An energy certificate is a transferable certificate, record or guarantee, in any form in relation to the amount of a specific type of energy or material goods consumed by an energy conversion device in the production of a quantity of energy or material goods and/or the attributes of the method and quality of its production. Energy Attribute Certificates – as a generic term – are sometimes also called electricity attribute certificates, and furthermore include, according to the GHG Protocol “… a variety of instruments with different names, including certificates, tags, credits, or generator declarations.” To simplify the wording, the generic term certificates can be used also and then further specified by the terminology of the different tracking systems which exists worldwide. Energy certificates for renewable energy are also referred to as:
Energy certificates issued under national legislation are normally used to provide evidence of compliance with an obligation on electricity producers, suppliers or consumers to use energy of a specific type or in order to qualify for financial support: qualifying plant are often high-quality cogenerators, or produce electricity from renewable sources. Examples of this within Europe are the Renewable Obligation Certificates issued under the Renewables Obligation, and Levy Exemption Certificates issued under the Climate Change Levy - originally part of the Finance Act 2001 - within the UK; Certificati Verdi within Italy; Elcerts within Sweden; and also within the three regions of Belgium. At the time of writing, almost all such support schemes are national in character only, the transfer of certificates to and from other countries not being the intention of the policymakers. A notable exception is the Climate Change Levy: LECs are issued by the UK regulator to electricity producers both in the UK and in a number of European countries and exported to the UK, where they are purchased as proof of production of renewable energy production. The European Union has also created internationally-transferable "guarantees of origin" to provide proof to consumers of the source of their electricity, as required by Directive 2009/72/EC: these are used by electricity suppliers when calculating the proportions of energy sources in their supplied energy; and by government in calculating the "residual mix" guarantees of origin for renewable energy and highly-efficient cogeneration, for use within the European Union and those countries with which it is bound by treaty. The international transfer of guarantees of origin is facilitated by the Association of Issuing Bodies' European Energy Certificate System. Energy certificates are also used in other countries, including the United States of America, Australia, Turkey and Japan. gives an overview of the different systems worldwide. Please note: some countries don’t have a national system in place yet, therefore sometimes one or more “external” EACs systems can apply. Furhermore, countries which are not colour coded can fall under the regime of I-RECS, NECS and other. The following table shows a rudimentary overview of current national and international systems – more advanced information can be found at the different system providers. Content is subject to change without notice and is for information only.
