Introduction
As voluntary clean electricity markets continue to evolve, buyers are increasingly focused on maximizing the impact of their procurement decisions. Yet, without clear consensus on what constitutes impactful procurement, buyers, recognition programs, and standards setters face uncertainty, fragmentation, and barriers to meaningful investment.
To address this, the Clean Energy Accounting Project (CEAP) recently released new guidance outlining 14 key indicators of impactful procurement. These indicators provide a flexible, ex ante framework for voluntary buyers aiming to increase their individual impact on clean electricity supply.
Why Do Indicators Matter?
While all voluntary clean energy procurement is meaningful and plays a critical role in the clean energy transition by driving demand beyond regulatory requirements, these indicators help buyers go a step further and increase the potential impact of their individual purchases.
The indicators create a common language of impact. They support voluntary buyers in designing procurement strategies that:
- Provide direct financial signals for new projects
- Sustain existing renewable generation at risk of retirement
- Support market innovation, emerging technologies, and grid integration
The 14 Indicators at a Glance
| Category | Indicator | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Impact on New Clean Energy | Long-Term Contracts | Commitments of 10+ years that reduce risk and enable project financing. |
| Early Commitments | Agreements signed before commercial operation, helping to de-risk development. | |
| Significant Financial Contribution | Procurement covers a material share of project revenue or fills revenue gaps. | |
| Direct Investment | Equity, tax equity, or debt capital accompanying procurement. | |
| Impact on Existing Clean Energy | Preventing Closure | Procurement enables investment to prevent project closure. |
| Repowering Support | Procurement enables equipment upgrades to extend project life or increase capacity. | |
| Increased Indirect Impact | Innovative Transactions | New procurement structures that improve market efficiency and inspire replication. |
| Increased Market Access | Structures that expand procurement access to new buyer types or sizes. | |
| New Market Infrastructure | Investments in tracking, certification, and transparency-enhancing tools. | |
| Dispatchable Renewables & Paired Storage | Procurement that supports flexible, clean capacity for reliability. | |
| Collaborative Siting | Partnerships with communities or governments to streamline siting and permitting. | |
| Emerging Technology Support | Procurement of technologies not yet widely deployed, supporting commercialization. | |
| Transmission Expansion | Direct investments in grid infrastructure that enable new clean energy projects. | |
| Time-Matched Procurement | Aligning purchases with hourly load to sharpen signals for new, clean supply. |
Putting Indicators into Practice
These indicators are designed to be practical signals of impact rather than prescriptive metrics. They enable:
- Voluntary buyers to assess and improve the impact of their procurement strategies
- Recognition programs and reporting standards to recognize procurement that drives new clean energy
- Developers and financial partners to structure deals that maximize both environmental and economic benefits
The indicators are independent, and modular buyers can adopt just a few that align with their goals without needing to meet all 14. They are not prerequisites for impact but rather tools to support more intentional, informed procurement decisions across buyer types, regions, and purchasing methods.
Conclusion
By aligning procurement decisions with these indicators, voluntary buyers can move beyond generalized assumptions toward credible and effective strategies to increase their individual impact on new clean energy supply.
Accelerating the transition to a clean energy future depends on both greater overall voluntary demand and individual procurements that more directly influence clean electricity supply. This requires collective clarity on which procurement characteristics are most likely to drive deployment, supported by a flexible framework that accommodates diverse buyer strategies and circumstances. CRS will continue supporting buyers and market stakeholders in applying these insights to build a more resilient, equitable, and decarbonized electricity system.
For more details, read the full report.