EnergyTag Limited

• Comment: In preparing this draft, I disclose that AI assistance was used as follows: I did not use AI to prepare this - first, I have never used it; and second, I do not know how to! PhilMoody (talk) 09:41, 28 October 2026 (UTC)

EnergyTag Limited

EnergyTag
Type	Company limited by guarantee
ISIN	🆔
Founded 📆	2023
Founder 👔
Headquarters 🏙️	, 66 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NA , United Kingdom
Area served 🗺️	Global
Members
Number of employees	8 (2026)
🌐 Website	www.energytag.org
📇 Address
📞 telephone

EnergyTag Limited is an independent, grant-funded, non-profit that advocates policy reform clean electricity markets. It does not sell services, take sponsorships, or operate a membership model. It is registered in London with offices in Brussels. Staff are based across Belgium, Egypt, Spain, USA, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

EnergyTag is a key signatory of the UN 24/7 CFE Compact

, and plays a pivotal role in developing standards for hourly electricity tracking, using granular certificates to robustly and verifiably match hourly energy production to energy consumption in a way which prevents double counting.

Hourly matching using energy certificates is increasingly of interest globally, in such locations as China , India , the United States and Europe .

The EnergyTag standard is used by, among others:

• Quintrace - carbon intelligence platform
• Energinet - the Danish national transmission system operator for electricity and natural gas
• Google - US technology corporation

EnergyTag is funded by such notable clean energy investors as: Innoenergy , Breakthrough Energy Foundation and Tara Climate Foundation .

EnergyTag currently contributes to the formulation and ongoing development of other, formal standards, including:

• CEN/CENELEC (the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC)) standard EN16325 - as required of EU member states under the RES Directive
• GHG Protocol Scope 2 accounting rules (which measure indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling)
• SBTi - the Science-Based Target Initiative enables companies and financial institutions to understand how much and how quickly they must decarbonize to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, to enable them to tackle global warming
• ISO (International Standards Organisation)

The organisation was founded by Toby Ferenczi in 2020 as The EnergyTag Initiative Limited, and changed its name to EnergyTag Limited in 2023. Executive Director Killian Daly leads EnergyTag. He sits on the Board of Directors alongside Philip Moody (founder of the Association of Issuing Bodies); Andreas Gunst (partner of DLA Piper); and Eamon Ryan (High Level Advocate at the Climate and Clean Air Coalition).

History and rationale

The current energy certificate regimes were formed two decades ago, at a time when renewable energy formed a minor part of the energy blend in the vast majority of countries. They were developed to provide to consumers certainty concerning the nature of their supplied energy; and replaced proofs which permitted double-counting. Such double-counting was due to the possibility to use supplied energy and sometimes multiple certificates associated with a unit of energy. An example in the UK was that physical supply was used to prove supply to consumers, but so were Guarantees of Origin (as required by EU legislation), along with Levy Exemption Certificates and Renewable Obligation Certificates (as required under UK legislation). This meant that it was possible for the renewable nature of a single unit of energy to be sold to several different consumers.

This indicated a need for international standards, and in Europe it led to the formation of the Association of Issuing Bodies, the purpose of which was - and remains - to develop, use and promote a standardised system: the European Energy Certificate System. EECS structures and procedures ensure the reliable operation of international certificate schemes which satisfy the criteria of objectivity, non-discrimination, transparency and costs effectiveness, in order to facilitate the international exchange of guarantees of origin. AIB also put in place an inter-registry communications Hub to permit the transfer of certificates from one country to another.

Similarly, in the USA it led to several initiatives, with the California Center for Resource solutions taking a leading role .

While renewable energy remained a minor part of the energy blend, this regime wasn't too problematic. However, renewable energy now forms a substantial part of supplied energy in many countries, and this regime needs to be reassessed: is it still acceptable for energy certificates to be used as proof of the source of energy where producer and consumer are temporally different and/or geographically dispersed or electrically unconnected?

EnergyTag was formed to explore how energy - in particular electricity - certificate mechanisms might be improved, and to identify and promote ways in which shortcomings could best be mitigated.

Critics have traditionally showed a degree of skepticism about electricity certificates , seeing them as a way of 'greening up' energy. The supplied energy might originate from fossil fuel, but an energy certificate from a renewable energy producer could be used as proof of supply to consumers as "renewable source electricity". Particular criticism was leveled at electricity certificates, due to their use as proof of the source of electricity delivered by production facilities in other, unconnected, geographic regions; or where the certificate was issued for electricity produced at a different time or date to the actual delivered electricity. Common examples were where:

1. A certificate was associated with electricity produced in Iceland, but used as evidence of the source of electricity produced by a fossil fuel facility in, say, Austria; and
2. A certificate issued during a sunny summer's day was used as proof of the source of electricity produced by a nuclear reactor during a winter night.

A further criticism was that while a small proportion of the price a consumer paid for electricity went to the production facility to which the certificate was issued, the remainder of the payment could go to a fossil or nuclear production facility; and so the consumer was being misled that his payment for renewable energy was going to a renewable electricity producer.

These shortcomings were supplemented by other considerations: (1) traditional energy certificate mechanisms did not provide a means of rewarding storage facilities or demand management; and (2) current energy certificate mechanisms did not enable carbon emissions to be attributed to specific times and dates.

Such criticism was not too problematic in a world where energy certificates could be used as proof of energy from geographically dispersed and electrically unconnected producers and consumers; and where the time and date of production could be very different to the time and date of consumption.

However, the flaws in the current system could be overcome by moving to a new regime whereby an electricity certificate records the time and location of production of a unit of energy, and:

1. The certificate can only be used for proof of consumption during the same balancing period as that in which the associated unit of electricity was produced (known as temporal matching)
2. The certificate can only be used as proof of production of electricity produced and consumed in the same location, interconnected by a transmission or distribution system, and/or in the same bidding zone or electricity price area (the largest geographical area in an electricity market where power can be traded for a single uniform wholesale price without internal transmission capacity limits) (known as locational matching).

Perhaps not surprisingly, there is resistance from market parties whose business model and practices support the currently prevalent annual matching model.

EnergyTag

The formation of EnergyTag

EnergyTag was formed to act as a focal point to explore the value and viability of this potential new regime, to develop a global standard for such energy certificates, and to promote its use as a tool for the decarbonisation of energy supply in order to enable an electrified world powered by clean, affordable, and secure power which is available every hour, everywhere. If power purchases are to send better signals to storage facilities, flexible electricity consumers and round-the-clock renewable electricity production facilities:

• Global energy markets and carbon accounting need to be reformed, with transparent rules to incentivize 24/7 clean power
• Policy and standards need embody the new standards
• Suppliers, traders and consumers should be encouraged to buy and sell round-the-clock clean power. Global pilot projects are needed to develop practical experience, refine standards and policies, and educate the market.

EnergyTag developed a set of standards ro provide an open-source framework for hourly electricity tracking as an alternative to conventional annual energy tracking, in support of real-time clean energy markets and policy:

• Granular Certificate Scheme Standard (5 March, 2024). This details the criteria to be followed to run a robust GC Scheme. GC Issuers must be EnergyTag Accredited to be “EnergyTag Compliant”.

• Granular Certificate Matching Standard (3 March, 2024). This sets out the way in which the matching of GCs to consumption should ideally be performed. It is intended as information rather than being the basis of formal accreditation or matching, and should be combined with more detailed norms such as the Climate Group’s 24/7 CFE criteria, EU CBAM, or similar norms on hourly matching and deliverability.

• GC Registry API Specification (4 March, 2024). This was developed in collaboration with the data science contractor Future Energy Associates.

Global Standards

• Killian Daly, Executive Director, participates in the GHG Protocol's Scope 2 Technical Working Group during its multi-year review of Scope 2 accounting guidance, examining the proposed changes to Scope 2 market-based accounting.

• Alex Piper, Head of US Policy and Markets, sits on the Science Based Targets initiative's (SBTi) Expert Working Group, advising on the ongoing update to hourly matching.

• Shailesh Telang, Head of APAC, works alongside the ISO Technical Council Net Zero Working Group on its global net-zero standards.

Research and Advocacy

In addition to its standards work, EnergyTag publishes policy proposals, research reports, and briefings on clean electricity market design, and runs public events on the subject.

In 2026, EnergyTag proposed the "Electron Accelerator" , a mechanism for the United States under which data centers would pay into a fund for the hours in which they draw on grid power without matching it to new clean generation in the same time and place. The proceeds would be distributed through an auction to help close the cost difference between conventional and highly time-matched clean electricity supply for large energy users such as data centers.

EnergyTag has also proposed the in 2025, a parallel mechanism aimed at the European Union. Published alongside the European Commission's Clean Industrial Deal, the proposal is intended to provide long-term price stability for industrial energy buyers by using an auction-based mechanism to help close the cost gap for firmed power purchase agreements (PPAs) that combine renewable generation with flexible or firm clean technologies such as storage or geothermal.

EnergyTag also publishes regional research reports and market briefings, including analysis of granular electricity accounting in the Asia-Pacific region and of European power prices, and runs webinars with partner organizations on developments in clean power market design.

Tools

About Time : is a real-time dashboard that tracks granular accounting, round-the-clock carbon-free energy, policy markets globally.

Academic Research papers

The following academic research papers on aspects of Granular Accounting have all been performed using holistic capacity expansion power system modelling or similar, by academic, non-profit research or governmental institutions.

Academic Research

Year	Country	Study	Institution - Author	Takeaway - Core Finding	Source
2026	Denmark	Potentials and pitfalls around green claims of e-fuels: insights from an exploratory case study	Denmark Technical University - Caroline H Gebara, Maria Flora Andersen, Edoardo Simioni, Julien Lavalley and Anders Bjørn		IOP Science
2026	USA	System Effects of Carbon-Free Electricity Procurement: Regional Technology and Emissions Impacts of Voluntary Markets	EPRI - John Bistline, Geoffrey Blanford, Adam Diamant, Arin Kaye, Daniel Livengood, Qianru Zhu ,Francisco Ralston Fonseca		Arxiv
2026	USA	Impacts From Procuring Clean Electricity Under Different Inventory Accounting Methods	National Renewable Energy Lab - Colorado School of Mines, Pieter Gagnon, Maxwell Brown		SSRN
2025	Germany	Temporal matching as an accounting principle for green electricity claims	TU Munich - Hanna F. Scholta, Maximilian J. Blaschke	Annual certificate matching heavily distorts and hides seasonal day-night disparities. Proposes a mandatory two-phase policy transition (first to monthly, then to hourly) to prevent corporate greenwashing	Nature Communications
2025	Japan	Modelling 24/7 Carbon Free Electricity (CFE) in Japan	Transition Zero		Transition Zero
2025	Morocco	The impact of temporal hydrogen regulation on hydrogen exporters and their domestic energy transition	TU Berlin / Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research / University of Applied Sciences (OTH) Regensburg / Open Energy Transition" - Various		Nature
2025	India	Modelling 24/7 Carbon Free Electricity (CFE) in India	Transition Zero		Transition Zero
2025	Various EU	24/7 carbon-free electricity matching accelerates adoption of advanced clean energy technologies	TU Berlin / Princeton University / Google - Iegor Riepin, Tom Brown, Jenkins, Jesse D., Devon Swezey	Early corporate commitments to strict hourly matching provide the vital initial financial premiums required to commercialise next-generation clean tech like iron-air batteries and long-duration storage.	Joule 2025
2024	USA	The Influence of Demand-Side Data Granularity on the Efficacy of 24/7 Carbon-Free Electricity Procurement	Princeton University - Ricks, Wilson & Jenkins, Jesse D.		Zenodo
2024	Various	Does the purchase of voluntary renewable energy certificates lead to emission reductions? A review of studies quantifying the impact	Denmark Technical University / University of Edinburgh - Lissy Langer, Matthew Brander, Shannon M. Lloyd, Dogan Keles, H. Damon Matthews, Anders Bjørn		Science Direct
2024	Various	On the means, costs, and system-level impacts of 24/7 carbon-free energy procurement	TU Berlin - Iegor Riepin, Tom Brown	Transitions from annual tracking to hourly tracking drive localized grid decarbonization, reducing the overall system cost of achieving a 100% zero-carbon grid by matching actual consumption spikes.	Technical Report / Core modeling for European grids.
2024	Europe	Spatio-temporal load shifting for truly clean computing	TU Berlin (Department of Digital Transformation in Energy Systems) - Iegor Riepin, Tom Brown, Victor Zavala	Data center algorithms can dynamically migrate heavy computational workloads across geography and time to match real-time granular certificate availability, driving down structural operational emissions.	Advances in Applied Energy
2024	USA	System-level Impacts of Voluntary Carbon-free Electricity Procurement Strategies	Princeton University - Qingyu Xu, Wilson Ricks, Aneesha Manocha, Neha Patankar, Jesse D. Jenkins	Annual volumetric matching allows entities to report 100% "clean" energy while actually relying on fossil fuels during evening peaks. Hourly procurement eliminates this deficit and rewards true grid flexibility	Joule
2024	USA	The influence of additionality and time-matching requirements on the emissions from grid-connected hydrogen production	MIT - Michael A. Giovanniello, Anna N. Cybulsky, Tim Schittekatte, Dharik S. Mallapragada	Electrolysers relying on annual matching inadvertently drive up grid emissions by drawing power during dirty peak hours. Strict hourly tracking prevents this, forcing hydrogen production to co-locate with surplus renewables.	Nature Energy
2023	USA	Impacts of IRA’s 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit]	EPRI - EPRI, GTI Energy		EPRI
2023	USA - California	Minimizing emissions from grid-based hydrogen production in the United States	Princeton University - Wilson Ricks, Qingyu Xu, Jesse D. Jenkins		IOP Science
2022	Germany, Netherlands	Hourly versus annually matched renewable supply for electrolytic hydrogen	TU Berlin - Elisabeth Zeyen, Iegor Riepin, Tom Brown		Zenodo
2022	India and Indonesia	IEA - Advancing Decarbonisation through Clean Electricity Procurement	International Energy Agency		IEA
2022	Ireland, Denmark (zone DK1), Germany and the Netherlands	System-level impacts of 24/7 carbon-free electricity procurement in Europe]	TU Berlin - Iegor Riepin, Tom Brown		Zenodo
2022	USA - Western Interconnect	Electricity System and Market Impacts of Time-based Attribute Trading and 24/7 Carbon-free Electricity Procurement	Princeton University - Qingyu Xu, Jesse D. Jenkins		Zenodo
2022	Germany	Green hydrogen – How grey can it be?	Florence School of Regulation - Manuel Villavicencio, Johannes Brauer, Johannes Trüby		SSRN
2021	USA - California and PJM	System-level Impacts of 24/7 Carbon-free Electricity Procurement	Princeton University - Qingyu Xu, Wilson Ricks, Aneesha Manocha, Neha Patankar, Jesse D. Jenkins		Princeton

References

This article "EnergyTag" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:EnergyTag. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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