What is changing in the GHG Protocol revision, and does it affect my Scope 2 reporting?
The GHG Protocol is updating its Corporate, Scope 2 and Scope 3 standards under an Independent Standards Board. Nothing is final yet. The Scope 2 draft, consulted on from October 2025, proposes tighter market-based rules, such as hourly matching and deliverability for certificates. Until a new standard takes effect, the 2015 Scope 2 Guidance still applies.
How the update is being run
After surveys of users in 2022 and 2023, the GHG Protocol started a formal standards update in 2024. Technical working groups draft changes for the Corporate Standard, Scope 2, Scope 3 and the treatment of actions and market instruments. An Independent Standards Board approves drafts for public consultation and then the final text.
Each standard moves on its own timetable. A final standard will also have an effective date, so there will be a gap between publication and the year you must apply it.
What the Scope 2 draft proposes
These are consultation proposals. They may change before the board approves a final text.
- Market-based method: contractual instruments such as certificates or power purchase agreements would need to match consumption by hour, not just over the year.
- Deliverability: the instrument would need to come from the same market or grid region where the electricity is used.
- Location-based method: use the most precise grid factor available in time and place, where such factors exist.
- Relief measures under discussion, such as treatment of existing contracts and options for smaller companies.
What it could mean for a company in India
- Location-based Scope 2 using the CEA national grid factor is likely to stay valid. If finer factors by time or region are published, you may be asked to use them.
- Market-based claims from annual certificates could weaken. A REC bought for a year's total without hourly matching may not cover hourly consumption under the draft rules.
- Interval meter data becomes more valuable. Monthly bills will not show hourly use.
What to do now
- Keep reporting both location-based and market-based Scope 2 under the 2015 Guidance.
- Keep each bill's billing period and units, and any smart meter or open access interval data you can get.
- Record the details of every certificate or green contract: generator, location, generation dates and quantity.
- Review the GHG Protocol standards page each quarter and note which version your report follows.
What Senseible does here
Senseible already reports location-based and market-based Scope 2 separately, using the CEA factor of 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh for location-based; market-based needs your instrument data. It does not apply hourly matching or interpret draft standards before they are final.
Sources: GHG Protocol standards and standards update, GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (WRI and WBCSD, 2015)
Last reviewed 2026-10-15. Drafts are not final; review this page each quarter against GHG Protocol announcements and quote only published consultation text.