The GHG Protocol Revision: Consultation 2027, Publication 2028

If you are planning a reporting roadmap on the assumption that the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard is a settled document, that assumption needs revisiting. The Protocol is in the middle of the most substantial revision since the Corporate Standard’s revised edition, the four separate workstreams are being merged into a single standard, and the published timeline moved during 2026. The dates most commentary still quotes are out of date.

What is being revised

Four workstreams are running: the Corporate Standard itself, the Scope 2 Guidance, the Scope 3 Standard, and a workstream on Actions and Market Instruments. The decisive development is in the Consolidated Standard Development Plan dated 29 July 2026, which is itself version 2.0 of that plan: the four workstreams are being consolidated into one standard with multiple parts, described in that document as the Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, Version 3.0.

That is a structural change, not just a content refresh. Today a preparer works across a 2001-and-revised Corporate Standard, a January 2015 Scope 2 amendment and a 2011 Scope 3 standard, each with its own requirements and its own numbering. The intention is a single instrument.

The timeline moved — use the July 2026 dates

This is the part worth being careful about, because two different timelines are circulating.

The Corporate Standard Revisions Phase 1 Progress Update of December 2025 said that a complete draft revised Corporate Standard would be released in mid-2026 for public consultation, with final publication of the third edition expected by the end of 2027.

The Consolidated Standard Development Plan of 29 July 2026 supersedes that. It gives:

• Consolidated draft standard for public consultation — estimated Q2 2027
• Published revised standard — estimated Q4 2028

So the mid-2026 consultation draft did not appear and the end-2027 publication date no longer stands. Roughly a year has gone into the schedule. The plan itself notes that the timeline and workplan may change, and that future revisions will be considered every five years from publication. Anyone building a transition plan should treat Q2 2027 and Q4 2028 as estimates from the standard-setter rather than as fixed dates.

What sits in each phase

For the Corporate Standard, Phase 1 covers the standard’s objectives, its accounting and reporting principles, organizational boundaries and operational boundaries. Phase 2 covers tracking emissions over time, verification and assurance, and data and calculation methodology. Between September 2024 and the end of 2025 the Corporate Standard technical working group held 37 meetings.

For the Scope 3 Standard, the Phase 1 Progress Update of March 2026 puts data quality, boundary setting and investments — category 15 — in Phase 1, together with a proposed new category 16 for other value chain activities. Phase 2 topics include category-specific boundary updates and circularity considerations for recycled products. That working group held 42 meetings over the same period.

Two cautions on the Scope 3 material. The progress update states on its face that it is not a GHG Protocol Standard, that all content is draft and subject to change, and that the draft remains subject to ongoing revision. At the time of that document the Independent Standards Board had not yet been asked to approve release of a draft standard for public consultation. A proposed category 16 is therefore a signal of direction, not something to build a data pipeline around.

Boundary setting is in scope — which matters more than it sounds

Organizational boundaries sit in Corporate Standard Phase 1. That is the part of the standard that offers the equity share approach, the financial control approach and the operational control approach, and the choice between them determines whether minority holdings and joint ventures come in proportionately, come in at one hundred per cent, or stay out altogether. A revision touching that machinery can change a reported figure without a single tonne of emissions changing.

Operational boundaries — the Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 architecture itself — are also in Phase 1. For readers who want the current position on what is required rather than what is proposed, our guide to whether Scope 3 reporting is mandatory sets out the standard’s own requirements as they stand today.

Consultations: what has closed, and what is still open

Two public consultations — the Scope 2 Public Consultation and the Electricity-Sector Consequential Methods Public Consultation — ran between 20 October 2025 and 31 January 2026 and are now closed, with a summary of feedback published alongside the July 2026 plan. The Actions and Market Instruments Request for Information has also completed, with responses summarised.

One remains open: the Forest Carbon Accounting Request for Information is open until 1 February 2027. That is the live route for anyone with land-sector or forest-carbon exposure who wants to be heard before the consolidated draft is assembled.

Scope 2 post-consultation work was scheduled for Q3 to Q4 2026, with Scope 2 text drafted into the consolidated standard between Q2 2027 and Q4 2028.

It is worth noting that the December 2025 Corporate Standard update was explicit that its contents were not subject to public consultation at that point and that the Secretariat would not accept or process feedback submitted before the formal consultation period. Comment windows here are discrete, not continuous.

Why finance teams should care now

Because the Protocol is referenced into binding frameworks. IFRS S2 prescribes measurement in accordance with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, subject to a jurisdictional carve-out, and ESRS E1 directs preparers to consider the Corporate Standard when preparing their emissions disclosures. A revision to the Protocol is therefore not an isolated methodology update — it flows into the measurement basis sitting underneath mandatory disclosure. Our guide to IFRS S1 and S2 covers that interaction.

The practical reading is that the next two reporting cycles run on the current standards, that a consultation draft is the first thing to plan around rather than a final text, and that systems investment decided now should not assume today’s category structure is permanent. For teams building capability in the meantime, our guide to carbon accounting and Scope 3 is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

When will the new GHG Protocol Corporate Standard be published? The 29 July 2026 Consolidated Standard Development Plan estimates publication in Q4 2028, with a consolidated draft for public consultation in Q2 2027. Both are estimates.

Was there not supposed to be a draft in 2026? Yes. The December 2025 progress update said mid-2026 for a draft and end-2027 for publication. The July 2026 plan replaced those dates.

Is a sixteenth Scope 3 category confirmed? No. A category 16 for other value chain activities is in Phase 1 of the Scope 3 revision as draft material explicitly subject to change.

Can I still submit feedback? The Forest Carbon Accounting Request for Information is open until 1 February 2027. The Scope 2 and electricity-sector consultations closed on 31 January 2026.

Keep your reporting knowledge current with Learnsignal

A standard mid-revision is harder to teach and harder to apply than a settled one, which is precisely why it belongs in structured CPD rather than in ad hoc reading. Our sustainability and climate reporting courses track the standards as they move. The progress updates and the development plan are published by the GHG Protocol.