How to Buy I-RECs for Data Centers

Companies across the globe have been empowered to reduce their emissions using renewable energy certificates (RECs), such as those supported by the Tracking Standard.

Businesses in textile industries can now take advantage of International Renewable Energy Certificates (I-RECs) to reduce their Scope 2 Emissions. This is one of the most simple ways to take climate action!

This article looks at how to buy I-RECs for companies in this indutry.

Switching to renewable energy, such as solar, hydro or wind power, can significantly reduce emissions and improve sustainability linked to textile production.

A Strong Push for Renewable Energy Use by the Data Centre Industry

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers consume a staggering 200TWh of electricity, contributing to approximately 3.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Companies in this sector are increasingly encouraged to embrace renewable energy across their operations and supply!

The driving forces of change include:

1) Global Climate Initiatives including RE100, SBTi, LEED

These initiatives are promoting companies to commit to 100% renewable energy use by 2030 (RE100) and set science-based emissions reduction targets (SBTi) with recent Near-term targets.

2) Datacentre-Specific Schemes

Unions and countries across the world are initiating policies for low-carbon data centre industry. For example, the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact in Europe was established in 2021, aiming to make data centres and cloud infrastructure climate neutral by 2030.

Accordingly, data centre electricity demand will be matched by 75% renewable energy or hourly carbon-free energy by 2025 and 100% by 2030. Over 60 leading players of the industry operating in Europe including AWS, NTT, Google, OVHcloud, Equinix are joining the commitment to make data centres and cloud infrastructure Climate Neutral by 2030.

3) Renewable Energy is a Prerequisite to Access Contracts and Drive Big Client Opportunities!

Leading technology companies including Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Google, Meta are demanding renewable energy adoption from their data centre suppliers.

So, switching to renewable energy can be a competitive advantage, empowering your companies to open access to new contracts from big clients across the world. The sooner you take action in this energy transition, the more opportunities you can obtain.

Time to Get On Board

It’s evidently time for using more renewable energy.

However, there are barriers in place preventing manufacturers from transitioning. Buying exclusively renewable energy can be impossible in many regions because power market rules don’t allow it, especially in emerging markets due to regulatory and infrastructure complexities. This electricity is a mix of conventional non-renewable sources like coal and natural gas, as well as renewable sources such as solar, wind, and hydro.

I-RECs offer an easy and cost-effective solution to show that your electricity is from renewable sources.

What are I-RECs?

The I-REC Standard is a global system for tracking environmental attributes of electricity generated from renewable sources. The tracking is achieved by the use of verified, traceable certificates known as known as I-RECs.

I-RECs monitor the journey of renewable energy from its generation at a power plant to its consumption by the end user. The system for I-RECs operates much like the Guarantees of Origin (GOs) in Europe and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in the United States. While GOs and RECs track energy in their markets, I-RECs offer this capability in many other countries.

How do I-RECs Work?

I-RECs are created for each MWh of renewable energy produced by power plants registered on the I-REC Standard. Businesses can then purchase these I-RECs to ensure that no greenhouse gas has been released in the generation of the electricity they’ve used.

The revenue generated supports the development of new renewable energy projects, encouraging further reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and benefiting end-consumers.

How do Data Centres Benefit from Using I-RECs?

I-RECs are a practical and easy tool for companies to reduce their carbon emissions and achieve their sustainability goals.

I-RECs are a practical tool used by companies to meet their sustainability goals in relation to emissions reduction. Some of the key benefits for businesses using I-RECs includes:

• Reducing data center operations’ electricity emissions (Scope 2 emissions) with an established, accepted and cost-effective initiative
• Reducing carbon footprint from data center value chains (Scope 3 emissions) when RECs are required to adopt for data centre suppliers
• Enabling companies to choose to use renewable energy, and enabling companies to choose which specific renewable energy power plant to support
• Achieving your sustainability goals, in compliance with different international standards Greenhouse Gas Protocols, RE100, SBTi, the Net-Zero Standard, CDP and others.

For technology and semiconductor companies with data center supply chain, these changes can improve their public image, showcasing a commitment to combating climate change.

Similarly, data center providers, in addition to these above benefits, I-RECs can empower them to meet the leading environmental data center standard, gaining a competitive advantage to attract and on board big clients.

How to Start Using I-RECs for Data Centers

It’s easy for a data center to start to use I-RECs.

Simply calculate your company’s electricity consumption in MWh and purchase an equivalent number of RECs.

Monsoon can then retire these certificates with your company’s details attached. An example is provided below:

Though using I-RECs to reduce your carbon emissions is not complex or difficult, there are rigorous rules applied to the use of I-RECs that your company should be aware of. These rules determine whether your I-RECs are eligible for counting towards reducing your carbon footprint or not. Monsoon can help you navigate these rules.

How to Buy I-RECs for Textile Companies

Monsoon Carbon is a trusted leader providing verified I-RECs. We supply I-RECs sourced from a variety of accredited renewable energy power plants across the world, on spot or forward orders.

Contact us to purchase verified I-RECs for your electricity consumption.