GHG Protocol Finalises Scope 2 Survey Summary and Advances Standards Update

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol released the final summary of feedback from its Scope 2 Guidance survey, following a review period that invited comments from survey participants. The summary will feed into workplans for the technical working group revising the Scope 2 Guidance and related standards.

The Scope 2 Guidance survey was one of four surveys conducted between November 2022 and March 2023, covering the Corporate Standard, the Scope 2 Guidance, the Scope 3 Standard and market-based accounting approaches. GHG Protocol released a draft summary in July 2023, held a review period for survey participants, and incorporated responses before publishing the final version. The finalised summary is intended to provide a comprehensive account of stakeholder priorities and disagreements to guide the technical revision process.

The standards update process is significant because Scope 2 accounting rules directly govern how companies report purchased electricity emissions, including through renewable energy certificates and power purchase agreements. Indian companies that have adopted green power strategies under national renewable energy targets will be directly affected by any changes to scope 2 guidance, particularly those relating to market-based versus location-based emission factors for purchased electricity from the national grid.

The GHG Protocol Secretariat is simultaneously developing specific workplans for all four survey workstreams and preparing written summaries for the Corporate Standard, Scope 3 Standard and market-based accounting surveys, which will follow the Scope 2 summary. New governance bodies, including the Independent Standards Board and Steering Committee, will oversee the technical direction of all four update workstreams once constituted in early 2024.

Key figure — 4 concurrent GHG Protocol standards update workstreams: Corporate Standard, Scope 2, Scope 3, Market-Based Accounting