News from GGCS

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Reporting Green Gas Use – Summary of reporting rules

Posted: 16 April, 2025. Written by Jesse Scharf

The rules for reporting green gas use using RGGOs and other “market-based instruments” are always in development. The GGCS has published various guidance documents and news items which are summarised and linked to below. 

General Advice - Emissions Reporting - Certificates - Green Gas Certification Scheme

The GGCS does not determine the validity of emissions claims by gas consumers, which is the role of auditors, government regulators, or reporting schemes that consumers are subject to, such as the UK Environment Agency, SBTi, the GRI, or the CDP. Each consumer will have a different set of stakeholders and circumstances which will determine the type of claims that may be valid.

Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP)

• GGCS Guidance Document 15 - GGCS Green Gas Certificates and the GHG Protocol v1.5 – provides a summary of developments in the GHGP until September 2022 – access here - GGCS Guidance Documents - News - Green Gas Certification Scheme.
• In August 2023 GHGP published an interim statement on the use of biomethane certificates - GHGP Publishes Note On The Use Of Biomethane Certificates And Emissions Reporting - News - Green Gas Certification Scheme – which we believe equally applies to other green gases e.g. biopropane.
• The work for the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to publish guidance on use of RGGOs and other market based instruments is ongoing and there are details here - Latest Timeline For GHGP Revision Published - News - Green Gas Certification Scheme.
• The GGCS continues to push for the acceptance of RGGOs within a dual reporting approach to an organisations Scope 1 GHG inventory. You can see the industry efforts we are part of here - https://letgreengascount.org/ and the reply to the campaign from the GHG Protocol secretariat is attached below. 
• The GHGP have announced that the SBTi and the CDP will be “observing entities” in the ongoing development of their standards - see here

Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

• The SBTi’s published view – as detailed here SBTi FAQ On Market Based Reporting - News - Green Gas Certification Scheme – now refers to the ongoing GHGP process.
• They ran a call for evidence in 2023 - SBTi Opens A Call For Evidence On Use Of RGGOs - News - Green Gas Certification Scheme – to which GGCS submitted extensive documentation.
• They are currently (as of April 2025) running a consultation on their corporate Net Zero Standard Version 2.0 - CNZS V2.0_Consultation Draft with Narrative. This will be open until June 1st 2025 and GGCS will be submitting a response.

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) 

• The CDP appear to have continued to allow the use of RGGOs to report the use of biomethane in Scope 1 - CDP Guidance Continues To Allow Use Of Certificates - News - Green Gas Certification Scheme
   

UK Government Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)

• Our guidance is available here - GGCS Guidance Documents - News - Green Gas Certification Scheme - GGCS Guidance Document 12 - Environmental Reporting Guidelines in the UK v1.1

Further Information:

• GHGP Biomethane Certificate LetterResponse April 2025 (0.24 MB)