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We’ve begun a process of reviewing the evidence we accept for making claims around green hosting, that we intend to conclude in 2025. We are looking at based on the best available science we can find, the changing regulatory landscape around sustainability, and the development of new standards and norms. Read on to learn more.
Verification is the term we give to the process hosting providers, and other providers of digital services must go through before being listed in our Green Web Dataset and Directory. As part of the verification process, we require providers to share evidence with us that allows us to verify their claims to deliver services that are run on 100% green energy.
We maintain a page with details about the kinds of scenarios and evidence we look for as part of verifying these green claims. You can find it at What we accept as evidence of green power. We review these scenarios periodically to ensure that they remain relevant to the changing sustainability landscape.
Reviewing the evidence we accept for 2025 and beyond
Our current verification process has been in place since 2019, and the evidence we look for as part of that process has also largely remained the same in that time. There have been some adjustments along the way, especially as we have made updates to our Provider Portal which allow us to add more rigour to the process.
However, over the same time period from 2019, we’ve seen significant changes to the sustainability landscape. As a result, we are allocating time in the second half of 2024 to review the evidence we accept as part of our verification process to better reflect the changes that have come and are coming in the digital sustainability space. Below are some of the key areas we will focus on as part of this review.
Carbon.txt
The drafting of new legislation, increased regulatory requirements, and growing consensus around sustainability reporting mean that we can expect to see much more information in the public domain in the years to come. These are all key drivers behind carbon.txt – a key initiative that we hope can improve the discoverability and usability of this information in the future. Thanks to funding from NGI Search, we hope to develop the carbon.txt specification so that it can become part of the evidence we accept as part of the verification process for digital service providers.
Learn more about carbon.txt in this introductory blog post: Introducing carbon.txt – Applying lessons from crowdsourcing net zero data.
The role of offsets & RECs
Using purchased offsets & renewable energy certificates (RECs) are currently among the methods providers can use to get verified with us. Although we recommend offsets only as a last resort, we do acknowledge that not every provider is readily able to switch to a green energy provider, or access other instruments such as green energy tariffs or renewable energy credits.
In recent years there has also been significant conjecture around the quality, reliability, and trustworthiness of many carbon offsetting programs. A recent report from the SBTi (Science Based Targets Initiative) examines the use of carbon credits and offsets and their ineffectiveness as measures towards a meaningful energy transition (full report). This has led to questions being asked both internally within our organisation, and externally from members of our community, about the validity of sustainability claims that are based on offsets.
Meanwhile, we currently do not make any distinction between providers using bundled or unbundled RECs in their claims, despite the shortcomings of the latter (see this story on Bloomberg as an example) . To align with our mission of a truly fossil free internet by 2030, we feel it is timely to reevaluate the use of RECs (especially unbundled RECs) as a means for providers to make claims about being green by contributing to real emissions reductions.
When will any changes take effect
We are currently at the beginning of reviewing the kinds of evidence we might look to accept in the future. This process will likely take some time, as we are a small team working on a number of different projects in parallel. Any changes that we do make to the kinds of evidence we accept for verification of green hosting providers will be communicated in 2025. This announcement will also include a timeline to help hosting providers prepare themselves for the changes.
Stay updated
As we progress through reviewing the evidence we accept as part of verification we will proactively communicate any upcoming changes through various channels including our newsletter, blog, and by updating this FAQ page.
If you have any questions about our verification process and the evidence we accept as part of it, please contact us through our Support Contact Form.