what is a renewable energy certificate rec 
in the fight against climate change renewable energy certificates recs are part of market based initiatives that gained traction in the early 2000s as a tool for supporting clean energy production recs certify that one megawatt hour mwh of electricity was generated from a renewable source and fed into the grid enabling the rec owner to claim the environmental benefits the reduced carbon footprint of that clean energy when recs are sold what s transferred is not the electricity produced by the attributes that make it clean energy which is separate it s like selling the right for a utility to take the label clean energy and apply it to 1 mwh of power it generated elsewhere also known as green tags or renewable energy credits recs are meant to provide incentives to support renewable energy production 12below we explain how recs work how they can help reduce carbon emissions and what they mean for the efforts against climate change 