The global power grid emissions data required to take an impact-based approach to carbon accounting and decision making are now freely available for smaller organizations, ensuring that all institutions that can benefit from the data can access it.
BOSTON and OAKLAND, Calif., March 6, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- REsurety, Inc., the leading provider of software, services, and marketplace solutions empowering the future of energy, and WattTime, an environmental tech nonprofit working to multiply positive climate impact, have today announced the launch of the Grid Emissions Data platform — a free and open resource which provides high-quality marginal emissions data covering the entire globe to qualified end users worldwide to enable an impact-based approach to carbon accounting and decision making.
Marginal emissions data, which measure the carbon impact of consuming or generating electricity at a given time and location, are a critical tool for maximizing and accurately measuring real-world carbon impacts. For example, marginal emissions data enable a strategic approach to clean energy procurement like the one McKinsey & Company recently found to be most effective at reducing emissions. But high-quality data of this nature can sometimes be difficult to access for companies without the budget to pay for it.
"...using data like these to optimize electricity procurement, load shifting, and siting decisions at scale is the only climate solution we've seen with the potential to rapidly reduce over 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year." —Gavin McCormick, WattTimePost this
The Grid Emissions Data platform was made to serve small corporate buyers of clean energy and industry researchers with freely accessible, high-quality, accurate, and granular marginal emission data via a single, third-party website and database.
"More and more organizations are committed to accurately reporting the real-world impacts of their clean energy procurements," said Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety. "The Grid Emissions Data platform will support and accelerate that trend by offering the highest quality data available, free from the constraints of a paywall."
The marginal emissions data provided on the new platform are consistent with the operating margin data guidelines established in the Guidelines for Quantifying GHG Reductions from Grid-Connected Electricity Projects — part of the The GHG Protocol for Project Accounting published by World Resources Institute (WRI) and The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). In addition, the platform directly supports the kind of approach espoused by the Emissions First Partnership; the group of corporate and tech leaders has called for a shift in corporate carbon accounting standards away from megawatt-hour matching and toward an emissions impact-centric system that maximizes greenhouse gas reductions.
"Slashing emissions is more urgent than ever. And using data like these to optimize electricity procurement, load shifting, and siting decisions at scale is the only climate solution we've seen with the potential to rapidly reduce over 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year," said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. "That's why we knew — as two mission-driven organizations — that giving away these free data was just the right thing to do."
Designed, developed, and maintained jointly by WattTime and REsurety, the Grid Emissions Data platform offers hourly marginal emissions data on a global scale from the prior three complete years in CSV download format. Users can retrieve data by node, region, or sub-region, where available, and data will be updated at least annually.
Qualified end users — including most smaller buyers of clean energy, auditors, academics, and regulators — can download their selected data at GridEmissionsData.io after completing a simple, free data-use agreement.
For additional questions, email contact@gridemissionsdata.io.
About REsurety
REsurety is the leading provider of data, software, and services to the clean energy economy, and operates the only transactional marketplace for clean power. Trusted by the industry's leading buyers, sellers, and investors, REsurety's proprietary data models, powerful technology platforms, and deep domain expertise empower confident, impactful decision-making and efficient, effective portfolio management. For more information, visit www.resurety.com or follow REsurety on LinkedIn.
About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime 'bends the curve' of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and planet. Learn more at www.WattTime.org.
Media Contact
Nikki Arnone, Inflection Point Agency for REsurety and WattTime, 1 (719) 357-8344, nikki@inflectionpointagency.com, gridemissionsdata.io
SOURCE REsurety and WattTime
The nonprofit is working to eliminate the world's emissions data divide — and the inequitable approach to the energy transition — with the first-ever electricity marginal emissions dataset covering nearly every country and region, which can be leveraged to save the world more than 9 gigatons of carbon emissions annually.
OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Environmental tech nonprofit WattTime has announced the completion of the first-ever hourly electricity marginal emissions dataset for nearly every country worldwide. Today's data release expands the availability of hourly marginal emissions data to 210 countries and territories, covering nearly 100% of global electricity consumption on the world's power grids. Previously, only around 40 countries had such data. WattTime developed this dataset to enable more strategic climate action and emissions reductions decisions, particularly in regions that never had access to such granular and actionable data before.
These data allow users to estimate emissions based on when and where electricity is used, as well as the avoided emissions that can be achieved by investing in renewable energy projects in specific locations. Marginal emissions data empower corporate leaders, policymakers, and consumers to make decisions that reduce or avoid the most emissions.
Historically, a lack of accurate and actionable marginal emissions data has hindered climate action in much of the Global South and other developing countries. This data divide has slowed meaningful climate progress and clean energy deployments in the regions where it is needed most.
"Climate progress is needed worldwide, but all too often, the most cutting-edge, data-driven solutions are only made available in a select few wealthy countries," said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. "But we will never beat climate change if emissions data experts keep ignoring the rest of the world — because frankly, that's where most emissions are. We're beyond excited to be leaping forward in our mission to give anyone, anywhere the tools needed to slash the emissions. Because we're all in this together."
"At Meta, we believe that using more accurate emissions data drives more informed and impactful climate action. The emissions from a megawatt-hour of electricity can vary widely by time and location, both within and across grids. WattTime's vastly expanded dataset will help all grid participants more accurately assess their carbon footprints and make more targeted climate investments to accelerate grid decarbonization globally," said Brent Morgan, Principal, Energy Strategy at Meta.
"Amazon is committed to making the global power grid carbon-free and more reliable for everyone. We recognize that carbon emissions from electricity generation vary by time and location, making accurate measurement complex. With the right data, we can now better understand the emissions impact of our energy consumption and clean energy purchases. The expanded data from WattTime offers crucial insights to target energy projects where they can have the greatest impact, helping to decarbonize the grid and make it more reliable for all," said Jake Oster, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Director of Energy, Environment and Sustainability Policy.
Marginal emissions data have many uses, but three use cases in particular have dramatic potential to reduce global emissions. Using data from the U.S. Department of Energy, the United Nations, and its own work, WattTime estimates that full global adoption of these three techniques alone could save the world over 9 gigatons of carbon emissions annually:
Also referred to as "emissionality," this approach uses granular marginal emissions data to help renewable energy buyers target the dirtiest hours and locations on the grid. This approach allows buyers to maximize the climate benefit of their investments by displacing more carbon-intensive power.
WattTime has worked with partners like Apple, Boston University, Clearloop, General Motors (GM) Meta, Nucor, Salesforce, and The Nature Conservancy to enable emissionality-based procurement.
"You can't fix what you can't measure. At Salesforce, we use marginal emissions data to guide our procurement of renewables in locations around the world that can maximize emissions impact," said Megan Lorenzen, Director, Climate & Energy, Salesforce. "The expansion of this dataset will accelerate that work and help close the global data divide — a critical step in reaching our collective climate goals."
"In addition to speeding global emissions reductions, building more renewables in lower-income countries can provide concrete benefits for promoting peace in fragile regions. We at Energy Peace Partners know firsthand the power of expanding clean energy access among vulnerable populations. This dataset — if used well — will help corporate buyers better optimize their procurement and send stronger demand signals for clean energy projects that deliver decarbonization and social benefits together," said Doug Miller, director of market development at Energy Peace Partners.
Now that an emissionality-based approach is possible on a global scale, cloud computing company and WattTime partner PagerDuty has provided WattTime with a grant to help raise awareness of the solution among decision-makers in Global South countries.
Marginal emissions data can be used to power automated emissions reduction (AER) technology and other features that allow for the scheduling of flexible energy demand to reduce electricity-related emissions. Internet-connected devices, like smart thermostats and EV chargers, can use the data to forecast when energy consumption will be cleanest and shift power use to align with those times.
WattTime has worked with companies like Amazon, Apple, BMW, Microsoft, and Toyota to deploy load-shifting solutions driven by marginal emissions data.
WattTime's marginal emissions data can also be used to better understand the electricity-related emissions of a company's suppliers, allowing them to make better supplier decisions that contribute to decreases in Scope 3 emissions. WattTime is advancing this use case rapidly in its work with Climate TRACE — a global nonprofit coalition that provides open access to source-level emissions data for every sector and country in the world.
The full dataset is now available to WattTime partners through licensing agreements. A free and simplified version of the dataset suited for many emissions reduction use cases can be accessed by anyone via the WattTime API.
To learn more about opportunities to support or partner with WattTime, contact the team here.
About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime 'bends the curve' of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and planet. Learn more at www.WattTime.org.
Media Contact
Nikki Arnone, Inflection Point Agency for WattTime, 1 (719) 357-8344, nikki@inflectionpointagency.com, www.watttime.org
Five nonprofits will receive support to further develop and scale AI-driven climate solutions and tools; WattTime will prioritize expanding user partnerships to maximize potential emissions reductions from its AI-powered tools.
Oakland, Calif. — 25 April 2024 — Environmental tech nonprofit WattTime today announced it has been selected by global software leader Salesforce as part of its new Salesforce Accelerator AI for Impact program — a philanthropic initiative to equip purpose-driven organizations with trusted generative AI technologies.
Salesforce selected five nonprofits to support through the accelerator, which is focused on AI-driven climate solutions. The technologies and teams selected are addressing a wide range of climate issues, from mitigation and adaptation to equitable climate finance.
WattTime’s focus for the Salesforce accelerator program will be on scaling the reach of its marginal emissions data signal and API. Today, these tools allow WattTime partners to enable hundreds of millions of internet-connected devices to shift electricity usage to sync with clean power; they also allow corporate sustainability teams to strategize on the most impactful locations for renewable energy investments. However, these successful partnerships represent only a small fraction of what WattTime estimates could be more than 9 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions annually. With Salesforce’s support in AI technology, expertise, and resources, WattTime aims to greatly expand its partnerships to realize these emissions reduction impacts.
“We believe good data are the foundation of good climate decision making, which is why we’re so thrilled to have this new wave of support from Salesforce,” said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director at WattTime. “With their help, we can improve our AI- and data-driven tools and get them into the hands of the world’s largest corporate leaders. We can enable even more users to reduce their emissions footprint quickly, affordably, and efficiently. Scaling these tools is a no-regrets option that can make a real difference for our climate future.”
Salesforce will support each of the five nonprofits in the AI for Impact cohort with technology, investment, and philanthropy — including product donations and $2 million in shared funding — to help each team enrich the world’s climate action toolbox. Organizations will also receive a year of pro-bono consulting from Salesforce experts focused on strategy, planning, technical architecture, and more.
In addition to WattTime, other nonprofit organizations selected for the accelerator include Climate Collective Foundation, Good360, Groundswell, and Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA).
In tandem with the accelerator, Salesforce also announced a new set of policy principles focused on the sustainable use of AI technology. The framework shares guidance on proposed AI regulations to minimize environmental impacts and drive stronger climate innovations.
Becky Ferguson, CEO of the Salesforce Foundation and SVP of Philanthropy at Salesforce, shared: “Generative AI presents a massive and exciting opportunity for purpose-driven organizations to better serve and meaningfully engage with their communities. In this time of rapid innovation, we need to ensure no one gets left behind. This AI accelerator brings the full power of Salesforce with unrestricted grants, pro-bono expertise, and our technology to create a more equitable AI world.”
To learn more about opportunities to support or partner with WattTime, contact the team here.
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About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and planet. Learn more at www.WattTime.org.
Media Contacts
Inflection Point Agency for WattTime
nikki@inflectionpointagency.com
More renewable energy buyers than ever before are intentionally siting wind and solar projects in locations where they will push more dirty energy off the grid.
Oakland, Calif. — 14 September 2023 — Environmental tech nonprofit WattTime today announced that at least one billion watts of renewable energy have now been procured through an emissionality-based approach. In other words, these wind and solar projects have been selected based partially on their potential to avoid more emissions due to their location and the emissions intensity of the power grid in that region.
“Clean energy projects only reduce emissions by replacing fossil fuel plants, and siting them in particularly high-emitting, fossil fuel-heavy regions can greatly amplify their climate benefits by pushing dirtier sources of electricity off the grid,” said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. “That’s the power of emissionality — a simple approach that can result in bigger benefits for the planet.”
This billion watt milestone is based on WattTime’s analysis of both publicly available and additional confidential market information. Partners of the organization which have publicly listed emissionality as part of their renewable energy procurement strategy include Salesforce, Nucor, Boston University, Clearloop, Rivian, and others.
Most recently, Rivian and The Nature Conservancy partnered with Brightnight on a project which will transform a Kentucky coal mine into an 800-megawatt solar facility. The site was selected, in part, through an emissionality lens to ensure a heftier decarbonization effect for the grid.
"In July, Rivian announced a partnership with BrightNight and The Nature Conservancy to be the largest offtaker (100MW) of solar power from phase 1 of the Starfire project in Kentucky — soon to be built at the site of what was once one of the largest coal mines in the US,” said Andrew Peterman, director of renewable energy at Rivian. “We worked closely with The Nature Conservancy to develop a rigorous evaluation framework and set of resources (Power with Purpose) to help select renewable energy projects that prioritize positive benefits for climate, conservation, and communities. WattTime’s analysis and input allowed us to integrate an emissionality-based approach and ensure we were maximizing the climate benefits of our decision.”
Thanks to emissionality, the 14 wind and solar projects included in WattTime’s billion watt milestone will reduce an estimated 10 million tonnes more emissions than they otherwise would have. All of the renewable energy sites included in the analysis are located in coal-heavy regions in the US or overseas.
“It took years of work with like-minded partners to reach a billion watts of emissionality, but we are now seeing a dramatic acceleration. We estimate the next billion watts may happen in mere months, now that momentum is building at what seems to be an exponential pace and other buyers are catching on,” said McCormick.
“As a longtime partner of WattTime, together we’ve pioneered the importance of making sure renewable energy projects get more done when it comes to tackling carbon emissions,” said Laura Zapata, CEO and co-founder of Clearloop. “At Clearloop, we’re fully focused on finding innovative ways to fund and launch new solar projects where they can do the most good — both by cleaning up the grid and expanding access to clean energy, as well as investing in underserved American communities. With support from WattTime, we’ve built Clearloop to help organizations of all sizes embrace emissionality as a key grid decarbonization solution.”
A white paper originally drafted in 2009 by Meredith Fowlie at UC Berkeley first floated the concept that one could, in theory, detect where building renewable energy would reduce more emissions, and then deliberately select these locations. McCormick and the WattTime team built on this theory and coined the term emissionality in 2017.
Today, WattTime works with institutions of all kinds to support them in selecting more impactful projects, whether by providing avoided emissions analysis, connecting them with like-minded groups, or otherwise assisting them in their sustainability efforts. WattTime’s analyses are based on marginal emissions data, which assess the real-world impacts of consuming or generating power at a specific time and location.
Today’s billion watt milestone includes only projects that evaluated avoided emissions with WattTime data — the details of which were readily available to the analysis team. But WattTime would like to hear about (and celebrate) other renewable energy projects with locations that were chosen because they avoided more emissions.
To share information about your projects, learn more about emissionality, or discuss renewable energy project selection support, contact the WattTime team here.
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About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and planet. Learn more at www.WattTime.org.
Palo Alto, Calif. and Oakland, Calif. — 24 August 2023 — Electric vehicle (EV) charging solution provider ev.energy and environmental tech nonprofit WattTime have announced a new phase of their partnership to make driving electric even cleaner. The revamped collaboration will enable the more than 120,000 drivers on the ev.energy platform to charge on the cleanest electricity available on their local grid by intelligently and automatically shifting charging times.
This new capability is made possible thanks to marginal emissions insights from WattTime, which have been fully integrated into the ev.energy managed charging platform. After prior collaboration to develop the current emissions optimization feature in select markets, the expanded partnership takes ev.energy’s emissions reduction feature to the next level — and not just geographically.
While ev.energy’s mobile app previously shared charging-related emissions information with users and allowed them to manually choose cleaner charging times, the new update allows for complete automation of this process. The ev.energy app now uses AER (automated emissions reduction) technology to strategically charge the EV during times that will cause the lowest emissions, using real-time marginal grid emissions data from WattTime. Typically, this means using surplus renewable energy that would otherwise be wasted.
"Our mission at ev.energy is to connect every EV to the greenest energy available on the grid. Through our partnership with WattTime, we can track the carbon intensity of every charging event that flows over the ev.energy platform, and critically, understand the marginal carbon emissions on the grid at any point in time. Watttime's approach is unique, and we're delighted to be scaling with such a like-minded partner and growing together as we accelerate the transition to a carbon-free grid," said Nick Woolley, CEO of ev.energy.
ev.energy helps EV drivers save both money and carbon when charging their cars at home. Their mobile app allows drivers to optimize for cost and avoided emissions based on their local electricity grid and rate plan, and can even help drivers optimize their charging around home solar production. In addition to the 120,000 drivers on ev.energy’s platform, the company works with more than 30 utilities globally to help deliver important grid flexibility services and financial benefits for drivers.
“I am constantly amazed by the sheer potential for EVs to further reduce emissions by charging when there’s surplus clean energy,” said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. “This growing source of electricity demand has the power to take a huge bite out of global grid emissions. Innovative companies like ev.energy are rapidly moving us closer to a world in which all flexible devices can automatically run on clean energy, and we’re thrilled that they share this vision with us.”
WattTime provides highly granular marginal emissions datasets, which factor in the time and location of energy consumption to pinpoint real-world emissions impact. This real-time emissions signal allows IoT device companies to deploy AER technology to automatically reduce the emissions caused by smart devices that are flexible on when they use power, from thermostats to EV chargers and beyond.
For more information on ev.energy and its suite of services, visit https://www.ev.energy/contact.
And for more information on WattTime and its data-powered solutions, visit https://www.watttime.org/contact/.
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About ev.energy
ev.energy is a Certified B Corporation® with a mission to make EV charging greener, cheaper, and smarter for utilities and their customers. Its end-to-end software platform wirelessly connects to a range of electric vehicles and chargers to intelligently manage EV charging while working with utilities to put cash back in customers’ wallets for charging at grid-friendly times. With a global base of utility, vehicle OEM and EVSE partners, ev.energy manages more than 120,000 EVs on its platform each day. Learn more at https://ev.energy/business.
About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and planet. Learn more at www.WattTime.org.
Media Contacts
Inflection Point Agency for WattTime
nikki@inflectionpointagency.com
Mission Control Communications for ev.energy
ev.energy@missionC2.com