What are EACs?
What are Environmental Attribute Certificates — and why do IT assets qualify?
“What are EACs?” is a question we hear consistently from corporate sustainability leaders. The fundamentals are straightforward. And in 2026, understanding them is becoming essential for any organisation with a Scope 3 target to meet.
EAC in practice
RECs
Renewable electricity · Scope 2
SAF certs
Aviation fuel · Scope 3
I-TECs
IT hardware · Scope 3
Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) are tradeable instruments that represent verified environmental benefits. They separate the environmental attribute from the physical product or activity that created it. That attribute can then be transferred, sold, and applied by another company against its own climate targets.
This is the principle behind Renewable Energy Certificates. It is the principle behind Sustainable Aviation Fuel certificates. And it is now extending into materials, capital goods, and IT assets.
How EACs work?
An EAC is backed by a real activity.
One megawatt-hour of solar power from a specific facility. One kilogram of recycled aluminium. One hard drive refurbished at an ITAD facility and given a second life.
Each certificate shares the same core features:
Verified proof
That the underlying activity occurred — independently audited and tied to a specific facility or batch.
A measured carbon intensity
Significantly lower than the market standard — calculated using a recognised methodology.
Separability
The environmental attribute transfers independently of the physical commodity.
The certificate travels independently of the commodity. This enables corporate buyers to make credible, verified claims about the embedded carbon in their supply chains without physically changing what they procure.
Carbon Intensity (CI) certificates are the fastest-growing subset of EACs for Scope 3 applications. A CI certificate represents a verified reduction in emissions intensity compared to a baseline. The product still exists. The supply chain still exists. But the carbon profile is materially lower, and that improvement is what gets certified, verified, and transferred. RECs and SAF certificates are CI certificates. So are I-TECs.
Why EACs exist — the Scope 3 challenge
70–95%
of total emissions for most large companies sit in Scope 3 — largely outside direct operational control, found in purchased goods, logistics, IT hardware, and end-of-life treatment.
Companies cannot instantly switch suppliers, redesign products overnight, or rebuild global procurement in a single budget cycle. But they are expected to reduce emissions intensity, hit interim 2030 targets, and show measurable, auditable progress.
EACs exist to solve that tension. They allow companies to act inside Scope 3 now, without waiting for supply chains to fully transform. And they do so in a way that meets CFO requirements: optionality to adjust volumes year by year, and liquidity as markets deepen and price discovery improves. Decarbonisation becomes a budgetable line item rather than a one-off capital commitment.
Where EACs are established — and where they are heading
The EAC model has operated at scale for years.
RECs are the leading CI instrument globally, with the market forecast to reach $45 billion by 2030. They represent the environmental attributes of one megawatt-hour of renewable generation, enabling credible Scope 2 claims even where direct renewable procurement is not possible.
SAF certificates apply the same logic to aviation, separating the lower carbon intensity of sustainable fuel from its physical delivery.
In 2026, this architecture is spreading into Scope 3 categories. The ten EAC types expected to scale fastest are:
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
Low-carbon fuels
Bio-methane
Hydrogen EACs
Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Energy efficiency certificates
Recycling and circularity certificates
Regenerative agriculture
Carbon removals
IT Asset Reuse Certificates (I-TECs)
Bloom Product
2026 is a turning point. Not because of a new regulation, but because companies are finally moving from announcing Scope 3 ambitions to executing them.
Why IT assets qualify as an EAC category?
IT assets have historically been invisible in corporate carbon accounting. Embodied carbon — the emissions associated with manufacturing new hardware — sits in Scope 3 Category 1 or Category 2, and has typically been measured using spend-based estimates with limited ability to act on the result.
For an asset class to qualify as an EAC category, three conditions must be met:
Definable in a standardised unit
Per device, per batch, per order — traceable to a specific refurbishment activity.
Verifiable against a recognised methodology
ISO 14064-aligned, independently audited, manufacturer-specific embodied carbon data.
Pooled supply routes
Physical segregation not always feasible — same logic that makes RECs valuable for electricity.
This is why EACs are needed
Refurbished IT meets all three. EACs provide the mechanism to account for lower-intensity outcomes in constrained procurement environments.
I-TECs — the world’s first EAC for the IT asset disposition sector
In Q1 2026, Bloom launched the world’s first Environmental Attribute Certificate designed specifically for the ITAD sector. I-TECs are issued per unit of IT asset processed by a registered ITAD partner.
Verified under ISO 14064
Independently audited before issuance — the global benchmark for GHG accounting.
Manufacturer-specific carbon data
Calculated using embodied carbon data specific to the device make and model — not generic averages.
Audited before issuance
Every certificate passes independent third-party verification before entering the registry.
Recorded in the Bloom Registry
Transferred and retired with an auditable chain of custody — preventing double counting across the full supply chain.
I-TECs are not offsets. The activity they represent sits within the IT value chain of the companies that use them. The benefit is real, independently verified, and directly connected to circular IT activity.
A practical approach to 2030
The most effective Scope 3 strategies are converging on a three-part model:
Direct action
Operational decarbonisation
Where feasible — switching suppliers, redesigning procurement, reducing hardware refresh cycles.
Transition
Supplier engagement
Ongoing engagement and long-term transition plans — building toward structural change over time.
Bridge
High-integrity EACs
To bridge timing and capital gaps — credible, auditable, compatible with how finance teams plan.
The organisations that meet their 2030 ambitions will be those that align sustainability and finance around the same tools. EACs are increasingly those tools.
Ready for a next step?
Explore the full framework behind carbon intensity certificates, or learn how I-TECs apply directly to your IT procurement.
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