Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is one of the Energy Attribute Certificates (EAC) used to track and verify the use of renewable energy. Businesses can make renewable energy claims through the redemption of Renewable Energy Certificates. These claims help businesses measure their progress towards sustainability goals and meet sustainability requirements set out by various reporting frameworks.

Many reporting frameworks require companies to disclose their use of REC. However, the requirements for reporting on RECs can differ across these frameworks. This guide will explore the differences between Singapore's three most commonly-used reporting frameworks regarding their RECs requirement.

The Green Mark certification scheme is a green building rating system that evaluates the environmental performance of buildings in Singapore, managed by the Building and Construction Authority. The latest version, BCA Green Mark 2021 (GM:2021), is tailored for the tropical climate.

RECs used to meet BCA Green Mark requirements generally has to be within the scope of Singapore Standards 673:2021 Code of practice for renewable energy certificates with the following criteria:

RE100 is a global initiative that brings together businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. Members of RE100 pledge to transition their electricity consumption to 100% renewable sources and report on their progress towards this goal.

RE100 currently recognizes multiple renewable electricity sourcing options, which include green electricity products from energy suppliers and unbundled Energy Attribute Certificate (EAC) purchase. Renewable electricity sourcing has to align with either CDP's or RE100's market boundary rules, which specify Singapore as a single market. Therefore, according to RE100, any sourcing outside of Singapore is not counted towards the total renewable consumption in Singapore.

CDP is a not-for-profit charity that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. CDP encourages them to disclose their environmental data to fuel and track global progress towards building a truly sustainable economy.

For CDP reporting, companies must source renewable electricity from within the boundary of the market where they are consuming the electricity. The market boundary for most countries is defined as their geographical boundary, except for European countries which are AIB members, and United States of America with Canada. Based on this CDP requirement, Singapore's market boundary is defined by its geographical boundary.

In addition, CDP encourages its reporting companies to follow the accounting and reporting recommendations of the updated GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance. Specifically, for the contractual instruments (including RECs), the GHG Protocol Scope 2 quality criteria require that they:

In summary, the requirements for reporting on RECs can differ across reporting frameworks. Therefore, additional criteria might be required to satisfy the renewable energy claim requirement depending on the reporting frameworks you use.