The landscape of frameworks for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures is evolving rapidly. Following the recent adoption of regulated ESG-related disclosure requirements in the European Union, the state of California (USA), and the United Kingdom, ESG disclosures are also pivoting quickly from voluntary to required for many global corporations.
To clarify how companies can use Peace Renewable Energy Credits (P-RECs) to make verifiable claims as part of their reporting for various related voluntary and regulatory disclosure frameworks, the nonprofit Energy Peace Partners (EPP) collaborated this fall with Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). P-RECs are a social impact label affixed to qualifying high impact renewable energy projects under the International Renewable Energy Certificate (I-REC) Standard. The key overall finding from this research is that P-RECs represent a useful and impactful type of verifiable claim that is highly applicable to various ESG disclosure frameworks. This finding enhances the existing P-REC value proposition for companies that want to maximize the positive environmental and social impact from their renewable energy strategy.
For corporate renewable energy buyers and climate advisory firms, the resulting final report details guidance to companies from two perspectives:
Reporting company-based guidance: The report provides a P-REC reporting toolkit that includes P-REC disclosure case studies for four industries: technology, chemical, food and beverage, and the financial services. These case studies walk through how and where to report P-RECs in the ESG disclosures that are likely the most relevant to that industry, including the specific sections of these disclosures where P-RECs are most applicable, along with sample reporting language that companies can use.
ESG disclosure-based guidance: The report also reviews the landscape of regulated and voluntary ESG disclosure frameworks and clarifies the places within each framework where any company using that framework can report P-RECs.
As a new industry resource, this timely report offers guidance on the applicability of P-RECs across the fast-evolving regulated and voluntary ESG disclosures landscape. Corporate renewable energy buyers and climate advisory firms can use this report to better understand where exactly they can report P-RECs across these different disclosure frameworks and get started using the sample language.
EPP expects that this resource will enhance the value proposition and address practical administrative barriers for companies interested in procuring P-RECs. EPP also used insights from this research about the applicability of P-RECs to different regulated ESG disclosure frameworks to inform EPP’s submission to SBTi’s Call for Evidence on the effectiveness of Environmental Attribute Certificates in Climate Targets.
Please contact EPP with any questions at info@energypeacepartners.com.