when companies buy recs they provide financial support for the renewable energy projects that produce them making those systems more economically sustainable and producing even more green energy this in turn is meant to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and decrease greenhouse gas emissions 4
however critics argue that recs haven t led to as many new renewable energy projects as promised they simply provide a way for businesses to claim they support efforts to transition to green energy without making meaningful changes in their operations for example a 2024 study reviewing almost 40 years of data argues that recs tend to discourage companies from innovating to produce cleaner energy compared with other policies like environmental taxes and feed in tariffs for solar energy 5 other studies have argued that recs have contributed significantly to building out a greater supply of renewable energy 6