RECS

With a mission of providing "A cost effective and reliable certificate system for renewable energy in Europe", RECS International advocates a standard certificate as evidence of the production of renewable energy and provides a methodology for trading or otherwise using it separate to the associated physical energy.  This has enabled a market for renewable energy to be created, so prompting the development of new renewable energy capacity in Europe.

RECS started as an initiative of European companies to create a voluntary market for green energy, and become a huge success. To prove the concept, RECS International held a "Test Phase", sponsored by the European Commission and lasting two years. During this period, in which close to 200 participants from across Europe participated in RECS certificate trading, 17 million certificates were issued, and one third of these were redeemed with voluntary schemes and certificate authorities as proof that the associated renewable source energy had been consumed.

At the end of the Test Phase, RECS International was formed to represent the interests of market participants, and now has over 140 members drawn from electricity generators, suppliers and consumers.

Although the traded volumes of obligatory "guarantees of origin" (GoO) have now overtaken voluntary RECS certificates in a number of countries, GoO are not yet available everywhere, nor will they be transferrable in all countries. For this reason, and perhaps due to their more standarised format, RECS certificates continue to be traded.

For information regarding setting up a national RECS framework, see the following document:

Setting up a national RECS framework

For more information, visit the RECS website, at http://www.recs.org; or contact the RECS secretariat at: info@recs.org.