Accounting for Standard Delivery Renewable Energy

Inconsistent approaches to accounting for Standard Delivery Renewable Energy—renewable energy that is not actively procured—have led to confusion for companies actively managing electricity and greenhouse gas emissions targets. In 2020, CRS facilitated a series of virtual workshops through its Clean Energy Accounting Project (CEAP) to identify areas of consensus and quantification best practices. This report is an outcome of that discussion and is intended to advance credible and consistent renewable energy accounting and claims.

The report details the strong consensus that consumers can claim to be using Standard Delivery Renewable Energy when renewable energy attributes and other requirements for credible renewable electricity usage claims are substantiated using credible data. It proposes a framework of credibility criteria and quality considerations that may be used to evaluate data sources available to customers, and explains how to integrate this information into renewable energy reporting. The report also provides guidance on how to report active procurement and Standard Delivery Renewable Energy together when calculating renewable energy use. Recommendations are offered for the next steps necessary to fully and accurately account for renewable energy use.