Today, Scope 2 emissions are often not Scope True, and zero does not truly mean zero.

Companies today claim to be powered by 100% renewable energy on paper; in reality, they continue to use electricity powered by fossil fuels. Why? Today’s carbon accounting rulebook, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), allows for this. The current rules, known as the Scope 2 Guidance, allow companies to claim to be solar powered at night, or powered by clean energy that has no physical connection to where they consume power.

Scope True is an effort to realign the accounting of clean electricity use closer to reality. This is NOT a requirement to do 24/7 clean electricity matching, it is an effort to be more accurate, and therefore more impactful, with clean electricity usage and carbon emissions claims.

Reality-based accounting means:

• Only claiming the use of clean energy that is matched to the same hour as a consumer’s consumption.
• Only claiming the use of clean energy that is deliverable to the consumer’s consumption.
• Fairly allocating clean energy to customers who are already paying for it and should be able to claim its benefits.

Reality-based accounting will:

• Improve the integrity of the voluntary clean energy market, ensuring that corporate claims to use clean energy are reality-based.
• Drive greater decarbonization impact by aligning corporate clean energy purchases to where and when companies consume electricity, thus stimulating investments in a portfolio of clean energy technologies that more effectively reduce system-wide electricity emissions.

While the current Scope 2 rules were successful in kickstarting voluntary clean energy markets, they are no longer fit for purpose to support the next stage of decarbonization.

These rules are being revised for the first time in a decade and must be updated to reflect the reality of how electricity is purchased, traded, and consumed for the coming decades.

Scope True also advocates for realistic flexibilities for small and medium sized companies, alternative ways to secure hourly data if not readily available, honoring existing contracts, and other important feasibility considerations. Reality-based accounting is not perfection -- it is a common sense step towards greater impact, integrity, and accountability.