Six European countries are piloting an initiative, which enables cross-border trading of the environmental benefits of electricity from renewable energy (RE) sources.

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are issued to electricity producers according to the amount of RE power they generate. The RECs can be bought by energy supply companies to confirm that a proportion of their purchases are made up of green electricity. The certification helps ensure that suppliers' green power schemes comply with their claims. They can also serve as an indicator of power companies compliance to national renewables obligations (which exist in Australia, and will be introduced in the UK in October, for instance.) National RE certificate trading systems are already in operation in the participating countries - Denmark, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden - but their certificate issuing rules have now been harmonized to facilitate international trading.

Contact:

• RECs Secretariat
  Fax: +31 (0)10 280 56 54
  Web: http://www.recs.org

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