New Evident Report Tracks I-REC Evolution Beyond Heavy Industry as Supply Chain Demand Accelerates

I-RECs have moved beyond early-stage voluntary procurement and are increasingly becoming core market infrastructure for credible renewable energy claims across both heavy industry and global supply chains.

 “The I-REC Market Evolution: Renewable Energy Procurement Moves Beyond Heavy Industry”, a new Evident report’s central finding is not simply that I-REC demand is growing, but that the market is evolving along two distinct tracks: concentrated, high-volume procurement by energy-intensive industries, and broader, distributed adoption across supplier networks and consumer-facing sectors. This structural shift marks an important new phase in the maturity of global renewable energy markets.

Demand Is No Longer Confined to Heavy Industry

Metals & Mining remains the single largest demand segment, representing approximately 22–28% of I-REC procurement between 2023 and 2025. However, adoption is now expanding across Automotive, Chemicals, Food & Beverage, Textiles, Packaging, Oil & Gas, and technology-linked sectors.

This diversification signals that I-RECs are no longer used only by traditional energy-intensive industries. Companies increasingly require consistent, auditable renewable energy claims across geographically distributed operations and fragmented energy markets, particularly where direct renewable procurement remains constrained.

Supply Chain Demand Is Emerging as a Structural Growth Driver

The report identifies a second wave of adoption across consumer-facing and supply chain-driven sectors. Food & Beverage increased from 12% of demand in 2023 to 14% in 2025, while Containers & Packaging and Textiles continue to gain relevance.

This reflects a broader market shift: large companies are increasingly extending renewable energy expectations upstream into supplier networks, embedding I-RECs into procurement criteria, supplier engagement programmes, and emerging Scope 3 decarbonisation strategies.

I-RECs Now Reach Across the Real Economy

More than 20,000 beneficiaries redeemed I-RECs across all 74 Global Industry Classification Standards (GICS) between 2023 and 2025, demonstrating that adoption is no longer niche or sector-specific. The market is broadening beyond concentrated industrial buyers toward wider integration across global value chains.

The Use Case Is Expanding Beyond Scope 2

While I-RECs remain firmly anchored in Scope 2 reporting and alignment with frameworks such as the GHG Protocol, RE100, and SBTi, the report highlights growing relevance for supplier engagement and procurement-led decarbonisation strategies linked to Scope 3 expectations.

For corporate buyers, this signals that I-RECs are becoming an increasingly practical mechanism for maintaining consistent renewable energy claims across multi-country operations and supplier programmes.

The commercial opportunity is also evolving. Future growth is unlikely to rely solely on large industrial transactions, but increasingly on enabling thousands of smaller and mid-sized buyers through simplified onboarding, claims support, procurement flexibility, and scalable cross-market execution.

The implication is clear: I-RECs are no longer peripheral sustainability instruments. They are increasingly becoming part of the operational infrastructure underpinning global renewable energy procurement and supply chain decarbonisation.

The new report is available here.