Navigating the Nuances of Corporate Renewable Electricity Procurement

The report finds that many major companies rely on low-impact Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) that do not contribute to additional renewable capacity. While some are transitioning to Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) or 24/7 hourly matching, global initiatives like the GHG Protocol and RE100 are criticized for providing insufficient incentives for these higher-quality strategies. Additionally, supply chain renewable electricity remains a significant gap for most assessed companies.

• Many large companies, specifically H&M Group, Inditex, and Samsung Electronics, use standalone Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) which are unlikely to increase renewable energy capacity and often lack a physical link between the generation and consumption grids.
• Hourly matching of electricity generation and consumption, pioneered by Google and Microsoft, is more effective than annual matching because it reduces reliance on fossil fuel generation and encourages investment in new renewable energy and storage technologies.
• Major frameworks including the GHG protocol, RE100, and SBTi do not sufficiently differentiate between high-impact strategies and low-quality procurement methods, creating barriers to the adoption of best practices like hourly matching.
• Renewable electricity in the supply chain is a general blind spot for the assessed companies; while Apple and H&M Group have 100% targets, these are limited by caveats regarding output allocation and a lack of commitment to electrify manufacturing.

APA

NewClimate Institute (2024). Navigating the Nuances of Corporate Renewable Electricity Procurement. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/navigating-the-nuances-of-corporate-renewable-electricity-procurement

Chicago

NewClimate Institute. Navigating the Nuances of Corporate Renewable Electricity Procurement. 2024. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/navigating-the-nuances-of-corporate-renewable-electricity-procurement.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=NewClimate Institute |title=Navigating the Nuances of Corporate Renewable Electricity Procurement |date=16 January 2024 |url=http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/navigating-the-nuances-of-corporate-renewable-electricity-procurement |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newclimateinstitute2024navigating, author = {{NewClimate Institute}}, title = {{Navigating the Nuances of Corporate Renewable Electricity Procurement}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/navigating-the-nuances-of-corporate-renewable-electricity-procurement}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }