produced from renewable sources by creating some market tools, capable of ensuring complete traceability of energy.
In 2015, the WRI introduced new guidelines for the accounting of Scope 2 emissions by companies. A market-based accounting mechanism that offers companies the opportunity to reduce their Scope 2 emissions through the purchase of renewable energy certificates and other contractual instruments.
Official guidelines provide a transparent, unified, internationally coherent basis for all those companies that need to take electricity purchases into account in their GHGs inventory.
Companies operating on liberalized markets must for Scope 2 emissions through two methods (dual reporting):
The I-REC Standard is a global voluntary standard launched in 2014 and introduced in an increasing number of countries to allow the use of internationally recognized, negotiable and reliable renewable energy certificates.
After careful market analysis, in order to facilitate the reduction of Scope 2 emissions of the factories (outside the US and EU) of an Italian company, Carbonsink proposes I-RECs deriving directly from the countries where the company's consumption took place.
TARGET
Proposal ofa number of renewable energy certificates useful to cover all consumptions of a company to eliminate its Scope 2 emissions (market-based).
A collaborative and global initiative launched by The Climate Group in collaboration with CDP in 2014. RE100 companies set a public goal of obtaining 100% of their global consumption of electricity from renewable sources within a specific year. If they do not produce their own renewable electricity, they undertake to purchase it from producers and suppliers on the market and this includes the purchase of renewable energy certificates. The latter have been referenced as compliant with RE100 and CDP requirements and have provided key quality references for the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guide. Working towards an increase in corporate demand and, in turn, in the supply of renewable energy, the initiativeallows to accelerate the transition to Carbon Neutrality.