(C6.2) Describe your organization's approach to reporting Scope 2 emissions.
Change from last year
No change
Rationale
The purpose of this question is to allow companies to disclose their approach to calculating their Scope 2 emissions. This is particularly relevant when considering market-based Scope 2 emissions, as it is important to differentiate between companies that have not reported a market-based figure as they do not have operations where there are those contractual instruments, and those companies that do have operations where there are contractual instruments but have chosen not to disclose a market-based figure. CDP asks this question to enable accurate comparability across companies.
Connection to other frameworks
SDG
Goal 13: Climate action
Response options
Please complete the following table:
| Scope 2, location-based | Scope 2, market-based | Comment |
|---|---|---|
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Select from:
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Select from:
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Text field [maximum 2,400 characters] |
Requested content
General
- The GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance was published in January 2015. Part of the requirements of the guidance is that companies shall account for their Scope 2 emissions using two methodologies: a location-based method and a market-based method. The market-based method is for those companies who have any operations in markets providing product- or supplier-specific data in the form of contractual instruments. If this is not applicable to your company, you only need to provide one location-based figure.
- Per the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, a contractual instrument is “any type of contract between two parties for the sale and purchase of energy bundled with attributes about the energy generation, or for unbundled attribute claims.” Different markets will have different contractual instruments, which can include energy attribute certificates, direct contracts such as PPAs, and supplier-specific emission rates.
- It is important to consider the definition of contractual instruments when determining whether your company needs to calculate a market-based figure. If your company can access emissions factors from your energy supplier for any of your operations, you are required to calculate and report a market-based figure. Therefore, when responding to this question, if you do have operations where there are contracts such as RECs and Guarantees of Origin, supplier specific emissions factors, or a residual emissions factor such as in the US and Europe – regardless of whether or not you purchase them – then you should not select “We have no operations where we are able to access electricity supplier emissions factors or residual emissions factors and are unable to report a Scope 2, market-based figure”. For full details please view the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance. You can also reference CDP’s Technical Note on Accounting of Scope 2 emissions
- For the purpose of CDP reporting, to claim the use of renewable electricity for market-based figures, companies must source renewable electricity from within the boundary of the market in which they are consuming the electricity (i.e. comply with the market boundary criteria). Based on current knowledge, the market boundary is defined for most countries as their geographical boundary, except the following: 1) European countries which are AIB members and 2) United States of America and Canada. Please refer to CDP’s Technical Note on Accounting of Scope 2 emissions for further information.
