A Unified Platform to Simplify, Democratize REC Markets: Redex

Q: How would you describe Redex’s mission in the context of global decarbonization, and how does Mexico fit into that vision?

A: Redex is a technology platform designed to simplify the purchasing and selling of renewable energy. We enable corporations to easily buy this energy, and we allow generators, such as solar and wind farms, to easily sell their power through a streamlined process.

Renewable energy procurement is conducted through certificates. Our platform facilitates the issuance of these certificates by generators and their consumption by corporations. In the context of decarbonization, we help companies use renewable energy to reduce their Scope 2 emissions.

Q: What opportunities motivated Redex to enter the Mexican market and how do you see its potential evolving over the next five years?

A: We see a significant opportunity. The new administration is showing a strong push for renewable energy. Mexico has a massive automotive supply chain mainly serving the United States. We anticipate huge demand for renewable power from these suppliers, as they need to meet the sustainability goals of major global OEMs. This major opportunity is a key reason Redex is in Mexico, to tap into this demand, as Mexico is a major manufacturing country with a scale comparable to China. 

Q: What is your assessment of the current state of the voluntary renewable energy certificates (REC) market in Mexico?

A: It is still young but has strong potential, primarily because Mexico's renewable energy landscape has historically been dominated by the regulated market and its Clean Energy Certificates (CELs). In that system, demand is driven by government mandates.

In contrast, the voluntary market, where corporations choose to pay premiums for renewable energy to meet their own sustainability goals, is less developed but now has a significant opportunity to grow. From a market perspective, the ideal situation is to build out this robust voluntary system.

Q: How do Mexico's regulated CELs and the international voluntary REC markets interact, and can they continue to coexist in the long term?

A: It depends on the perspective. For the last couple of years, the regulated and voluntary renewable energy certificate systems have coexisted in Mexico. The reason for this coexistence is that the certification mechanism used by the Mexican government and the framework used by international non-profit organizations, such as the I-REC Standard, are slightly different. They operate on separate frameworks. This dual-system approach is not unique; China, for instance, also has its local certificates.

The future in Mexico will depend on the government's strategy, whether it desires a single, unified framework or prefers to maintain multiple standards. Both approaches have pros and cons. I anticipate that there will be a convergence of the two systems at some point.

Q: What role can RECs play in improving transparency and accountability in Mexico’s renewable energy compliance framework?

A: When large corporations like Google, Meta, Microsoft, or Amazon claim they are using renewable power, it generally does not mean they have built a solar farm next to their data center. The established methodology is that they take power from the grid and then purchase either Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) or Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to match their consumption.

Therefore, RECs are an essential, core part of procuring renewable power. This reality creates a new competitive requirement for companies in Mexico. For example, consider a major OEM like BMW choosing between a supplier in Mexico, one in Bangladesh, one in China, and one in Thailand. A key criterion for BMW's procurement department will be proof that their suppliers are using green power. Buying certificates is a clear way to demonstrate this ESG compliance.

Increasingly, this has become a key decision-making metric for procurement departments when selecting suppliers. I feel that for manufacturers in Mexico to remain competitive, they not only need to be cheap and good, but they also need to be green.

Q: Could you explain how Redex’s four digital solutions, REHash, REConnect, RESuite, and REAPI, interact to deliver end-to-end REC trading services?

A: Redex’s entire product suite is designed to build technology around REC services, enabling the full value chain from registering assets to connecting with generators to secure data, and connecting with buyers to match that supply. Our central platform is REHash, which allows these transactions to be done efficiently. As a generator, you can use the platform to go through a highly streamlined registration process. A procedure that typically takes six to nine months can be reduced to less than a month, or even two weeks, because our process is simpler and more cost-effective than doing it yourself.

Once your assets are registered and your RECs are issued, the next challenge is monetization. REHash serves as the trading platform, like a stock exchange, where you can sell your RECs. On the other side, buyers come to the platform to procure the RECs they need to fulfill their requirements. The system is designed as a DIY model, which carries very little cost. We charge a small commission, and the buyer avoids using brokers and paying their commissions. This is particularly beneficial for those needing to buy small volumes of RECs, as brokers often decline such transactions due to the high administrative costs. On our platform, contracts and transactions are automated; after you click the button, you receive your certificate.

For this platform to work, driving liquidity is extremely important, which means we need to drive supply and demand. That is where our next two products come in: REConnect and RESuite.

REConnect is an app we built to enable small-scale assets, like rooftop solar, to generate RECs quickly, get them issued, and list them on REHash for trading. In the past, registering a large solar farm might have cost US$5,000, but a small rooftop asset might only generate US$500 in REC revenue while facing the same registration cost, making it commercially unviable. Today, through our REConnect app, we can onboard assets as small as a residential household for a fraction of the cost. The process is API-integrated with the I-REC Standard registry.

RESuite is the product that drives demand to the platform. We work with carbon accounting platforms that large corporations use to monitor their emissions. We create an application programming interface (API) connection so that when a user wants to buy RECs, they can simply click a "Buy RECs" button within their existing software. This action connects to REHash, where they can purchase the RECs to fulfill their requirements.

Finally, REAPI is our backend product, a suite of APIs for B2B integration. It allows other IT platforms related to decarbonization, for example, an Electric Vehicle (EV) charger operator, to use our functions. They can use our APIs to call REC information from our REHash network and integrate that data directly into their software.

Q: What are your objectives for the Mexican market in 2025?

A: First, for the voluntary market in Mexico, we can provide solutions to help many manufacturers here become more competitive by being green. We already have the necessary technology; it just needs to be rolled out across Mexico. On the regulatory side, we are in a strong position to work with the government if the administration wishes to collaborate on building a national program. The Malaysian government uses our platform, for example. It owns 90% of the RECs in Malaysia and uses our platform to transact and auction these RECs to large corporations in the country.

We are just starting in the market. We plan to spend 2025 focused on understanding it by engaging participants from all sides: corporations, generators, government bodies, and associations. Our goal is to understand what the market truly needs, to meet more people, and explore opportunities.

We expect to conduct some business this year; in fact, we have already started. I am quite bullish about engaging the market on rooftop solar, extending to residential solar assets. I believe we are in a very unique position to unlock the potential of RECs for all rooftop solar installations in Mexico. We expect to make a significant difference within 2025.

Redex is a provider of sustainable energy solutions. Its mission is to drive the global transition to net zero by offering innovative technologies and expert services. With its core products REHash, REConnect and RESuite, Redex is dedicated to reducing Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions and creating a greener future.