Educational note. This article is for education only. It is not investment, tax, accounting, or legal advice, and it is not an offer of advisory services from FG Capital Advisors.
24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Procurement for Corporates
24/7 carbon-free energy procurement matches company electricity consumption to carbon-free generation in the same hour, usually within a deliverable market. It is a tighter goal than an annual renewable energy certificate claim. This article is for corporate energy and finance teams asked to adopt 24/7 targets, and to decide what to buy, measure and claim.
How is 24/7 CFE different from an annual certificate claim?
An annual I-REC(E) or similar claim matches attributes to consumption over a reporting year, subject to the scheme and the buyer's policy. A 24/7 carbon-free energy claim seeks a match in the same hour, usually where power can be delivered. The annual claim can still be valid on its own terms. It is not automatically a 24/7 claim.
The 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition has published technical criteria for partner companies. Those criteria apply tighter tests on time, market boundaries, resource type and, in some cases, resource age. They are a voluntary campaign standard. They interpret market-based instrument principles, but they are not a replacement for the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance. A board paper should keep those rule sets distinct.
EnergyTag's Granular Certificate Scheme Standard describes time-stamped certificates covering one hour or less. EnergyTag does not issue or sell those certificates. Buyers source them from recognized scheme operators that have verified interval data. If a seller says it is "the EnergyTag registry," that claim should be checked against EnergyTag's own materials.
What should a corporate 24/7 procurement policy decide first?
The policy should decide the matching time step, the market boundary, the resource types that count, how storage is treated, how unmatched hours are reported, and whether annual certificates will cover residual hours. It should also name the evidence standard, including the issuing scheme and the load-data source. Those choices belong in a policy, not a broker chat.
This is a procurement-design problem before it is a buying problem. A company that announces a 24/7 target without interval consumption data, a market definition, or a rule for residual hours will end up buying products it cannot evidence. Existing annual I-REC buying, described on I-REC procurement for corporates, can continue for residual or non-24/7 sites, but the two products should be specified separately.
| Policy choice | Why the board should decide it early | What goes wrong if it is left vague |
|---|---|---|
| Time step | Hourly matching is the usual 24/7 design point | Sellers deliver annual certificates and call them 24/7 |
| Market or deliverability boundary | The claim is supposed to reflect power that can reach the load | Hourly certificates arrive from a disconnected market |
| Resource list | Campaign criteria define which resources count as carbon-free | The company later excludes a resource it already contracted |
| Storage treatment | Charging and discharging can move attributes across hours | Double counting, or a modeled match that cannot be evidenced |
| Residual hours | Few companies match 100 percent of hours on day one | Unmatched hours are quietly treated as matched |
Does the GHG Protocol already require this kind of match?
No. The current Scope 2 Guidance still uses the 2015 market-based method. The Protocol has consulted on possible hourly matching and deliverability updates. Until those updates are adopted for a reporting year, 24/7 CFE is a voluntary target or campaign standard. Working papers should say so, and should still present the required location-based and market-based inventories.
Inventory mechanics for annual I-RECs are discussed in the Scope 2 market-based accounting article in this cluster and in GHG accounting support for companies and carbon project sponsors. Certificate background remains on renewable energy certificates. Do not fold a 24/7 product into a carbon credit purchase. Credit procurement stays on high-integrity carbon credit procurement.
What should buyers demand in a 24/7 contract?
Buyers should demand interval generation data, a named issuing scheme, a deliverability or market definition, a double-counting warranty against annual certificates for the same hours, and a reporting pack that shows matched and unmatched hours. They should also demand a clear residual-hour product, if residual hours will still be covered with annual certificates or grid factors.
This article is educational. It is not an offer to sell certificates, and it is not assurance over a 24/7 claim. Official criteria and standards, including the Coalition technical criteria and the EnergyTag standard, are the controlling texts.
Frequently asked questions
Is an annual I-REC purchase enough to claim 24/7 carbon-free energy?
No. An annual energy attribute certificate can support a market-based or RE100-style claim when those rules are met. A 24/7 claim seeks hourly matching, and usually a deliverable location, against carbon-free generation. The annual certificate does not automatically satisfy that tighter match, and it should not be relabelled as a 24/7 product.
Does EnergyTag sell 24/7 certificates to corporates?
No. EnergyTag publishes a granular certificate standard and a matching standard. It does not issue, sell, or broker certificates and it is not a buyer-facing registry. Corporates should buy from recognized scheme operators that can evidence hourly data, and should check any 'EnergyTag registry' claim against EnergyTag's own materials.
Has the GHG Protocol made hourly matching mandatory for Scope 2?
No. The current Scope 2 Guidance still follows the 2015 market-based method. Consultations on hourly matching and deliverability are planning signals, not adopted reporting rules, until the Protocol says they apply to a given year. A company may adopt 24/7 as a voluntary target without claiming that the Guidance has already changed.
Can the same hour be covered by a granular certificate and an annual I-REC?
Not for two different claims on the same attributes. If hourly attributes are issued and claimed, those megawatt hours should not also be issued or cancelled as a standard annual certificate for a second claim. Contracts should include a double-counting warranty and a residual-hour rule for any unmatched load.
What data does a company need before it announces a 24/7 target?
At minimum, interval consumption data for the sites in scope, a market or deliverability definition, a resource policy, a residual-hour rule, and a realistic view of which hours can be matched with available supply. Announcing the target first, and building the evidence later, is how 24/7 claims lose credibility with assurance teams.
Should 24/7 electricity products be bought in the same process as carbon credits?
No. 24/7 carbon-free energy is an electricity-attribute procurement and claims issue. Carbon credits are a separate instrument, used under a separate policy. Mixing them in one purchase process blurs two claims and usually produces a file that neither the energy team nor the carbon team can defend.
