Businesses that supply renewable energy to transport — such as electricity to electric vehicles — can register those deliveries in the Register Energy for Transport (REV). For every kilogram of CO₂-equivalent supply-chain emission reduction, you receive one emission reduction unit (ERE). EREs are tradable and represent a direct revenue stream.
The Dutch Emissions Authority (NEa) is explicit about the nature of this activity: registration is voluntary, but not without obligations. You may register yourself, outsource it to a registration service provider, or simply buy EREs. The right choice depends on your volumes, your organisation and your risk appetite. This article lays out the trade-off.
What self-registration concretely means
Whoever registers in-house takes the entire registration chain into their own hands:
- A REV account with registration facility. For electricity, you must be a consumer within the meaning of the Dutch Electricity Act, with grid connections and a minimum quantity of electricity supplied to transport (threshold value).
- An evidence file per delivery. Every registration must be demonstrable: meter readings or session data from approved measuring instruments, EAN and contract details, and for electricity the evidence of the renewable share.
- Annual registration verification. You are required to have a registration verification carried out every year. You contract and pay a verifier yourself; the results must be processed in the REV before 1 May.
- Deadline management. Deliveries from a calendar year must be registered no later than the last working day before 1 March of the following year. After that, registration is definitively impossible — the EREs lapse.
- Year closure and savings limit. EREs that may not be saved lapse at year closure; only a limited quantity may be carried over to the next compliance year on 1 April.
The risk you carry
In addition to the verifier, the NEa itself performs periodic checks. In the event of an incorrect registration, the NEa can correct ex officio up to five years after the calendar year of registration. An administrative error in 2026 can therefore still have financial consequences in 2031. The NEa can also suspend the crediting of EREs when deviations from the registration profile are detected.
This makes self-registration primarily viable for large, standardised volumes with an in-house compliance function. For organisations for which registration is not a core activity, the fixed burdens (verification contract, administration, regulatory expertise) rarely outweigh the proceeds.
The route via a registration service provider
The regulation explicitly recognises the role of registration service provider: a party that registers on behalf of others, provided the boundary conditions are met. With outsourcing you remain the economic beneficiary of the EREs, while the operational chain lies with the service provider:
- evidence is collected, reviewed and archived;
- the ERE calculation is performed per delivery using the applicable conversion factors;
- deadlines, year closure and verification are managed as a process;
- the file is built to withstand NEa scrutiny.
The fee is typically a fixed amount or percentage per ERE, making your net proceeds calculable in advance.
The trade-off in short
| Question | Self-registration | Outsourcing |
|---|---|---|
| Who bears the correction risk (5 years)? | You do | Carried by the service provider’s approach and files |
| Arrange and pay for verification? | Yes, contract it yourself | Managed as part of the process |
| Cost structure | Mostly fixed (verification, systems, FTEs) | Variable per ERE |
| Pays off when | Large, uniform volumes with an in-house compliance team | Organisations without registration infrastructure |
Sources and next steps
This article is based on the official NEa guidance on Registering renewable energy for transport (consulted August 2026). Always consult the current NEa text when making decisions.
Want to know what outsourcing would yield for your organisation? View our services or book a no-obligation call. Working with charging infrastructure? Check whether your charger models are MID-approved in our charge point register — without an MID meter, registration is not possible.