Brazilian international renewable energy certificates (I-RECs) rose to in January-March, pushing it above China to become the largest global market. The country, helped by its vast hydropower capacity, was also the largest issuer of these certificates.
China redeemed 13.91TWh, up from 8.6TWh a year earlier. Turkey remained the third-largest market for the certificates, with demand rising to 4.7TWh from 2.5TWh a year earlier. Lower Chinese power consumption weighed on Chinese I-REC demand. Chinese power demand totalled 1,421TWh in January-March, down by more than 31pc on the year, while Brazilian consumption fell by around 4pc on the year to 104TWh.
But Brazilian I-REC prices remained lower compared with other large markets. Brazilian 2022 vintage wind certificates were trading at about $0.40/MWh in March, compared with $0.70/MWh in China and $0.45/MWh in Turkey.
Latin American I-REC demand totalled 26.16TWh in the first quarter, up from 17.99TWh a year earlier, while I-REC supply increased to 34.88TWh from 22.3TWh. Chile was the second-largest regional market with 3.47TWh redeemed, followed by Colombia with 3.2TWh.
Global I-REC demand rose to 60TWh in January-March, up from 36TWh a year earlier. Total issuances rose by more than 30pc to 73TWh in the first quarter.
The pace of redemptions more than doubled as global corporate carbon disclosure continues to rise, using I-RECs to cover scope 2 emissions.