June 1, 2023: GHG Protocol is currently in the process of updating its suite of corporate standards and guidance. These updates are intended to ensure GHG Protocol standards and guidance are effective in providing a rigorous and credible accounting foundation for businesses to measure, plan and track progress toward science-based and net-zero targets. Below are some frequently asked questions about this process. These questions are also answered on GHG Protocol’s standards update process webpage.  

How can I receive updates about GHG Protocol’s work? 

If you are interested in receiving email updates from GHG Protocol, please subscribe via this form. We also encourage you to engage with GHG Protocol on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

What are the results of the surveys GHG Protocol fielded November 2022-March 2023?  

Between November 2022 and March 2023, the public was invited to provide feedback on the current suite of corporate standards and guidance and provide suggestions for either maintaining current practices or developing updates and new additional guidance. This feedback covers GHG Protocol’s Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance, Scope 3 Standard, and supporting documents, and will inform the scope of the updates that GHG Protocol makes to its standards and guidance. 

Written summaries of the survey responses will be made publicly available on GHG Protocol’s survey webpage. GHG Protocol will also share these summaries via email to subscribers. In addition, GHG Protocol will be hosting webinars highlighting the topline findings from each survey. All interested stakeholders are welcome to attend these webinars, and invitations to register for these webinar events will be sent via email to subscribers.  

When will GHG Protocol be hosting similar sessions to the Scope 2 webinar for the other surveys (Corporate Standard, Scope 3, and market-based accounting)? 

GHG Protocol has not yet announced the dates for future events but, in the coming months, GHG Protocol will be hosting webinars summarizing topline findings from the surveys related to the Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, Scope 3 Standard, and market-based accounting. Upcoming events will be announced via email and on GHG Protocol’s event page. 

How will decisions be made for GHG Protocol’s standards update process? 

World Resources Institute and World Business Center for Sustainable Development, the co-conveners of GHG Protocol, are in the process of restructuring GHG Protocol’s governance to ensure transparency and accountability in the updates process, guided by the recent global stakeholder survey, consultations and learnings from the current governance process in the Land Sector and Removals guidance. The restructured governance is expected to comprise new governing bodies including a steering committee and independent standards board that will provide overall direction and oversight to the updates in the standards.  

In addition, we plan to have a technical working group specific to each standard update workstream. We aim to have the initial set-up of these bodies completed by Fall 2023. Additional standard-specific bodies, which may include Review Groups and Pilot Testing Groups, will be established at a later date. 

Where in the standards update process is GHG Protocol right now and what is the timeline for the standards update process? 

The GHG Protocol secretariat is now in the process of reviewing and analyzing the survey submissions and proposals and developing specific workplans for each survey workstream (Corporate Standard, Scope 2, Scope 3, and market-based accounting). The GHG Protocol has a two-year timeline for its standards update process. The official start of this process will be informed by planned restructuring of GHG Protocol’s governance. In sync with the initial governance set-up, GHG Protocol expects to release drafts of revised text in 2024 and final standards/guidance in 2025. Please note this timeline is subject to change.

More specific timelines will be shared in the coming months via email to subscribers and will be posted on GHG Protocol’s standards update process webpage.  

When will updates to GHG Protocol standards and guidance go into effect?  

Once GHG Protocol releases revised standards and/or guidance, those resources will be immediately available for public use on GHG Protocol’s webpage. Whether to have a transition period for adopting the revised standards, and if so, the length of that period, will be decided by GHG Protocol’s planned governance bodies over the coming months. GHG disclosure and target-setting programs may also address this issue as they update their program rules. Until Greenhouse Gas Protocol communicates otherwise, the existing GHG Protocol standards and guidance stay in effect.