Companies working to increase clean electricity use in their upstream supply chains have lacked guidance on how to design clean electricity procurement programs with comparable criteria and metrics that meet their unique needs while supporting global supplier action. This Clean Energy Accounting Project (CEAP) Guidance for Supplier Clean Electricity Procurement (the guidance) was designed through a consensus-based process to improve the design and implementation of supplier clean electricity procurement programs that increase clean electricity use and reflect different clean electricity impacts.

This guidance addresses objectives for supply chain clean electricity procurement and includes best practices for defining, monitoring, reporting, verifying, and enforcing supply chain program metrics related to clean electricity procurement and the impact of suppliers’ clean electricity purchases and projects. It can be used by companies with different clean electricity objectives and at different stages of program development. The full guidance document is also accompanied by an easy-to-use Supplier Clean Electricity Procurement Checklist that identifies some of the key action items for companies developing supplier clean electricity programs.

In recent years, companies have begun working to reduce electricity-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their upstream supply chains and support supply chain practices that advance clean energy worldwide. However, companies implementing these actions struggle to reflect the carbon free attributes of supplier clean electricity use in their scope 3 footprints.

This Clean Energy Accounting Project (CEAP) Scope 3 GHG Accounting for Upstream Clean Electricity Use background report describes challenges with current accounting approaches for scope 3 for companies seeking to understand and address emissions arising from electricity use in their upstream supply chains. It outlines recent proposals for refinements and identifies areas where additional guidance is needed to better reflect emissions associated with upstream energy use.

Its objective is to facilitate open discussion and inform the development of best practice guidance for measuring emissions associated with clean electricity use in the upstream supply chain. Material in this report is intended for standard developers and their stakeholders working to improve value chain emissions accounting. Companies developing Supplier Clean Electricity Programs may also benefit from understanding current emissions accounting options for upstream electricity use and associated challenges.