Corporate climate frameworks and US tax credit policy are running on two very different clocks.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), which corporate buyers rely on to account for Scope 2 emissions reductions, now expects to publish its final framework in Q4 2028 — five and a half years after announcing it would revise its standard. Meanwhile, US developers need to place safe-harbored projects in service by December 31, 2030 to receive tax credits.
Buyers want clarity before committing to a contract that may run a decade or longer, but time is not on anyone's side. A PPA is typically signed early in development, and is often necessary to secure project financing. Buyers who wait for GHGP's final guidance to re-orient their strategy and solicit the market will likely not finalize a contract until the H2 2029 at the earliest, leaving very little time for those projects to reach operation.
In the meantime, the industry is looking for clarity wherever it can find it. The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) finalized its own new guidance in June, and it and GHGP have publicly committed to the "interoperability" of their final standards. This makes SBTi V2.0 the most useful proxy in understanding how broader corporate frameworks may evolve. More details on the SBTi guidance, including the February 1, 2027 legacy date, are available here.
Buyers don't have to choose between acting quickly and acting carefully. The future of electricity prices is highly uncertain, and securing even a portion of volume now can limit the risk of needing to buy everything down the road — at potentially much higher prices.
Our article "Taking the Leap" explores:
- The complex timelines at play as GHGP and SBTi revise their guidance
- Why waiting too long to sign a PPA can strand safe-harbored projects, while potentially causing buyers to miss out on tax-credit-era deal economics
- Why uncertainty around load growth and power prices supports securing some long-term pricing now
- How LevelTen's procurement fast lanes (bilateral PPAs, Easy VPPA, and LEAP) can bring buyers to a signed PPA with speed and certainty
Read the full article for free, including more detail on procurement fast lanes, by filling out the form below.
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