Scope 3 GHG Accounting for Electric Companies and Combined Utilities: A Compendium of Technical Briefs

GHGMI and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) hosted a series of webinars and published accompanying technical briefing papers focused on GHG accounting of scope 3 emission sources for a group of EPRI-member electric power companies over 2023-2024. Funding for the work was generously provided by EPRI.

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Abstract:

“Electric companies emit greenhouse gases (GHG) from a wide range of activities. These emissions often are characterized for accounting and reporting purposes as direct or indirect emissions. Direct emissions, referred to as “scope 1,” result from company activities that physically release (or remove) GHGs to (or from) the atmosphere, such as burning natural gas to generate electric power. Indirect emissions can be either scope 2 or scope 3, and result from other indirect activities that are essential to a company’s operations, such as fuel transport to a power generation facility. The World Resources Institute (WRI) Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard defines 15 categories of reporting scope 3 emissions, separated into upstream and downstream designations. In the standard, upstream refers to the GHG emissions from purchased or acquired goods and services and downstream refers to the GHG emissions from the sale of goods and services by reporting entity.

This report is a compendium of briefing papers and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) developed to support a series of webcasts EPRI hosted in 2023 and 2024 as part of an EPRI supplemental project on Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting for Electric Companies and Combined Utilities. This technical information transfer project was designed to improve participants’ understanding of how to account and report scope 3 indirect GHG emissions; determine relevant scope 3 categories and methods to calculate them; familiarize participants with existing GHG accounting protocols and scopes; and help company staff and managers learn to communicate more clearly and effectively about their company’s GHG emissions.”

Citation: Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting for Electric Companies and Combined Utilities: A Compendium of Technical Briefing Papers and Frequently Asked Questions. EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2024. 3002029198.