RE100 companies operating in China can now use green energy certificates (GECs) – its domestic version of renewable energy certificates (RECs) – to make environmental claims.
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Following consultation with the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, the global corporate renewable energy initiative – which counts tech giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft, as well as major banks such as DBS, HSBC and Standard Chartered among its signatories – has fully endorsed China’s improved GEC system, which was first trialled in 2017.
RE100 had previously raised concerns that GECs could be given out by renewables projects that had also generated carbon offsets under the China Certified Emission Reductions (CCER) scheme, which would amount to double-counting. There were also concerns that GECs did not have expiry dates, meaning old certificates could be used indefinitely, long after their intended climate impact had materialised.
Changes to the GEC system addressing these concerns were implemented last year, making proving renewables use in China easier, and the country an attractive international market for corporates aiming for 100 per cent renewable energy, said RE100 in its press release. The announcement was made by Climate Group, the non-profit that leads the RE100 initiative, in its summit held in Singapore on Thursday.
“China’s energy market is open for business, and we’re delighted to have supported the Chinese authorities with these important changes,” said Sam Kimmins, director of energy, Climate Group. “RE100 companies can now meet their ambitious renewables goals with confidence that their renewables purchases are having verifiable, real-world impact. We look forward to continuing our work with these businesses and the Chinese authorities in pursuit of our shared mission to decarbonise supply chains and economies.”
Prior to China’s regulatory updates to the system, RE100 only accepted renewables claims made using GECs if corporates uphold additional requirements. These included redeeming all the environmental attributes associated with the same renewable energy generation, to ensure they have not been claimed elsewhere, as well as ensuring that the generation date of the certificates should be “reasonably close” to the reporting year of the electricity consumption they are applied to.
In 2023, Apple unveiled its first “carbon neutral” products, with the goal of bringing its net emissions to zero by 2030. Of the 250 global suppliers that pledged to use 100 per cent renewable energy for Apple-related production, 70 are based in China. For those where on-site renewables generation is not feasible, GECs were crucial to achieving this goal.
Last year, 4.73 billion GECs were issued in China. In comparison, about 290 million international renewable energy certificates (I-RECs) were generated globally in the same period, driven by Brazil, China and Chile, according to I-Track Foundation’s data.
However, the foundation which operates the I-REC system exited the Chinese market last September, following the government ruling that GEC will be the only means of verifying the production and consumption of renewable energy in the country. Only I-RECs issued by 31 March 2025, for power generated up to end-December 2024, will be recognised.
Higher confidence, but mostly status quo?
As GECs have been the only type of clean power certificates recognised by China since I-RECs were discontinued, the announcement is not exactly “groundbreaking”, said Lim Tsu May, business development manager at Saxon Renewables, a subsidiary of Malaysia-based clean energy firm Solarvest.
“Had it been RE100 recognising I-RECs all the while, then now allowing GECs, it would be quite big news,” said Lim. The latest announcement, however, is still welcome as it gives greater confidence to multinationals looking to make renewables claims for their China operations, she added.
But Lim highlighted that there is still little clarity on whether GECs can be used to make RE100 claims in Hong Kong, though it is politically part of mainland China, given the intiative’s strict market boundary requirements.
Cross-border RECs are currently not recognised under RE100 outside of single markets for electricity trading, like the European Union or the United States. Singapore is currently developing a new framework to recognise RECs from its cross-border clean power deals in Southeast Asia, that seeks to get endorsed by RE100 and Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
Chee Yong Lee, chief operating officer at REDEX, told Eco-Business that the announcement confirms what an RE100 technical paper published in March had laid out, that the two additional steps previously needed for corporates to make renewables claims are no longer required due to recent changes to the GEC system.
“This will drive domestic China companies who needs to make claims with RE100 to have higher confidence when using GEC as an instrument in their decarbonisation efforts,” he said.
REDEX, a Singapore-based exchange which operates a trading platform for RECs, had already started looking at the GEC market seriously since last year, and added it as a new tradeable REC type on its marketplace, shared Lee. “We have seen increased domestic demand for GEC in China after the China National Energy Administration’s announcement that that GEC is the only recognised REC standard.”
“Personally, I think that the redemption volumes for GEC will go up in 2025,” said Lee.
