The Greenhouse Gas Protocol has published an operational update regarding the ongoing revision of its Scope 2 Guidance, outlining a proposed dual market-based accounting framework ahead of a key Technical Working Group workshop.
The update details progress following a public consultation period that ran from October 2025 to January 2026. The consultation highlighted divided stakeholder perspectives on how corporate electricity procurement should be reflected in market-based emissions inventories.
One group of stakeholders advocated for stricter accounting rules requiring energy attribute certificates to be matched hourly with electricity consumption, tied to local deliverable grid regions, and sourced from recently built generation facilities. Proponents argued this approach ensures corporate demand drives net-new clean generation and system-level grid decarbonisation.
Conversely, other market participants supported maintaining annual matching and broader geographic boundaries. This group argued that flexible market parameters reduce participation barriers, maintain liquid energy attribute certificate markets, and channel voluntary corporate capital into global renewable development.
In response to stakeholder feedback, the Independent Standards Board (ISB) approved an initial direction of travel in July 2026 to explore two distinct market-based reporting methods:
- Method 1: Incorporates hourly matching, deliverability, and incrementality requirements to reflect localised operational impacts.
- Method 2: Maintains existing guidelines from the 2015 Scope 2 Guidance, preserving current corporate procurement strategies during a transitional period.
Following technical survey inputs, the ISB proposed a phased implementation framework in September 2026. Under the proposed structure, companies reporting market-based emissions will be permitted to use Method 2 up to a specified transition date while being encouraged to adopt Method 1. After the transition date, reporting under Method 1 will become mandatory where compliant data is available, with full disclosure required regarding which method is being applied in the interim.
The ISB also noted the role of the Actions and Market Instruments workstream, which is developing a multi-statement reporting framework. Electricity procurement activities or contractual instruments that do not qualify under revised market-based inventory rules may instead be reported through separate GHG Impact Statements or Non-GHG Indicator Statements.
The Technical Working Group will convene an in-person workshop later this month to resolve outstanding implementation details, including deliverability criteria, technical feasibility, and transition timelines. Proposed revisions approved by the ISB will be integrated into a consolidated public consultation scheduled for the second quarter of 2027, ahead of the planned publication of the updated joint GHG Protocol-ISO Corporate Standard in late 2028.
