Mission Emissionality for Energy Peace Partners

Advisor

Semester

Spring 2025

Team Members: Poornima Pandian (Manager), Tarlee Dahn (Deputy Manager), Alexander Feil, Abubaker Suleonibo, Carrie Kim, Yiwen Deng, Zihuan Tang, Zhixuan Hu, Sam Thanassi, Christopher Arroyo

Energy Peace Partners (EPP) is a non-profit that works to electrify under-electrified regions at risk of high conflict, using an innovative financial instrument, the Peace Renewable Energy Certificate (P-REC), to fund solar mini-grids. This report examines how EPP can strategize and scale P-RECs. It argues that while global investments in renewable energy have grown, fragile regions continue to receive a meagre share of that capital, leaving communities dependent on diesel generators, firewood, charcoal and kerosene. Emissionality, the amount of carbon emissions avoided per unit of renewable energy generated, captures the climate impact of displacing these fuels, but current accounting frameworks (GHG Protocol Scope 2, SBTi, and ISO 14064-1) impose geographic requirements that make P-RECs difficult to scale. The report evaluates these frameworks alongside Scope 3 pathways, presents an emissionality calculator, sizes the voluntary REC market, identifies credible corporate buyers in markets such as Nigeria and the DRC, and assesses the socio-economic co-benefits of electricity access. It closes with five recommendations for EPP, from prioritizing companies with in-market presence to using emissionality to underpin the case for P-RECs.

Learn more about the MPA-ESP Capstone projects.