eGRID2024 data published - what are your questions?

[WesIngwersen]

We distributed the data for eGRID2024. This discussion thread serves as a Q&A. You're welcome to post here or we will rehash Q's we get by email and try to provide answers.

[brendanchanna]

We distributed the data for eGRID2024. This discussion thread serves as a Q&A. You're welcome to post here or we will rehash Q's we get by email and try to provide answers.

Hi @WesIngwersen, our team is using the Cornerstone-provided eGRID emission factors for our 2026 emissions reporting & I was hoping I could get some clarification from you & your team. I understand that eGRID2023 was the first year that eGRID began using AR5 global warming potentials (per the eGRID2023 technical guide) & I wanted to confirm which AR version eGRID2024 uses (either AR5 or AR6). Please let me know if you need any other context & thank you for taking the time to help clear this up.

Brendan

[WesIngwersen]

Great question. They are the same as those used in eGRID 2023 - the AR5 GWPs. I just added this line the description for the dataset on Zenodo as I agree it's important to state.

The global warming potentials (GWP) used to convert CO2, CH4 and N2O into CO2-equivalents are from the IPCC AR5 report: CO2 = 1; CH4 = 28; N2O = 265. 

[brendanchanna]

Excellent - Thank you for the clarification & prompt reply, this is a great help.

[brendanchanna]

Hi again @WesIngwersen - your response surfaced a follow up question, what is the reasoning behind using AR5 for eGRID rather than AR6? Looking to the recent draft of ESRS E1, its recommended to use the most recent AR's GWP values so I'm curious if there are plans to update to AR6 in the future or remain at AR5. Please let me know if I should elaborate further & thanks again for taking the time to field these questions.

[WesIngwersen]

We chose to publish eGRID 2024 just as EPA had prepared it, which was with AR5. For future versions we will likely switch to AR6 to be consistent with other Cornerstone data products.