A new study argues that renewable energy certificates — a market-based tool that certifies the bearer owns one megawatt hour of electricity produced from renewable energy sources — generally do not reduce emissions and firms using them are overstating their climate mitigation claims. In one calculation, the researchers show how a sample of 115 companies between 2015 and 2019 reported a 31 per cent reduction in emissions. A closer analysis of that claim reveals that without including the purchase of ineffective RECs, the actual drop in emissions was roughly 10 per cent.
