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Glossary · Energy industry & energy transition

Energy Attribute Certificate

Energy Attribute Certificate EAC Guarantee of origin Green power electricity procurement certificate

An Energy Attribute Certificate, or EAC for short, is a tradable electronic proof issued by a registry. It documents the attributes of a quantity of electricity that has been generated. In the electricity sector, an EAC usually represents one megawatt hour. It describes, for example, which installation the quantity comes from, which energy source was used, in which period it was generated and which registry issued the certificate. The certificate is not the physical electricity itself. It certifies an attribute of the generation, for example "renewable", "from wind energy" or "from installation X". EAC is an umbrella term for various types of certificates.

Types of certificates and legal framework

In the EU, the guarantee of origin (GO, German: Herkunftsnachweis, HKN) is the legally regulated form of the EAC. The legal basis is Article 19 of the Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001, most recently amended, among others, by Directive (EU) 2023/2413 ("RED III"). Under it, a guarantee of origin is by default issued for 1 MWh. No more than one proof may be issued for each unit of energy produced. By definition, it serves solely to demonstrate to a final customer that a specified share or quantity of energy comes from renewable sources. Member States must ensure that guarantees of origin are issued, transferred and cancelled electronically in an accurate, reliable and fraud-resistant manner.

There are fixed deadlines for temporal validity. For transactions, a guarantee of origin is valid for twelve months from the generation of the energy unit. If it is not cancelled, it expires at the latest 18 months after generation. For electricity disclosure, energy companies must cancel guarantees of origin no later than six months after the end of their validity. Member States take expired guarantees into account when calculating their residual mix. Beyond EU law, there are other systems: in North America, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are widespread, and in many other countries I-REC or TIGR. These instruments are not identical. They are based on different jurisdictions, registries, issuance rules and recognition procedures.

Issuance, transfer, cancellation

The lifecycle of an EAC can be compared to an online banking account. The installation is registered in the registry. For the metered generation, a certificate is credited to the operator's account. It can then be sold independently of the physical electricity and transferred to other accounts. At the end comes cancellation: the certificate is allocated to a specific consumption, customer or purpose of use and permanently withdrawn from circulation. Only this ensures that the same attribute cannot be claimed more than once. However, this protection against double counting is only complete if quantities for which no proof exists are reflected via a residual mix.

In Germany, the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA) maintains the guarantee of origin register. An important restriction applies here: not every renewable installation automatically receives guarantees of origin. No GOs are issued for electricity for which EEG support is claimed (market premium, feed-in tariff or tenant electricity surcharge). The reason is the ban on double marketing: the EEG-supported share is in any case allocated evenly to all electricity customers in the electricity disclosure. GOs are therefore available above all for electricity in other direct marketing, for example from unsupported hydropower or from installations whose support expired after 20 years. When German suppliers state renewable electricity "with guarantee of origin, not supported under the EEG" in the electricity disclosure, they must cancel corresponding GOs at the UBA.

Physical delivery and accounting allocation

In the grid, electricity cannot be assigned to individual consumers. Electrical energy is distributed according to physical grid conditions, not according to contracts. Anyone who buys and cancels EACs therefore does not receive the electrons from the associated installation. They acquire the accounting claim to the documented generation attribute. This separation is not hair-splitting. Only through it can electricity products, carbon footprints and procurement strategies be represented consistently.

An EAC is therefore not a supply contract. A green electricity tariff may be based on cancelled certificates, but additionally governs procurement, price and supply. A power purchase agreement may govern the physical or financial offtake of electricity from a specific installation and may be combined with the transfer of the associated certificates. The certificate itself guarantees neither a specific output at a specific time nor the availability of electricity in a specific grid situation. It documents an attribute of a quantity of energy that has already been metered.

Role in greenhouse gas accounting

An EAC is not a CO₂ offset certificate. It does not prove a tonne of CO₂ avoided, but an attribute of electricity generation. In corporate inventories, cancelled EACs determine the emission factor of purchased electricity under the market-based Scope 2 method of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. As of November 2026, the 2015 Scope 2 Guidance continues to apply. Among other things, it permits matching over a whole year and comparatively broad market boundaries.

The rules are currently being revised. A public consultation ran from 20 October 2025 to 31 January 2026. It proposed to recognise certificates only if they match consumption hourly and come from a market area capable of delivery. After mixed feedback, the Independent Standards Board is now pursuing two market-based methods: Method 1 with hourly matching, deliverability and incrementality, and Method 2 with the 2015 rules up to a cut-off date that is still open. A further consultation is planned for the second quarter of 2027, and a joint standard of the GHG Protocol and ISO for the fourth quarter of 2028. These points are therefore not yet binding requirements.

Limits of informative value

  • Temporal resolution: A company can cover its annual consumption on paper with certificates from solar or wind installations. Nevertheless, it may consume electricity at night or during a lull in wind, while fossil power plants cover the residual load. An annual match says little about whether generation and consumption take place at the same time. Temporally finer approaches such as granular certificates are intended to close this gap.

  • Geographic match: A certificate from a distant market area may carry a renewable attribute even though there is no relevant grid or market connection between the place of generation and the place of consumption. Many standards therefore limit which certificates are recognised for which consumption.

  • Incentive effect: The sale of an EAC brings the plant operator additional revenue. Whether this triggers the construction of new installations depends on the price level and reliability. If there are many certificates from old hydropower plants, the price can be so low that hardly any investment signal arises. Additionality is more likely to result from long-term contracts with new installations, price hedging and project financing than from the certificate itself.

  • Technical system issues: An EAC does not make an electricity flow green. It does not replace grid planning, does not guarantee security of supply and does not solve the storage question.

Assessment

The practical benefit of EACs lies in the standardisation of claims. Registries, issuance rules and cancellation answer a specific question: who may use which generation attribute in which inventory? Auditors can check whether certificates have been cancelled and whether the quantities match the stated consumption, period and reporting area. The quality of an EAC-based claim therefore depends on several things: the issuance rules, protection against double counting, temporal resolution, geographic match and whether real procurement contracts stand behind it. Used precisely, an EAC is proof of the origin or generation attribute of one megawatt hour of electricity. The line is crossed when this accounting allocation is presented as physical delivery, as simultaneous supply or as assured additional emission reduction.

Sources

Related glossary entries

Edited by eCMS on 11.11.2026 19:46

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