A new certificate for the renewable carbon economy
The certification body TÜV AUSTRIA has introduced a new label, “OK renewable”, designed to quantify the share of fossil carbon in manufacturing and products that has been replaced by renewable and recycled carbon sources. The label expresses this information as a single, easy-to-understand product attribute, covering inputs such as biomass, captured CO₂ and recycled materials. The concept was developed by the Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI) and the nova-Institut (Germany) and implemented by TÜV AUSTRIA Belgium. The entire process took three years until the certificate was launched on the market in April 2025. It is now available for products, intermediates and raw materials.
Why this certificate?
The extraction of fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas and coal, is the primary cause of man-made climate change, accounting for 80–90%. For the energy sector, transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energies, especially solar and wind power, is widely seen as the central pathway towards climate neutrality through decarbonisation.
In the chemical and materials sector, however, the challenge is different, says RCI: Carbon is an essential element in many products, including chemicals, plastics, detergents and personal care items, making full decarbonisation technically impossible. Instead, the focus is on defossilisation: reducing dependence on fossil carbon by substituting it with renewable carbon from biomass, captured CO₂ or recycling. According to RCI, advancing this transformation requires new regulatory, political and technical frameworks, many of which are currently under development at EU and national level. This is the context in which the “OK renewable” certification has been introduced.
What does the label show?
The certificate indicates the proportion of fossil carbon in a process or product that has been replaced by renewable sources such as biomass, captured CO₂ or recycled materials. A value of 80%, for example, means that 80% of the carbon content originates from non-fossil sources, providing a quantitative measure of defossilisation.
‘OK renewable’ is a meta-label that builds on existing certificates. Nine leading certifiers are currently acknowledged under the label, meaning their certificates are accepted as valid evidence of renewable sourcing under this meta-label, says RCI. This approach is intended to simplify and streamline verification of renewable carbon sources in products.
Benefits for businesses and customers
By consolidating information on renewable carbon content into a single label, “OK renewable” can simplify communication with customers. In some cases, it may replace multiple separate certifications for bio-based, recycled and CO₂-based inputs, reducing duplication in verification processes. Supporters of the scheme also argue that transparent documentation of renewable carbon use can help build trust among customers and stakeholders.