I-REC· certificates
This route issues a certificate for every megawatt-hour of clean electricity you generate — not carbon credits.
The three layers
Three layers. Most people think they are the same thing.
Certificates skip all three. No Verra standard, no methodology, no additionality test — which is exactly why they are the simplest way in.
- Registry
- Evident · I-REC— issues one certificate per MWh of clean electricity
- Methodology
- none— no Verra recipe to match against
- Additionality
- none— generation alone qualifies — there is no pass / fail test
Three layers you never touch. That is the whole appeal of certificates — they sidestep the part everyone finds confusing.
Who it fits
- Owners who want the simplest possible start.
- Anyone unwilling to lock in for five or seven years — this runs one year at a time.
- Plants of almost any age or size, anywhere.
- Owners who want to try a route before committing to a carbon project.
What it commits you to
- Commitment
- One year at a time — stop whenever you like
- Time to first payment
- Months
- Deadline
- None — certificates issue on a rolling basis
- If the project was committed before 1 January 2027, three requirements defer to 2030: a stakeholder engagement plan, a benefit-sharing mechanism and a safeguards assessment.
- Once registered, a verification request is due within five years of your last approved one, or the project is marked late to verify on the registry.
What usually blocks it
Named honestly. Whether any of these apply to your plant is the part the full assessment answers.
Lower value than carbon
Certificates are worth less per unit than carbon credits, and the price varies with buyer demand.
Double counting
If the attributes were already sold alongside the electricity, they cannot be issued again here.
Registry onboarding
The plant has to be registered and its generation independently evidenced before certificates can issue.
Eight questions, three minutes. No account, no email.