Renewable thermal energy projects are an emissions-reduction project type within the energy & industry segment of the carbon market. They are designed to provide useful heat or steam from lower-emissions renewable sources. The carbon benefit comes from avoided fuel combustion emissions relative to a fossil baseline. Common project configurations include Biomass boilers; renewable thermal systems; geothermal heat applications where eligible.

Thermal projects are often underappreciated relative to power projects, even though industrial heat and steam can represent a large share of real-world emissions. These credits are typically valued as decarbonization pathways rather than storage claims, so the core questions are whether the baseline is still credible and whether the project is driving emissions lower than business as usual. For buyers and program designers, the most important diligence questions are: What fossil fuel baseline is being displaced? Are upstream emissions and leakage included where required?