# Certificates

Each monthly close issues one certificate per account: a PDF for humans
and a byte-for-byte equivalent JSON document (schema 2.0.0) for systems.
It is an activity record with exactly four sections, and it is engineered
so the strong assertion (what was retired) is never blurred with the
modeled one (what was estimated).

## Section A: Retirements

Confirmed retirements only, grouped by category, each with the approved
statement, project attribution as the supplier presents it (project name,
registry code, vintage), and the supplier reference. Water, carbon, and
renewable energy never share a block, no cross-category totals exist, and
RECs are never presented as carbon credits.

A funded order awaiting supplier confirmation appears in the console as
pending but **never on a certificate**. When it confirms, the period's
certificate regenerates to include it.

## Section B: Basis of quantity

What sized the retirements: the methodology version (pinned), the period's
token counts by model class, and the three estimates with their central
values and 90 percent ranges. The estimate disclaimer and the usage-phase
scope note are required adjacencies: the software cannot render a figure
without them, and CI fails if it could. Methodology notices (unclassified
model share over 15 percent, hidden-reasoning multiplier) appear here when
they fired.

## Section C: Required disclosures

Standing disclosures the record depends on, rendered from the same
configuration the software enforces:

- Water geography: restoration occurs in the project watershed identified
  in Section A, which may differ from the watersheds where AI
  infrastructure consumes water.
- REC resource type and the supplier's certification disclosure status.
- The FTC two-year timing disclosure, when a funded reduction occurs two or
  more years after purchase.
- The certificate-share floor line: what percent of the account's
  subscription revenue to date has been spent acquiring certificates
  (measured cumulatively at actual supplier cost), against the 50 percent
  commitment.
- That the certificate is not an audit and not a verification of the
  footprint estimate.

## Section D: Permitted use

A plain statement of what the record supports: activity claims using the
approved language in Schedule A of the [Terms](/terms), with filled
examples. Statements outside the schedule are outside the license. See the
[claims playbook](/docs/claims).

## Verifying a retirement

1. Take the supplier reference from Section A.
2. Contact the supplier (for water and RECs today, Bonneville
   Environmental Foundation) or the underlying registry with that
   reference; the retirement is recorded in the supplier's or registry's
   books in R3CKON's name, for your account's benefit.
3. Compare the project attribution and vintage on the certificate against
   the registry record.

Customers do not take title to instruments; R3CKON purchases and retires
in its own name for the customer's benefit, and whether the supplier
names the customer as beneficiary of record is stated per supplier
relationship.

## The JSON document

The JSON mirrors the PDF field for field: `schemaVersion`, `issuer`,
`accountName`, `periodStart`, `periodEnd`, and the four sections
(`sectionA_retirements` with per-category entries and supplier references,
`sectionB_basisOfQuantity` with figures, disclaimers, token classes and
notes, `sectionC_requiredDisclosures` as a string list, and
`sectionD_permittedUse`). Fetch it from the console or via
`GET /api/admin/overview` (the `certificates` array), and the PDF via
`GET /api/admin/certificates/{id}/pdf`.