The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) announced the release of the long-anticipated standard form contract for national trading of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) also known as "green tags".

The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) announced the release of the long-anticipated standard form contract for national trading of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) also known as "green tags". The Renewable Energy Certificate Purchase and Sale Agreement is now available for online viewing at: http://www.acore.org/programs/rectrading.php.

"We congratulate and thank the many attorneys and volunteers who have worked on this. It is a tremedous example of professional collaboration and sets the stage for more to come," said Richard Saines of the law firm Baker & McKenzie.

The agreement is a result of two years of collaboration through a working group organized by the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), the Renewable Energy Resources Committee and Special Committee on Energy and Environmental Finance of the American Bar Association Section of Envrionment, Energy and Resources, and the Environmental Markets Association (EMA).

Individuals and companies can use renewable resources to improve the environment by minimizing their own "carbon footprint." Even if people are far from the renewable resource, through this agreement, they can acquire the renewable attributes of such energy no matter where they are located in the national energy grid without incurring transmission costs. Michael Eckhart, President of ACORE, stated, "This is an important step in creating a national system for REC trading, which will be essential to monetizing the environmental benefits of renewable energy and building those values into the long-term financing of the projects."

Active RECs markets maximize cost-effective resource allocation and allow states to implement aggressive renewable portfolio standard targets while minimizing increases in costs for electricity to consumers and businesses. "This contract is intended as infrastructure, or a paved road, to help buyers and sellers transact, foster market mechanisms to promote renewable resource development and, perhaps most importantly, stave off potential balkanization of U.S. RECs markets. The contract is technology neutral, usable in both the voluntary and compliance markets, and legally robust regardless of American jurisdiction. This is release 1.0, and we look forward to monitoring legal and market developments to keep the contract current," said Jeremy Weinstein, Co-Chair of the working group.

This document could not have been completed without the combined efforts of volunteers from 70 companies, NGOs, government agencies and law firms active in renewable resource development and RECs markets. The working group co-chairs Jeremy Weinstein, Christopher Berendt, Baird Brown, Roger Feldman, Richard Saines and Michael Eckhart facilitated the two year process.

"We congratulate and thank the many attorneys and volunteers who have worked on this. It is a tremedous example of professional collaboration and sets the stage for more to come," said Richard Saines of the law firm Baker & McKenzie.

The Renewable Energy Certificate Purchase and Sale Agreement can be viewed on ACORE's website at: http://www.acore.org/programs/rectrading.php.