What is the difference between a REC and a carbon credit?

A REC is the claim to one megawatt-hour of renewable electricity, used for a market-based Scope 2 figure. A carbon credit represents one tonne of CO2e reduced or removed somewhere else. RECs change how you report electricity; carbon credits never reduce your inventory and are reported separately.

REC

• Unit: 1 MWh.
• Use: market-based Scope 2.
• In India: issued under the REC mechanism.

Carbon credit

• Unit: 1 t CO2e.
• Use: claims beyond your inventory, after retirement.
• Issued by registries for verified projects.

What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps each figure behind a claim traceable to the invoices and bills it came from, so a reader can check the number rather than take the wording on trust.

• How the India REC mechanism works
• Green tariff or RECs
• Can a report subtract offsets?

Sources: GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance, GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, ICVCM Core Carbon Principles

Last reviewed 2026-10-23.