Carbon Accounting Archives

The High Cost of Inaction: Why Energy Suppliers Can’t Afford to Ignore Increasing Customer Requests for Reporting

As sustainability and decarbonization demands intensify in the race to net-zero, energy suppliers, such as utilities and retailers, are at a crossroads. Ignoring these demands is not just about sidestepping regulatory penalties or walking back on goals; it could mean losing the trust of customers, investors, and other stakeholders or missing out on prospective customers. […]

Greening the Grid: Are new green electrons improving utilities’ residual mix?

As the race to net-zero accelerates, corporate entities with decarbonization targets are putting increasing pressure on utilities and energy suppliers to improve their supplier specific carbon emission factors and residual mix factors. This demand is driven by the need for better management of Scope 2 emissions (indirect emissions from purchased electricity), which is critical for […]

Renewable Energy Procurement: What are electricity customers seeking beyond clean energy?

In the evolving landscape of corporate sustainability, the integration of renewable energy has become a cornerstone of decarbonization strategies, for a company’s Scope 2 carbon footprint (indirect emissions from purchased electricity) and beyond. In the real estate sector, building owners are increasingly considering the energy impacts of their tenants and in some cases offering renewable […]

Data Challenges in Sustainability: The Path to Automation

Wherever you are on your sustainability journey, data is a critical component to guiding your path. To truly understand our environmental impact and craft effective decarbonization strategies, we must embrace a data-driven approach. While the significance of data in measuring carbon footprints, managing energy, and mitigating environmental impact is clear, the path to automation, though […]

Mandatory Climate Disclosures: Unpacking the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

In the realm of emerging sustainability regulations, United States (US) headquartered companies are often focused on North American regulations. Yet, in the ever-evolving landscape of climate accountability, it’s essential to cast our gaze across the Atlantic to the European Union (EU), where groundbreaking strides in environmental governance are transforming the global corporate climate disclosures paradigm. […]

Mandatory Climate Disclosures: Unpacking CA SB 253 and 261

Amidst the flurry of attention surrounding the recently adopted SEC climate disclosure rule, it’s important to step back and consider other recent climate regulations reshaping the corporate climate-related disclosure landscape. Notably, California’s (CA’s) Senate Bill (SB) 253 “Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act” and SB 261 “Greenhouse Gases: climate-related financial risk” have emerged as formidable pillars […]

The SEC’s Climate Vote: Implications for Corporate Carbon Accountability

The Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) voted today (March 6, 2024) to adopt a scaled-back version of its long-awaited proposed climate disclosure rule, formally titled “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” The vote comes two years after the proposed rule’s draft language was released in March of 2022. The final rule, which […]

Utilities: build electricity infrastructure, partner on data infrastructure

Appetite for clean energy is at an all-time high, with corporations and utilities both racing to meet gigawatt-scale demand to drive grid decarbonization, help companies reduce their carbon footprint, and make progress towards ambitious net zero goals. That appetite – alongside increasing disclosure requirements – is ramping up demand for more granular and auditable data […]

REC Management: When the Challenge is Allocation, Not Acquisition

The growth of markets and registries for Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) have enabled companies to book and claim large amounts of renewable energy (or simply the environmental attributes) in markets different than the ones they are operating in. For utilities and power producers, the creation and trading of RECs has created new challenges that requires […]

Everything You Need to Know About Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are a critical tool for corporations aiming to reduce their Scope 2 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. These certificates allow companies to match their electricity consumption with renewable energy generation (one REC represents one megawatt-hour (MWh) of clean energy). While RECs are not a substitute for direct energy reduction or other decarbonization […]

How to Reduce Scope 2 Emissions

After receiving and reviewing over 12,000 public comments by late fall 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is finally set to finalize its much-anticipated rules on climate-focused disclosures in April 2023. In addition, the European Union recently finalized its own Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which has even more stringent reporting requirements, including for companies […]

Iron Mountain’s Innovative 24/7 CFE Solution Lightens Its Data Center Customers’ Carbon Emissions Load, Serving 100+ U.S. Facilities

24/7 carbon-free energy (CFE) as a strategy is often looked at as near-impossible, or at least unaffordable–but Iron Mountain recently announced a landmark deal that is poised to challenge the skeptics. Iron Mountain’s innovative 24/7 CFE solution for data center customers–in partnership with RPD Energy, Direct Energy and Cleartrace–is providing a strong model, backed by […]