The 2027 climate rules and your next PPA

Three sets of rules decide how a company’s electricity counts in its climate accounts: the SBTi standard it sets targets under, the GHG Protocol it measures Scope 2 against, and the CSRD it reports under. All three are moving at once, and in the same direction: away from a certificate bought anywhere, towards power that is produced near you, in the hours you use it. This is a plain-language summary of where they stand in October 2026 and what it means if you are planning a PPA in Denmark, Norway, Sweden or Finland. It is not legal advice, and the standards themselves are the reference.

SBTi: a new standard from 2027

The Science Based Targets initiative is the body most large companies use to validate a climate target. Its Corporate Net-Zero Standard Version 2.0 opens for target submissions in the first quarter of 2027. For a year companies can choose between the old version (1.3.1) and the new one; from 1 February 2028 the new one is the only option.

The change that matters for electricity is in Scope 2, the emissions from the power a company buys. Under Version 2.0 a large company must report, for every part of its business that uses a significant amount of electricity (10 GWh a year or more), what share of that electricity was matched with low-carbon power hour by hour. Matching every hour is not yet required, but the number has to be on the table, and a company that matches at least half of its hours can be recognised for it. The recognition thresholds rise over time:

The second change is geography. Scope 2 claims must come from plants in the region where the power is consumed, with one exception that is written for PPAs: a contract for a low-carbon project in an interconnected region still counts. For a Nordic buyer that means a Swedish wind farm can cover a Danish site, but a solar park in Spain, bought as a certificate, no longer does.

GHG Protocol: the same idea, still in consultation

The GHG Protocol is the rulebook behind almost every Scope 2 figure, including the ones SBTi and CSRD rely on. Its Scope 2 revision proposes the same two things: hourly matching instead of annual, and deliverability, meaning the power must physically be able to reach the place it is claimed for. The first consultation closed in January 2026 with over 400 responses; the second round runs through 2026, and a final text is expected after that. Nothing is final, but the direction has not changed since the first draft.

CSRD: delayed, and for fewer companies

The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is where the numbers get published. In December 2025 the European Parliament voted through the Omnibus changes: only companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than €450 million in turnover stay in the mandatory scope, listed SMEs are expected to leave it, and the second wave of companies now publishes its first report in 2028, covering the 2027 financial year, two years later than first planned.

For most Nordic mid-sized companies this removes the deadline but not the question. The large customers and banks that ask for a Scope 2 figure will keep asking, and a company that is still in scope reports on 2027. Power bought in 2027 is what ends up in that first report.

What this means for a PPA signed now

• Where the plant is now matters. A plant in your own price area, or in a connected one like the Nordic grid, is what counts under both SBTi and the proposed GHG rules. Check the price area before the price.
• Hours matter more than megawatt-hours. Two PPAs with the same annual volume can cover very different shares of your hours. Solar covers midday; wind covers more of the night and winter; a plant with a battery covers more of both. That share is the number the new reporting asks for.
• Timing. A PPA that starts delivering in 2027 is in the first CSRD reports and the first SBTi reports under Version 2.0. Deals take months to close, so the 2027 numbers are being decided now.
• Keep the GOs. The guarantees of origin must follow the power for the claim to hold. Make sure the agreement says so.

How to see your own number

Symbolon scores every match on how much of a buyer’s consumption falls in the hours a plant produces, the same hourly measure the new standards ask for. A buyer can upload its own metered hours and see the share each listing would cover before anyone talks price. See how Symbolon works for buyers, or book a 30-minute call and we will walk through your numbers.