Special Topics in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting for Electric Companies and Combined Utilities
GHGMI and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) launched this follow-up supplemental project, “Special Topics in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting for Electric Companies and Combined Utilities,” to better support participant understanding in EPRI’s series of webcasts hosted in 2024 and 2025. This technical report dives into key issues and special topics within GHG accounting, including the following:
- Electricity and natural gas transmission and distribution emissions
- Location- vs market-based approaches to scope 2 indirect emissions
- Inventory base year recalculation methods and approaches
- Insetting
EPRI generously provided funding for the work.
To download the full report for free, click HERE.
Abstract:
“As a consequence of significant and growing stakeholder and regulatory interest in “climate disclosure” and transparent accounting of corporate scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, there is a growing need for electric companies and combined electric and natural gas utilities to conduct technically grounded greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting and reporting.
To address this need, EPRI’s program on Energy, Environmental, and Climate Policy Analysis (P201) in 2021 completed a supplemental project focused on transferring in-depth technical knowledge and expertise related to scope 1 and 2 emission accounting and reporting. In 2023, EPRI launched a follow-up project focused on “Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting for Electric Companies and Combined Utilities” to provide technical insight into accounting and reporting for the 15 scope 3 emissions accounting categories. During the course of completing these two projects, EPRI identified a variety of key issues and special topics associated with GHG accounting for electric companies and combined utilities that require deeper understanding and investigation.
To address these topics more directly, EPRI launched a follow-up supplemental project in 2024 on Special Topics in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting for Electric Companies and Combined Utilities. This report is a compendium of briefing papers and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) developed to support a series of webcasts EPRI hosted in 2024 and 2025 as part of this supplemental project. This technical transfer project focused specifically on improving participants’ understanding of (i) accounting and reporting for electricity and natural gas transmission and distribution related emissions in scope 1, 2, and/or 3; (ii) location- and market-based approaches to GHG accounting for scope 2 indirect emissions; (iii) GHG inventory base year recalculation methods and approaches; and (iv) scope 3 insetting.”
Citation: Special Topics in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting for Electric Companies and Combined Utilities. EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2025. 3002031993.
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