Understanding Renewable Energy Reporting 

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The corporate renewable energy procurement sector continues to expand rapidly, with 55 GW of capacity contracted in 2023, representing a 12% year-on-year increase. A key factor in stimulating this corporate demand is reporting and disclosure schemes holding businesses accountable. A confluence of voluntary and mandatory reporting schemes are reshaping the corporate landscape and being used by businesses to claim the emissions related to their corporate renewable energy purchases.

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Global companies now face increasing pressure to report on their environmental impact, requiring them to adapt to these shifting expectations and ensure they have the right data to back up their environmental claims. This blog will delve into what these renewable energy regulations are and provide insights on how businesses can ensure compliance with the right tools for clean electricity data collection, management, and analysis.

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Mandatory Renewable Energy Regulations

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In Europe: Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD, ESRS)

The EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires large companies, listed SMEs, and non-EU companies with significant EU activities to disclose comprehensive sustainability information. Starting with reporting for fiscal year 2024, these companies must report on climate-related risks and opportunities, greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy usage, and energy efficiency measures. The CSRD aims to improve the comparability and reliability of sustainability information across the EU.

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The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are a set of detailed reporting standards developed to operationalize the CSRD. They provide the technical framework and guidelines that companies must follow when preparing sustainability reports. Section E5 of the ESRS is where businesses must report on resource use and circular economy. When it comes to energy as a resource, they will need to provide detailed, data backed information on their: 

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• Energy mix
• Renewable energy consumed
• Assets backing up renewable energy claims (EACs)
• Location-based and market-based Scope 2 emissions.

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In the US: SEC Climate-Related Disclosure

The SEC’s Climate-Related Disclosure rule mandates climate reporting for public companies, aligning with broader renewable energy laws and regulation trends. A Trump administration will likely prioritize deregulation, which may result in the rollback of existing climate-related policies and potentially weaken the enforcement of mandatory climate disclosures for corporations. While federal requirements might decrease, there is still the strong possibility that some states and private investors will advocate for greater transparency regarding climate-related risks. This could lead to a fragmented approach to climate reporting, with varying standards and expectations across different jurisdictions and sectors.

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There are already some non-national bodies moving this way, like the NYC Local Law 97, which places carbon caps on most buildings larger than 25,000 square feet—covering nearly 50,000 properties across NYC. California has also enacted pioneering climate disclosure laws aimed at enhancing corporate transparency regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-related financial risks. These laws, notably Senate Bills 253 and 261, establish comprehensive reporting requirements for large companies operating within the state.

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Voluntary Schemes

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CDP

CDP is a global non-profit that encourages companies to disclose their environmental impacts. Companies participating in CDP are required to report on their renewable energy consumption, procurement strategies, and generation capacity. They may also be asked to disclose climate-related risks and opportunities.

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RE100

RE100 is a collaborative initiative of influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. Companies participating in RE100 must report on their progress towards their 100% renewable electricity goal, including their renewable energy consumption, procurement strategies, and generation capacity. To streamline the process, these organizations can leverage their CDP reports.

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24/7 CFE Coalition

The 24/7 Carbon Free Energy Coalition, a new initiative launching in 2025, is set to push the boundaries of corporate climate action. The coalition will require participating companies to report on their hourly energy consumption and carbon intensity, demanding a more granular level of data and analysis. This ambitious initiative, set up by the Climate Group and similar in spirit to RE100, aims to drive the transition to a truly decarbonized electricity grid. By focusing on 24/7 carbon-free energy, the coalition encourages companies to align their energy procurement with renewable energy generation. Its founding partners are Google, AstraZeneca, Iron Mountain Data Centers, Shree Cement, AirTrunk, and Vodafone (UK).

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SBTi

Science-based Targets Initiative, or SBTi for short, is a global initiative that enables businesses to set science-based emissions reduction targets. Much like complying with global renewable energy laws and regulations, SBTi participants must report on their greenhouse gas emissions and set science-based targets for reducing their emissions, which may include renewable energy targets and strategies.

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The GHG Protocol Revision

Underpinning all of the above mandatory and voluntary reporting schemes is The GHG Protocol. The protocol serves as a foundational framework for such reporting, and is undergoing a review to ensure its continued relevance. Our CPO, Simone Accornero, will be taking part in the revision process as a member of the Scope 2 technical working group. You can find out more about what this revision will entail in our dedicated blog.

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Any revisions of  Scope 2 reporting will impact reporting schemes like RE100, CDP, ESRS, and SEC Climate-Related Disclosure. Organizations will need to adapt their emissions reporting practices to align with the updated standards, ensuring accurate and transparent disclosures.  

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How to Prepare for Corporate Renewable Energy Reporting

To meet the demands of increasingly stringent renewable energy reporting standards, companies must maintain a robust data infrastructure. The time for generic renewable energy claims is over, clean energy claims verification has already begun and will continue to require answering detailed questions to assess companies’ procurement strategies and environmental impact. This means that reporting companies need to track detailed information on their renewable energy contracts and certificates. This can include data on technology, location, generation time and commissioning date of the specific renewable energy assets they procure from.

How Flexidao Can Help

Flexidao’s platform helps businesses stay ahead of the curve of reporting by providing robust data management and evidence-based tracking. We provide:

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Streamlined Data Collection and Processing

Aggregating and standardizing all of the electricity data needed for reporting is a mammoth task for regional and global energy teams, and is still often completed on inefficient spreadsheets. Depending on company size, it can take a significant proportion of up to three full-time employees time to trawl through emails, open PDFs and CSVs, standardize data which is often in different languages, and chase suppliers for missing information.

Investing in an electricity data management solution like ours is key to effectively tackling this task. Clients share the raw information with us in whatever format they receive it, and our automation tools do the rest- consolidating and standardizing this data to significantly reduce the team's manual workload.

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Improved portfolio view for the best possible oversight and efficient reporting

As mandatory reporting brings new demands for transparency, being able to evaluate your data and ensure you are receiving what you expect from your clean electricity contracts is crucial. It is important your global or regional portfolio managers identify when you are missing energy attribute certificates (EACs) or other proof of renewable energy purchases as soon as possible, so you can fill in these gaps before reporting deadlines to disclosure schemes.

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Flexidao simplifies compliance by providing a comprehensive view of your Energy Attribute Certificates (EAC) balances, certificate status, and transactions. Our platform is designed to organize all of the data for very large global electricity portfolios in one place. Our filters allow you to have the bigger picture and then dive deep into the data for specific countries or regions so you have the visibility to determine exactly what you need. 

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Automate the Allocation of Your Certificates to Optimize Sustainability Results

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It is within your company's interests to have the best sustainability results for either your internal reporting on clean electricity consumption or public disclosure schemes. This can be achieved by ensuring your EACs are allocated across your countries of operation in a way that gives the lowest possible market-based emission score while still following your internal targets and strategy. 

However, manually allocating your EACs to achieve this using spreadsheets takes up a lot of time and is complex to carry out. Our tool automatically calculates and assigns EACs according to RE100, CDP, or your internal criteria. This means that without having to do any complicated calculations, you can ensure you are reporting your best possible sustainability results. Once you have assigned certificates to consumption, you can download a CSV with all the assignations and links to the proofs of each, which significantly reduces the amount of time auditors need to spend in the auditing process.

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Looking to optimize your sustainability reporting process? Speak to our Experts and find out how Flexidao can simplify your EAC allocation.

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