28th Ambassadorship, Month 4, Report 2

Month: June

Thematic report

Topic: Green Certification Programs

Programs for "green certification" are designed to provide rules for determining if a product or process is carried out in an environmentally beneficial manner. A "green" building is one whose planning, development, and operation have the potential to reduce or even completely eradicate harmful effects on the environment. Nearly all green structures increase our quality of life while preserving priceless natural resources.

Rationale of Green Certificates

* The major goal is to distinguish the environmental advantages of energy from its physical flux.

* Create a market where green certificates can be traded distinct from the market for the supply and demand of electricity

* Allows for flexibility by making it simple for green electricity providers to connect with green customers.

* Wherever there is a need, green certificates could be produced and sold.

Benefits of Green Certification System

* Trading of Green Certificates is possible across national boundaries.

* Physical limits on power transfer are addressed through green certificates.

* Green certificates promote best practice; it gives incentive to most economical sites, since the physical barrier to trade of RE benefits is removed. For eg, even production of solar electricity in tropical countries but green certificates bought by consumers in the North

* Green certificates make it possible to do away with the necessity that demand and supply for RE occur simultaneously.

* Green certifications can demonstrate adherence to public assistance programs.

Constraints of Green Certificate System

* Double counting risk must be eliminated.

* A trustworthy tracking mechanism during all stages of the certificates' lives is essential.

* The legal system must be reliable (Obligations, penalties)

* No unified market, widely dispersed systems

* Market based prices