No More Faking It: Companies Ditch Green Credits, Clean Up Instead

It has been a near-magical tool allowing corporations to claim massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for very little cost.

For years, thousands of companies have purchased renewable energy credits, known as RECs, to say they use green power and to shrink their carbon footprints. Now, as skepticism mounts about whether RECs achieve their claimed environmental benefits, the market for these credits is slowing—and a number of companies, from Whole Foods Market to McDonald’s, are quietly scaling back their involvement.