Scope 2 Guidance – Knowledge Centre

Summary:

The Scope 2 Guidance standardizes how corporations measure emissions from purchased or acquired electricity, steam, heat and cooling (called “scope 2 emissions”).

The guidance includes:

New requirements for accounting for emissions from energy contracts and instruments (such as renewable energy credits) in GHG inventories

Eight Scope 2 Quality Criteria that all contractual instruments must meet in order to be a reliable data source for the scope 2 market-based method

Recommendations for transparently disclosing information about energy purchases

Eleven short case studies to illustrate the benefits of the new requirements

Key guidance is extracted in this section, you can go to the standard for all details.

Section	Page
1 Introduction	4
1.1 The GHG Protocol	5
1.2 The Corporate Standard’s approach to scope 2 emissions	5
1.3 Key questions on scope 2 accounting and reporting	6
1.4 Purpose of this Guidance	7
1.5 Guidance overview	7
1.6 Who should use this Guidance?	8
1.7 How should I use this Guidance?	9
1.8 How was this Guidance developed?	10
1.9 Changes from the Corporate Standard	10
1.10 Relationship to the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and Scope 3 Standard	10
1.11 What does this Guidance not address?	12
2 Business Goals	14
2.1 Business goals of scope 2 accounting and reporting	15
2.2 Identify and understand risks and opportunities associated with emissions from purchased and consumed electricity	15
2.3 Identify GHG reduction opportunities, set reduction targets, and track performance	19
2.4 Engage energy suppliers and partners in GHG management	19
2.5 Enhance stakeholder information and corporate reputation through transparent public reporting	19
3 Accounting and Reporting Principles	20
4 Scope 2 Accounting Methods	24
4.1 Approaches to accounting scope 2	25
4.2 Emission rate approach	27
4.3 The decision-making value of each method’s results	28
5 Identifying Scope 2 Emissions and Setting the Scope 2 Boundary	32
5.1 Organizational boundaries	33
5.2 Operational boundaries	33
5.3 Defining scope 2	34
5.4 Distinguishing scopes reporting by electricity production/distribution method	35
5.5 Avoiding double counting in scope 2	39
5.6 Avoiding double counting between owned energy generation assets (scope 1) and grid-delivered energy consumption in separate operations (scope 2)	39
6 Calculating Emissions	42
6.1 Identify GHG emissions sources for scope 2	43
6.2 Determine whether the market-based method applies for any operations	43
6.3 Collect activity data	44
6.4 Identify distribution scenarios and any certificate sales	44
6.5 Choose emission factors for each method	45
6.6 Match emission factors to each unit of electricity consumption	49
6.7 Calculate emissions	49
6.8 Roll up GHG emissions data to corporate level	52
6.9 Optional: Calculate any avoided emissions and report separately	52
6.10 Location-based emission factors	53
6.11 Market-based emission factors data	54
6.12 Treatment of biofuel emissions	57
7 Accounting and Reporting Requirements	58
7.1 Required information for scope 2	59
7.2 Recommended disclosure	61
7.3 Optional information	61
7.4 Dual reporting	62
7.5 Additional guidance on Scope 2 Quality Criteria	63
8 Recommended Reporting on Instrument Features and Policy Context	66
8.1 Instrument feature disclosure	67
8.2 Reporting on the relationship between voluntary purchases and regulatory policies	69
9 Setting Reduction Targets and Tracking Emissions Over Time	74
9.1 Setting a base year	75
9.2 Recalculating base-year emissions	75
9.3 Setting GHG targets	76
9.4 Energy targets	76
10 Key Concepts and Background in Energy Attribute Certificates and Claims	78
10.1 Introduction to energy attribute tracking	79
10.2 Defining energy attribute certificates	80
10.3 Certificate uses	84
10.4 Supplier disclosure	84
10.5 Supplier quotas for delivery or sales of specific energy sources	85
10.6 Tracking tax/levy exemptions	86
10.7 Voluntary consumer programs	86
10.8 How jurisdictional policies affect the role and impact of voluntary programs	87
11 How companies can drive electricity supply changes with the Market-Based Method	88
11.1 Energy attribute supply and demand	89
11.2 Relationship between voluntary program impact and scope 2 accounting	90
11.3 The role of “additionality”	90
11.4 How can companies go further?	91
Appendices	93
A Accounting for steam, heat, and cooling	94
B Accounting for energy-related emissions throughout the value chain	96