Are hourly grid emission factors available for India, and will Scope 2 need them?

No official hourly grid factors exist for India. The CEA publishes one annual factor, currently 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, and the GHG Protocol accepts it. Hourly factors may matter later: the draft Scope 2 revision proposes hourly matching for market-based claims, but nothing is final.

What India publishes today

The CEA CO2 Baseline Database gives annual figures for the national grid: the weighted average, operating margin, build margin and combined margin. There are no official hourly, monthly or state factors. Grid-India publishes real-time generation by source, from which analysts build unofficial hourly estimates, but these are not a recognised reporting factor and methods differ.

What the current Scope 2 rules require

The 2015 GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance asks for the most precise location-based factor available. In India that is the annual CEA weighted average. Market-based claims today match certificates to consumption over the reporting year, not hour by hour.

What the revision proposes

The GHG Protocol consulted on a revised Scope 2 standard from October 2025 to January 2026. The draft proposes hourly matching of clean power to consumption for market-based claims, with deliverability tests, and more granular location-based factors where they exist. It published a summary of the feedback in July 2026. The final text and start dates are not set, and smaller reporters may get simpler options.

What to do now

• Keep reporting with the annual CEA factor and name the version.
• Keep interval data where you have it: HT meters and time-of-day bills already record consumption by time block.
• Ask solar PPA, captive or open access suppliers for hourly or 15-minute generation data, and write it into contracts.
• Avoid long contracts that only promise annual certificate volumes without time data.

Worked example: annual vs hourly matching (illustrative)

• Factory use: 1,000 MWh a year, 40% of it at night
• Solar PPA: 1,000 MWh a year, all generated in daylight
• Annual matching: 1,000 of 1,000 MWh covered, market-based Scope 2 = 0 t
• Hourly matching: at most the 600 MWh used in daylight is covered; 400 MWh uncovered
• Uncovered: 400,000 kWh x 0.710 = 284,000 kg, 284 t CO2

In practice hourly coverage would be lower still on cloudy days and in low-sun months.

What Senseible does here

Senseible uses the annual CEA weighted average (0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, database version 21.0) for location-based Scope 2, and shows market-based Scope 2 separately once you add instrument data. No official hourly Indian factors exist for it to apply, and it does not run hourly matching.

• GHG Protocol revision: what is changing
• Which CEA factor version for which year
• Time-of-day tariffs for factories
• Grid electricity factor for India

Sources: CEA CO2 Baseline Database, GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (2015), GHG Protocol, Scope 2 revision public consultation (October 2025 to January 2026)

Last reviewed 2026-10-16. The Scope 2 revision is a proposal; check its final text and effective date before changing methods.