Press release:

Let green gas count: 145+ global organisations sign open letter calling for clarity in GHG Protocol on the role of market instruments for renewable gases

London, United Kingdom, 10 February 2025 – Following the withdrawal of guidance on the use of biomethane certificates in the GHG Protocol, over 145 companies and trade associations from around the world have issued a public joint letter to the governance bodies of the GHG Protocol calling for the key role of market-based instruments to be recognised in the Protocol’s Scope 1 inventory. Their message to the GHG Protocol is simple: Let Green Gas Count. 

The GHG Protocol is the world’s leading standard for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions. Widely used by businesses, governments, and organisations globally, it provides a framework for tracking, reporting and reducing emissions. Its influence shapes corporate climate strategies and drives accountability in emission reduction efforts.  

Led by the World Biogas Association (WBA), the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA), the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas, Eurogas, and the European Biogas Association (EBA), the signatories represent economic operators globally responsible for the production, trading and consumption of renewable gaseous fuels and their derivatives. They underline the urgent need for a climate reporting framework that provides rules and certainty for investment in their sectors. 

Renewable gases and their derivatives are necessary to decarbonise industry, transport and buildings.
To facilitate their rapid deployment, a market-based approach is required to overcome any economic, technical and environmental barriers and inefficiencies arising from the requirement of a physical (local) connection.

As the Corporate Standard of the GHG Protocol is being revised, the signatories urge its governance bodies to include such an approach in the Scope 1 inventory, for both fuel and feedstock applications. 

Additionally, the signatories appeal to the governing bodies to issue an interim statement in the first half of 2025, confirming that robust market instruments for renewable gases will be recognised at the end of the Corporate Standard revision process to support the decarbonisation of industries. This would provide stakeholders with clarity and confidence, as the development of revised standards can take several years. 

Charlotte Morton OBE, Chief Executive of the World Biogas Association, emphasised the urgency of the issue:

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s lack of guidance on the use of market-based mechanisms such as biomethane certificates has been suppressing the sector and delaying urgent and meaningful action to reduce global GHG emissions. We cannot afford to wait years for new standards to be developed. The sector needs certainty now to scale up efforts to prevent potent methane emissions while transforming organic wastes into clean, reliable, green gas for heat, power and transport that displaces its fossil equivalents.”