Apple among companies objecting to proposed clean energy reporting changes [Update]

Update, April 25, 8:41 a.m. ET: Apple reached out to 9to5Mac with more information, which you can find below the original post.

A group of 66 companies and industry organizations, which includes Apple, has issued a joint statement opposing proposed changes to how companies account for clean energy use. Here are the details.

Companies say the proposed changes could backfire

A group of companies, including Amazon, Apple, BYD, eBay, Luxshare, and Salesforce, has issued a public statement against a key change in the rules governing corporate emissions reporting.

These changes are part of a revision process led by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), a widely used framework that defines how companies measure and report their emissions.

The update focuses on its Scope 2 guidance, which covers how companies account for the electricity they purchase and use.

Under the current rules, companies can match their electricity use with clean energy on an annual basis, typically using renewable energy certificates tied to power generated somewhere on the grid during the same year.

From the GHG Protocol proposal:

The proposed revisions recommended by the scope 2 Technical Working Group and approved by the Independent Standards Board to progress to public consultation seek to address the challenges with the status quo by requiring organizations using certificates to match them to consumption hourly, and from deliverable grid regions. This approach is consistent with how power markets settle supply and demand by hour within defined boundaries.

In other words, the proposed changes would require companies to match their electricity use with clean energy on an hourly basis, and from sources located within the same grid or regions that can physically deliver that power.

According to the GHGP, the idea behind the change is to improve the accuracy of emissions reporting by ensuring companies only claim clean energy that could realistically have powered their operations.

In their statement, the companies argue that these stricter requirements should remain optional rather than mandatory, allowing companies to adopt hourly and location-based matching voluntarily rather than being required to do so across the board.

The group argues that making the new requirements mandatory could undermine participation in voluntary clean energy programs and slow investment in new projects:

To drive critical climate progress, it’s imperative that we get this revision right. We strongly urge the GHGP to improve upon the existing guidance, but not stymie critical electricity decarbonization investments by mandating a change that fundamentally threatens participation in this voluntary market, which acts as the linchpin in decarbonization across nearly all sectors of the economy. The revised guidance must encourage more clean energy procurement and enable more impactful corporate action, not unintentionally discourage it.

To read the full public statement in opposition to the GHGP’s Scope 2 guidance revisions, follow this link.

Update, April 25, 8:41 a.m. ET: Apple tells 9to5Mac that its position on the issue reflects a broader concern that mandating hourly clean energy matching, as proposed in the GHGP revisions, could discourage investment in new renewable energy infrastructure because most grids lack enough clean energy today for that approach to work at scale.

For this reason, Apple argues that decarbonization efforts should focus on improving the overall grid rather than individual energy loads.

The company says 24/7 matching is a long-term goal and, as part of its current approach, it already works to shift electricity demand to times when cleaner energy is available, including by encouraging users to adjust when their devices consume power.

Apple adds that it already matches 100% of its global electricity use with renewables, with more than 85% coming from projects it helped bring online, and that stricter rules could push companies toward less impactful options like spot-market credits instead of long-term investments.

You can read more about Apple’s product use electricity strategy here.

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