A retirement statement is the official document issued by a registry to confirm that an EAC has been retired to back a specific renewable energy claim. It serves as the auditable proof that the retirement has occurred and records the details of the claim, such as the beneficiary, consumption period, and end-use purpose.
A retirement statement typically records the beneficiary (the entity making the renewable energy claim), the consumption period the EAC is being applied to, the country and end-use purpose where relevant, the certificates that were retired (with their attributes such as vintage, technology, and generator), and a unique reference number from the registry. The exact format varies by registry, but the substance is consistent across schemes.
The retirement statement is the document auditors, regulators, and verification bodies use to confirm that a renewable energy claim is backed by valid, retired certificates. For frameworks such as the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance, RE100, and CDP reporting, the retirement statement is the primary evidence of a Scope 2 renewable energy claim. Without it, the claim cannot be substantiated.
The retirement statement is generated automatically by the registry when a retirement is processed. The account holder can download it directly from the registry interface, and in many registries it is also available via API. In multi-registry portfolios spanning US tracking systems and I-REC markets, collecting and managing retirement statements across multiple registries is a significant operational task, since each registry has its own format and download workflow.
The two are functionally equivalent documents from different jurisdictions. North American REC tracking systems (such as WREGIS, M-RETS, PJM-GATS, and NEPOOL-GIS) and I-REC issuers typically issue retirement statements. European registries (including most EU GoO registries and UK Ofgem REGOs) issue cancellation statements. Both serve the same purpose: confirming that the certificate has been used for a single, specific renewable energy claim and cannot be reused.
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