As Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) technology continues to scale in smart devices across the globe — including Toyota and BMW EVs, Amazon and Google Nest smart thermostats, Apple iPhones, and more — it has the potential to reduce three billion tonnes of carbon emissions per year by 2030.
Oakland, Calif. — 14 October 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Environmental tech nonprofit WattTime today announced that more than one billion smart devices globally are now using its marginal emissions data to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity use, in what WattTime calls Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) technology. For context, that’s about twice the combined global subscriber base of Netflix and Amazon Prime, and roughly half the number of Instagram users worldwide.
AER enables electric vehicles (EVs), thermostats, smartphones, and other internet-connected devices to automatically use electricity at times that will cause less pollution, which can vary significantly by location and time of day. This means avoiding the use of electricity when it requires a dirty, fossil fuel power plant to meet that need and instead using more power at times when excess renewable energy is available.
“What matters to me is stopping climate change, not actually whether people do it with WattTime’s data or someone else’s,” said Gavin McCormick, WattTime Founder and Executive Director. “What’s important here is that so many people are now shifting electricity from times that genuinely make fossil fuel plants run, to times that don’t. I would be so thrilled if, next, someone else announces they’ve enabled even more AER users than we have.”
AER continues to be recognized for its positive climate impact and easy implementation, most recently earning a spot on TIME’s 2025 Best Inventions list last week. McCormick has similarly been awarded for his impact-focused efforts, including his work with AER. Last month, McCormick was featured on Forbes’ 2025 Sustainability Leaders List and named a winner of global philanthropy nonprofit Climate Breakthrough’s 2025 Climate Breakthrough Award.
As for success in the field, many of the world’s largest corporations have already adopted AER, in some cases adding it to more than 100 million new devices in one day.
Some companies and products that have deployed WattTime’s AER thus far include:
For a detailed list of AER implementations, click here.
EV charging has been an especially impactful use case, due to its flexibility and high energy use. EV companies with AER-enabled charging deployed or in development make up 20% of the global EV market as of 2024. The ubiquity of AER for EVs continues to gain momentum, as WattTime’s partner Rivian is currently integrating WattTime’s marginal emissions data.
Other examples of the many flexible, internet-connected devices and services that can leverage AER include heat pumps, home appliances, battery-powered tools, building energy management software, data centers, virtual computing, and AI training jobs.
“AER is a force multiplier for building decarbonization. Together, our autonomous AI tech and AER demonstrated their positive impact on grid energy use. By shifting building electricity consumption to smarter times, we achieved two key outcomes: reduced emissions and greater use of renewable energy that would otherwise be wasted,” said Jean-Simon Venne, President and Founder at BrainBox AI.
AER’s growing reach has been bolstered by WattTime’s October 2024 global expansion of the first-ever real-time electricity marginal emissions dataset, which made AER available for nearly every country worldwide. After talking with its existing partners about their expansion plans, WattTime believes AER availability will likely double to reach two billion devices in about nine months.
“Flexible loads like AI and electric vehicles are growing so fast. Based on the US Department of Energy’s projections of growth rates, if everyone adopted this simple, nearly free technology, AER could prevent three billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually by 2030. That’s about 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions, or larger than any country’s emissions worldwide except China, the US, India, or Russia,” said McCormick.
For EVs in particular, AER can reduce grid emissions from charging by up to 18% annually, and more than 90% on individual days. In other technologies, use of AER has achieved reductions of 25–90%, depending on the device, time of day, and grid region.
WattTime and others continue to develop new innovations in AER. Most recently, grid operators such as PJM, MISO, and NYISO have joined California in releasing official marginal emissions datasets that make it possible to measure the impact of AER using data straight from the local grid operator or government.
AER can also be programmed to reduce not only carbon dioxide emissions, but also health-damaging air pollutants. For example, companies like Toyota have integrated AER in their app software to create a charging schedule that is likely to reduce both the health and climate impacts of charging with grid electricity. AER can also optimize for the reduction of renewable energy waste, enabling power grids to absorb up to 20% more clean electricity from solar and wind farms.
The other key technology WattTime deploys using marginal emissions, Emissionality, also continues to scale rapidly, having grown from one billion watts to fifteen billion watts in the last twelve months.
Learn more about AER here. And connect with the WattTime team by sending a message 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 contact
Nikki Arnone, Inflection Point Agency for WattTime
nikki@inflectionpointagency.com
McCormick’s new initiative is one of five selected for its potential to achieve dramatic gigaton-scale “breakthrough” climate impact.
Oakland, Calif. — 15 September 2025 — Environmental tech nonprofit WattTime today announced that its cofounder and executive director, Gavin McCormick, has been named a winner of global philanthropy nonprofit Climate Breakthrough’s 2025 Climate Breakthrough Award. Climate Breakthrough recognized McCormick for a new initiative that will offer free impact analysis to any interested government and private sector organizations developing carbon accounting systems.
Climate Breakthrough provides $4 million in multiyear, flexible funding — the largest climate award for individuals — for experienced environmental and social change leaders to develop, launch, and scale new high-impact initiatives that Climate Breakthrough concludes could significantly reduce global annual greenhouse gas emissions. All Climate Breakthrough awards must have the potential to materially change the lives of tens of millions and reduce at least 500 million tons of emissions within ten years of launch.
Through this new initiative, McCormick and his team will help facilitate groups of independent scientists to provide free impact analysis of potential carbon accounting systems and policies before they are completed. The work will combine McCormick’s prior experience individually conducting such analyses at WattTime and the US Department of Energy, with his current experience in the Climate TRACE coalition facilitating groups of independent experts from many organizations in reaching consensus.
Climate Breakthrough’s analysis concluded this initiative could exceed 2.9 gigatons of annual pollution reduction by 2036. Such large potential is driven by three trends:
Many policymakers and standards bodies have expressed particular interest in impact analysis jointly conducted by groups of experts from multiple independent institutions. To that end, the new initiative will focus on metastudies, which review and analyze a set of existing studies to synthesize their findings, that examine varying results and explore where there is — and where there is not — consensus on which options would drive the most impact.
Climate Breakthrough selected McCormick partly due to his technical expertise, but also his proven ability to gather diverse stakeholders and his exceptional talent for helping different technical communities understand one another.
For a full list of 2025 Awardees, read the Climate Breakthrough announcement here. And connect with the WattTime team by sending a message 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 contact
Nikki Arnone, Inflection Point Agency for WattTime
nikki@inflectionpointagency.com
Logan Varsano, Inflection Point Agency for WattTime
logan@inflectionpointagency.com
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