Proposed hourly clean-energy accounting could upend corporate sustainability reporting

A draft amendment by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol would require companies to match renewable electricity to fossil-fuel power on an hourly, grid-specific basis, a change that many firms say would dramatically lower their sustainability scores.

The Washington-based Greenhouse Gas Protocol has proposed a revision to its Scope 2 emissions methodology that would require hourly, grid-specific matching of renewable electricity to fossil-fuel generation. Under the current framework, companies need only demonstrate annual, region-wide sourcing, a rule followed by about 97 percent of S&P 500 firms pursuing net-zero targets. Analysts warn that the tighter standard could render more than 90 percent of today’s multi-billion-dollar renewable-energy certification market ineffective, hurting firms that lack existing hourly-matching contracts.

A public comment period generated over 1,000 responses, with just 22 percent in favor and only 12 percent of the 429 responding companies supporting the change. The Clean Energy Buyers Association, whose members include Amazon, Salesforce, Dollar Tree and Lululemon, argued that mandatory matching would deter investors and weaken the Protocol’s relevance. A meeting of the Protocol’s working group is slated for next month, with many stakeholders urging an optional approach and a complementary metric to capture broader clean-energy impacts. The outcome could reshape sustainability scoring, influencing access to markets that require high environmental ratings.