GHG Protocol opens consultation on Scope 2 accounting update

The GHG Protocol has opened a public consultation on the long-awaited revision of its Scope 2 accounting guidelines, which includes a new hourly matching requirement for renewable energy certificates.

The revision of the 2015 Scope 2 Guidance has been in development for around three years, and is part of the GHG Protocol’s standard procedure, but some of the changes proposed could dramatically affect the way companies calculate and report their purchased energy emissions.

Hourly matching for Scope 2 emissions

Under the proposed version, the standard maintains the dual location-based and market-based reporting methods, meaning companies would still be able to use renewable energy certificates to reduce Scope 2 emissions. However, they would now be required to match these certificates with their hourly – instead of annual – electricity consumption. This would help reduce double counting and ensure reported clean energy purchases more accurately reflect the physical realities of the power grid, the GHG Protocol says.

Alexander Bassen, Chair of Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s Independent Standards Board, explained: “A decade after publishing the Scope 2 standard, an update is both timely and necessary. This revision is an opportunity to make improvements based on how the standard has been applied in practice and how power systems have become cleaner, more complex, and more interconnected than ever before.”

Acknowledging that companies using the GHG Protocol vary widely in size and access to data, the revised Scope 2 standard would offer several measures to help users manage these changes – including the use of load profiles to approximate hourly data, exemption thresholds, a legacy clause for existing contractual commitments, and a multi-year phased implementation timeline.

Scope 2 accounting guidance to be finalised in 2027

The Scope 2 Guidance is the leading global framework for accounting and reporting corporate emissions from purchased electricity, and is integrated in many mandatory disclosure regimes, such as the ISSB standards, the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), and California SB 253. 

The first consultation period will run until December 19, 2025, with stakeholders invited to review the consultation documentation and submit feedback here. After that, feedback will be analysed and the Scope 2 standard may be adjusted, before a second consultation takes place in 2026. The final publication of the new standard is expected in 2027. 

“Public input gathered over the next two months will play a major role in shaping the next version. We want to hear from all stakeholders on how to strengthen the guidance so it remains science-based, practical, credible, and relevant for the decade ahead,” added Bassen.