Use of RECs to meet scope 3 investment and lending SBT

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Hi there,
Is it possible to use Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to meet scope 3 investment and lending SBT?

Situation below:
Client: commercial bank
Asset class where proposing the use of RECs to meet SBT: mortgages
Question: is it possible to use RECs for mortgages scope 2 emissions to meet an SBT for this asset class?

Thank you!

Kind regards,
Matias

1 Like
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Hi Matias,

Thank you for your question.
Per the SBTi Target Protocol, companies may use Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) as a measure to reduce scope 2 market-based emissions (please note there is a typo in the published document that will be corrected very soon, the text above is the correct one).

FIs can also buy RECs to reduce their OWN scope 2 market-based emissions, but FIs cannot buy RECs to reduce their scope 3 category 15 emissions, including the scope 2 emissions of the mortgages in their portfolio.

Whether the actual buildings can but RECs to reduce their own scope 2 market-based emissions is a different question. You can find more information on the Building Sector webpage - please note that the Building Sector Guidance is currently under development.