Do solar panels and a battery lower your scope 2 emissions?

Yes, but only for the grid power they replace. Every kWh of your own solar power that you use on site is a kWh you do not buy, so your scope 2 figure drops. A business battery adds to that by moving surplus solar power from noon to the evening and night. It does not make grid power greener, and exported power is never deducted. For most companies the battery pays for itself on the bill; the lower scope 2 figure is a bonus you can report.

Maybe a large customer just sent a supplier questionnaire. Or your bank wants "scope 1 and 2" before it approves a green loan. You have solar panels on the roof and a monitoring app that shows "tonnes of CO2 saved". Now you wonder which number goes in the form, and whether a battery would make it look better.

That app figure is usually not your scope 2. Scope 2 follows strict accounting rules from the GHG Protocol, and the most common mistakes all make your figure look better than it is. Using the net meter reading, deducting exported power, or claiming certificates you sold: an auditor or a customer's sustainability team will correct them. It is easier to get the method right the first time and keep the data from day one.

What is the difference between scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 emissions?

Scope 1 is what you burn yourself, scope 2 is the energy you buy, and scope 3 is everything else in your value chain. The GHG Protocol, the global accounting standard that EU reports refer to, splits a company's emissions into these three groups.

Solar panels and a battery touch all three. They reduce the grid power you buy (scope 2). They can replace a diesel generator (scope 1). And making them caused emissions, which sit in scope 3 as capital goods.

Do your own solar panels count in scope 2?

No. Solar power you generate with your own panels and use on site is not scope 2, because you did not buy it. Emissions from your own generation belong in scope 1, and for solar panels those are zero.

The GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance sets out who reports what. The answer depends on who owns the panels and what happens to the certificates of the solar power.

That last line matters if you are thinking about a third-party investor for your panels or battery. Our article on how a company can finance a battery compares buying, leasing and pay-per-use deals. Under the GHG Protocol, the company that operates the installation reports its emissions in scope 1. You report the power you buy from it in scope 2.

How do you calculate scope 2 with solar panels: gross or net?

Always gross. The GHG Protocol says to use your total electricity purchases from the grid, not purchases minus what you exported.

The Scope 2 Guidance gives a simple example. A site produces 100 kWh with its own solar panels. It uses 50 kWh itself and exports 50 kWh. It also imports 70 kWh from the grid.

Your total consumption is 120 kWh: 50 from your own panels and 70 from the grid. Your scope 2 is calculated on the 70 kWh you bought. The net figure of 20 kWh would hide 50 kWh of purchases. The EU reporting standards follow the same logic: you may not offset your energy use with energy you sold.

Then you apply emission factors to those 70 kWh. There are two methods, and large companies must report both:

Does a battery lower your scope 2 emissions?

A battery lowers your scope 2 emissions when it stores your own surplus solar power and gives it back when the sun is gone. You then buy fewer kWh from the grid. The battery itself produces nothing.

Take the same site. At noon the panels make more than the site uses, so 50 kWh goes to the grid. In the evening the site buys power again. Suppose a battery stores 30 kWh of that surplus and releases it after sunset. Grid purchases drop from 70 kWh to just over 40 kWh. The "just over" is because a battery loses a small part of the energy it stores.

What a battery does not do for scope 2:

• Charging from the grid at night and discharging by day does not lower a location-based figure, which uses an average grid factor. The storage losses even add a little consumption.
• Peak shaving lowers your capacity tariff and your bill, not your kWh. Our guide on how the capacity tariff for businesses is calculated shows what a lower peak is worth.
• Back-up power protects your production. It does not change your emissions, unless it replaces a diesel generator that used to run (then scope 1 drops).

Which energy figures does a CSRD or ESG report ask for?

Every framework starts with the same two numbers: your total energy use in MWh and your estimated greenhouse gas emissions. The detail depends on who asks.

The EU voluntary standard for SMEs (known as VSME) asks for total energy consumption in MWh. If you can, you split electricity and fuels into renewable and non-renewable. For emissions it asks for scope 1 and location-based scope 2, in tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Large companies that report under the full standard (ESRS E1) add the market-based scope 2 figure. If they produce energy, they also report their renewable production separately.

Collect these figures per year, per site:

Most of this data sits in your monitoring already. Our energy management software shows consumption and solar yield via the app and the VRM portal. It gives reports per minute, hour or day. Are you comparing tools first? Read what an energy management system does for a business.

Does your SME still have to report under CSRD?

Probably not. Since the EU simplification of 2026, mandatory CSRD reporting only applies to companies with over 1,000 employees and over 450 million euro turnover. That scope applies to financial years from 1 January 2027.

Directive (EU) 2026/470 cut the scope of the CSRD, the EU directive on sustainability reporting. Belgium must write the new rules into national law by 19 March 2027. Below the thresholds, reporting is voluntary.

That does not mean nobody asks. Your large customers still report on their value chain, and your figures are part of it. Banks and insurers want climate data for their own reports and for green loans.

The EU now protects smaller suppliers with a "value chain cap". Under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560, a reporting company may not ask a supplier with up to 1,000 employees for more than the voluntary standard contains. That applies from financial years starting on 1 January 2027. For suppliers with more than 10 employees, the cap includes total energy use in MWh and estimated greenhouse gas emissions. Banks are encouraged to limit their questions to the same standard.

Guarantees of origin: what happens if you sell those of your solar power?

If you sell the guarantees of origin of your solar power, you can no longer count that power as your own renewable energy. A guarantee of origin (GO) is the certificate that proves 1 MWh came from a renewable source, and only one party may claim it.

The GHG Protocol is explicit. A company that uses power from its own installation but sold the certificates must report that power with the normal grid emission factors. That applies to the market-based and the location-based figure. The rule prevents two companies from claiming the same green MWh.

In Flanders: the Vlaamse Nutsregulator says the owner of solar panels requests GOs through the grid operator (Fluvius). You can sell them, or keep them for power used on site. A company can also cancel GOs itself on the regulator's V-platform, to prove its consumption was green. In Wallonia and Brussels the rules are regional: ask your regulator (CWaPE, Brugel) what applies to your installation.

For the power you still buy, a green electricity contract lowers your market-based figure. Your supplier then hands in GOs for your consumption. It does not change your location-based figure. Sharing power with a neighbouring company raises the same questions; our article on energy sharing between businesses explains how that works.

When is a battery not the right step for your carbon figures?

A battery is the wrong first step when you have little solar surplus, or when the report is your only reason. Then other measures lower your figures faster and cheaper.

On a solar forum, one user put it bluntly. If a lower carbon footprint is your only goal and the grid takes your surplus one-for-one, skip the battery. For a business with a capacity tariff and no such net metering, the economics are different. But the logic holds: a battery earns its money on your bill, and the scope 2 effect comes on top.

• All solar power already used on site? Then a battery adds nothing to scope 2. More panels, or shifting loads to midday, may do more. Our guide on whether solar panels pay off for a business helps you check.
• Most emissions in scope 1? Gas boilers, diesel vans or a generator weigh more than your grid power. Start there.
• Need a quick change in the market-based figure? A green contract does that in one step.
• Worried about the battery's own footprint? Making it causes emissions in scope 3. A long life, and a second life for batteries or proper recycling of old lithium batteries, limit them.

How do we help you get the figures right?

We size the battery on your own consumption and solar data, the same data your report needs. That way the system and the figures start from one measurement.

1. Step 1: Analysis and sizing. If data is missing, we can first measure your consumption for a period.
2. Step 2: Technical design, matched to your consumption, production and future plans.
3. Step 3: Installation and commissioning.
4. Step 4: Monitoring and support. You follow consumption, solar yield and battery charge in real time, and pull reports per day for your figures.

The GHG Protocol is revising its scope 2 rules: a public consultation ran from 20 October 2025 to 31 January 2026. Until a new version is published, the 2015 guidance applies. Keep detailed meter and monitoring data now, and you are ready for whatever the new rules ask.