Making Voluntary Markets for Clean Electricity Work

In 2023 and 2024, CRS brought together a small group of market-leading corporate and federal clean electricity buyers, key non-governmental organizations, and other leading voices to discuss voluntary strategies to transform the clean electricity market. While the group had diverse perspectives on impactful clean electricity procurement and grid decarbonization pathways, several shared core principles and areas of agreement emerged. CRS has included these areas of agreement in this short one-pager.

Key Points:

• Voluntary markets are critical for meeting climate goals
• Voluntary purchasing can have greater impact with greater overall participation and individual purchases focused on new supply and the time and place of production
• Vibrant markets require credible market instruments, like RECs, and flexible procurement and trading options.

These areas of agreement represent a good starting place for ongoing and future discussions around impact and accounting.