Is my market-based Scope 2 total a net figure, and can I subtract avoided emissions from my solar plant?

No. The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol says the two Scope 2 totals are not gross and net, because net implies offsets were applied. Market-based totals include fossil and mixed contracts too. Avoided emissions may be estimated, but are reported separately and should not reduce your footprint.

Two totals, not gross and net

The guide says the location-based and market-based totals should not be viewed as gross and net, since net typically means external reductions such as offsets were applied. The market-based total includes contracts for fossil or mixed supply as well as renewable ones, and a supplier's mixed-source emission rate is a valid market-based factor.

Avoided emissions sit outside

• You may estimate emissions avoided by low-carbon generation and report them separately, as optional information.
• They reflect impacts outside your inventory boundary and are not necessarily equal to global reductions from additional projects, so they should not be used to reduce your footprint.
• Use a project-level method, such as the GHG Protocol's guidelines for grid-connected electricity projects.
• Examples the guide gives: on-site low-carbon generation that sells to the grid (owned plant emissions stay in Scope 1), cogeneration, a contract to buy from a new low-carbon plant, and a significant efficiency effort.

When not to claim at all

Where the project is in a jurisdiction with an emissions cap on its power sector, or the plant also produces verified emission reductions as offsets, the guide says the company should not make public claims about avoided emissions. Any offsets, or voluntary allowances retired for the purchase, are reported separately.

A factory with a rooftop plant that exports

• Imports 600,000 kilowatt hours (kWh): Scope 2 = 600,000 x 0.675 = 405 tonnes
• Exports 100,000 kWh. Avoided-emissions note, at the grid average: 100,000 x 0.675 = 67.5 tonnes
• Report 67.5 tonnes beside the inventory, not minus it. Scope 2 stays 405 tonnes

Numbers are examples. 0.675 is the Central Electricity Authority financial year 2025-26 grid factor, an estimate; a project-level method may use a different factor.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads electricity bills into monthly kWh and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) at the grid factor for the bill's year. Solar generation and export figures are yours to add as a separate note.

• Carbon calculators
• Rooftop solar and net metering in Scope 2
• How to calculate avoided emissions
• Avoided emissions and science-based targets

Sources: GHG Protocol, Scope 2 Guidance (2015), CEA, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector

Last reviewed 2026-11-04. The GHG Protocol is revising its Scope 2 rules. Check ghgprotocol.org for the current text before you file.