NYC's Local Law 97 lets building owners use Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to offset electricity-related carbon limits. Rule 103-06 spells out how this works. The key restriction is geographic: your RECs have to come from generators on the NYC grid (Zone J), or through NYSERDA's Tier 4 program. Buying a certificate from a wind farm in Texas won't cut it. This is where Local Law 97 differs from other certificate systems around the world. REGOs in the UK, Guarantees of Origin in Europe, and international I-RECs all let you claim renewable energy without proving it was delivered to a specific grid. Local Law 97 doesn't. If it wasn't generated in or delivered into Zone J, it doesn't count. On the compliance side, eligible RECs need to be cancelled through the NYGATS tracking platform to count toward the 2024 targets. Get this wrong and you're looking at penalties, so it's worth double-checking that any certificates you're buying actually meet the locational requirements before assuming they'll cover your building's obligations.