Eligibility and scope

Eligible technologies

Projects eligible under this methodology are the activities that carry out the technical aspects of refurbishment. Refurbishment is defined according to the EU Regulation 2024/1781 as "actions carried out to prepare, clean, test, service and, where necessary, repair a product or a discarded product in order to restore its performance or functionality within the intended use and range of performance originally conceived at the design stage at the time of the placing of the product on the market". Activities that only collect used devices (e.g. buyback schemes) or serve as marketplaces for refurbishers are not eligible projects.

Marketplaces may act as intermediaries between Rainbow and refurbishers to assist in the certification process. Signed agreements shall be provided ensuring that the refurbishers are the principal and final beneficiaries of carbon finance.

Devices eligible under this methodology include: small consumer electronics such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, desktop computers, gaming consoles, and monitors. Other device types may be included in future versions of this methodology.

This methodology distinguishes between two types of refurbishing processes:

• Light refurbishing is focused on testing device functionality, fixing cosmetic damage, and/or restoring software. It is a more simple process because it doesn’t involve replacing parts.

• Full refurbishing is an intensive process that involves light refurbishing plus replacing some device components and reassembling products. It is more costly and rigorous.

Both full and light refurbishing activities are eligible for Rainbow Carbon Credits (RCCs) under this methodology.

Note that the project shall be defined as the project activities that are justified as additional. This may include a refurbishing site’s entire operations or only an expansion project. See the Additionality section and the Rainbow Standard Rules for more details.

Rainbow Standard Rules

Certification requirements

Crediting period duration: the maximum duration of the crediting period for projects certified under this methodology is 5 years. Upon reaching the maximum duration, a project's crediting period may be renewed, according to the Crediting Period Renewal procedure.

Monitoring period duration: The default monitoring period duration is one year, but may be shorter at the Project Developer's request. Project Developers shall submit a Monitoring Report at least once per 24 months. Failure to do so shall result in the project being deregistered.

Site audits: validation site audits for projects under this methodology may be performed either remotely or in-person, depending on the project size. Projects that issue more than 10,000 RCCs per year must undergo an in-person site audit. Projects that issue less than 10,000 RCCs per year may choose between an in-person or remote audit. The Rainbow team may require an in-person site audit for any project, regardless of the size.

Versioning and project compliance: When this methodology is revised, projects are required to comply with the latest version for subsequent verifications of RCCs.

Project scope

One project corresponds to the refurbishing sites within one registered company located within one country. There is no limit to the number of sites registered within one project, but all sites must be registered, according to the site registration requirements outlined in the Rainbow Standard Rules.

For example, if an international electronic device refurbishing company has refurbishing sites located in both France and Germany, two separate projects must be registered: one for the operations in France, and one for Germany.

The project scope includes the additional refurbishment activities made possible through carbon finance. Refurbishing used electronic devices serves two purposes:

1. managing the device at end-of-life (Device A), and

2. restoring it to create a functioning “new” device (Device B).

The project scope includes a cradle-to-grave assessment of all processes needed to fulfill these functions, where the processes differ from business-as-usual activities. These processes are organized into three life-cycle stages, all of which are included in the project system boundary as defined in the GHG quantification section:

• Device A: e-waste collection, based on project operational data regarding device collection

• Device A: e-waste treatment and processing of scrap materials that couldn't be successfully refurbished, based on average country-specific e-waste management practices

• Device B: refurbishment process, based on project operational data

Only devices that have not already been refurbished are eligible under this methodology.

Baseline scope

The baseline scope includes the set of business-as-usual (BAU) activities and their resulting GHG emissions that would have occurred in the absence of the project refurbishment activity. An activity-specific baseline scenario is used, based on current market conditions reflecting the actual practices for e-waste end-of-life and new device refurbishing.

This is reflected in the two main functions accounted for in the baseline scenario:

1. waste treatment of the device after its first life (Device A), and

2. provisioning of a new device (Device B).

These processes are organized into three life-cycle stages, all of which are included in the baseline system boundary as defined in the GHG quantification section:

• Device A: e-waste collection, based on a conservative estimate of e-waste device collection

• Device A: e-waste treatment, based on average country-specific e-waste management practices.

• Device B: manufacturing new devices, based on representative market data for device production emission factors, the proportion of devices currently procured through refurbishment, reflecting existing industry practice

A conservative and representative baseline is ensured by accounting for two main factors in the substitutability of refurbished devices for new devices:

• Device quality: Project developers must demonstrate refurbished project devices are appropriate substitutes for newly manufactured devices, ensuring that the baseline remains representative of the project scenario. To do so, the developer must provide evidence of the quality of refurbished devices, confirming that they meet the standards required to serve as valid replacements for new products. Acceptable evidence may include documentation of quality control procedures, the device grading system, and the quality thresholds that devices must meet to be sold rather than recycled.

  • Devices sold by the project that are not fully functional shall not be considered as substitutes for new devices, and therefore will not be counted towards avoided emissions from new device production. The avoided emissions from e-waste treatment are still counted.

• Device lifetime: Refurbished devices are assumed to have shorter lifetimes than new devices. This difference in performance is acceptable because it is accounted for in the GHG reduction calculations to calculate the number of RCCs to issue a project (see Equation 19 in the section New device production).

  • Lifetimes for selected devices are presented in Table 3 in the Assumptions section.

For example, if a refurbished device has half of the expected lifetime of a new device, it is only counted as avoiding half of a new device.

The baseline scenario structure remains valid for the entire crediting period but may be significantly revised earlier if:

• The Project Developer notifies Rainbow of a substantial change in project operations or baseline conditions, and/or

• The methodology is revised, affecting the baseline scenario.

The specific values within the baseline scenario will be updated during each crediting period, using project data to accurately reflect the equivalent of the project’s operations.