Who Gets to Define CCS Carbon Credits? A New Standard Wants Your Input

Carbon capture and storage has long faced a credibility gap: the technology exists, projects are moving forward, but the market has lacked a consistent, trustworthy way to account for the emissions reductions it delivers. A proposed framework for CCS Energy Attribute Certificates (CCS EACs) is working to close that gap, and stakeholders have until June 26 to weigh in.

The public input period, spearheaded by The Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation, covers a methodology developed by The NorthBridge Group in late 2025. The deadline has already been extended by three weeks, reflecting the level of interest the consultation has drawn.

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At its core, the proposal addresses a gap that has slowed CCS market development. Energy attribute certificates are already widely used for renewable energy, where a certificate is issued per megawatt-hour generated and allows buyers to claim clean electricity in their Scope 2 emissions accounting. But CCS-equipped power plants are different: they still produce some emissions, just significantly fewer. That nuance required building a new kind of certificate from scratch.

How the CCS EAC Would Work

The proposed methodology assigns each certificate a designated emission rate, calculated based on how much CO2 the plant captures. Buyers who retire the certificate can then claim that reduced emissions figure in their greenhouse gas inventory, consistent with GHG Protocol guidance for market-based Scope 2 accounting.

The standard also encourages hourly granularity in how certificates are issued, tying the emissions performance to actual operating conditions rather than annual averages. That level of precision matters to corporate buyers who are tracking their electricity footprint in real time.

Google's Broadwing Deal Showed Why This Standard Is Needed

The urgency around the CCS EAC framework became clearer in October 2025, when Google announced a power purchase agreement with Broadwing Energy for electricity from a 400-megawatt natural gas plant with CCS in Decatur, Illinois. The plant is projected to capture roughly 90 percent of its CO2 emissions. Google worked with NorthBridge to design a one-off EAC for that deal, but the broader market needs a uniform standard rather than bespoke arrangements for each project.

Iain Kaplan, partner at The NorthBridge Group, has noted that without a consistent certificate structure, buyers and developers are left to negotiate the rules of accounting on a deal-by-deal basis, which creates uncertainty and slows investment.

A Broader Public Engagement Phase

The current consultation is the second phase of stakeholder engagement. The first round drew input from more than 30 organizations across natural gas production, power generation, CCS development, finance, and corporate procurement. This broader phase is explicitly aimed at moving the methodology from a proposed framework to a widely supported standard.

Input is being reviewed by Novi Strategies and NorthBridge on behalf of the Mitchell Foundation. Stakeholders are being asked to weigh in on topics including emissions boundary definitions, capture rate assumptions, monitoring and verification requirements, and how the certificates align with existing buyer use cases.

Why Timing Matters

The consultation is happening now because the market is still forming. Early CCS power projects are entering development, federal 45Q tax credits are supporting deployment, and corporate buyers are beginning to explore CCS-backed procurement. Getting the accounting framework right before those market structures solidify is far easier than retrofitting a standard after the fact.

Globally, CCS infrastructure is also scaling up. Norway's Northern Lights project has advanced as one of the most prominent cross-border CO2 transport and storage networks, and the Global CCS Institute recently partnered with the Global Cement and Concrete Association to accelerate capture adoption in the industrial sector. A credible EAC standard could give corporate buyers across all those sectors a consistent mechanism for accounting for and claiming CCS-related emissions reductions.

Feedback submissions close June 26, 2026. Stakeholders can submit input through the online feedback portal.

About The Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation

The Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation is a Texas-based philanthropic organization focused on sustainable energy, environment, and community development. It has been a consistent supporter of market-based approaches to decarbonization, including efforts to develop credible frameworks for carbon capture accounting.