In February, we publicly shared planned updates to our verification criteria and asked for feedback on the proposed updates. In this post, Fershad, our verification manager, shares the feedback we received and our responses to them.
In February 2026, we shared planned updates to our verification criteria for hosting providers seeking to be listed in the Green Web Dataset. These changes mark the first time since 2019 that we have updated our overall verification criteria, and represent a major change from the current criteria with the updated criteria requiring providers to share more detailed transparent disclosures to support their green claims.
While these changes are not due to go into effect until October 1, 2026 we felt it was important to share them publicly as early as we could in order to receive feedback from the community. We did so by sharing it on our blog and also by contacting hosting providers directly to solicit feedback on specific changes to the criteria that would impact them. We received a good amount of feedback through this process and in this post we will share anonymised summaries of that feedback as well as our responses to them or clarification where appropriate.
Do I need to show hourly matching in order to be verified?
Several providers asked whether they would be required to share disclosures showing our only matching of fossil-free energy use in order to remain verified in our dataset. These concerns highlighted the infancy of hourly matching at this point in time, with most providers stating that they would be able to provide at best monthly, but more likely annually, matched disclosures.
Our response
No, you do not – we will continue to accept annually matched disclosures under the updated criteria. While there is a growing number of providers offering this around the world, we acknowledge that at this time there are very few providers who could make hourly matched claims for a region.
Hourly matched disclosures align with our own feedback to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 2 Public Consultation, and is the direction we believe the industry should be heading in. While we do mention a shift towards requiring hourly matched disclosures in the future as part of the updated criteria, that change would not happen until 2028 at the earliest. As with the current changes to our criteria, any future changes to not accepting annually matched disclosures will be communicated to providers well in advance of implementation.
We don’t control our own energy use, instead we rely on upstream providers who we have limited control over.
A few providers raised concerns about how our verification changes would impact smaller operations which rely on larger data center and hosting services. This is a particular concern for providers in parts of the world where access to fossil free energy remains limited.
Our response
We understand that some providers are operating in regions where there are limited/no options for finding data center operators running on 100% renewable energy. One common refrain we hear from larger data centre operators for not putting focus on using 100% fossil free energy for their operations is that no one is asking for it.
With that in mind, our updated verification criteria introduces an optional statement from a verified hosting provider committing to using 100% fossil free energy to deliver their services by 2030. We encourage providers who rely on larger hosting companies for their operations to publish their statement on their website as a public indicator to these large organisations that people actually are asking for clean fossil free energy to drive their tech stack.
As part of the process of publishing the updated verification criteria we will be putting together sample statements that providers can use as starter templates. We will be co-creating this with providers in the coming months – drop us a line to express interest in doing so.
In the meantime, we recommend providers in this situation purchase unbundled certificates to cover their data centre energy use. Unbundled certificates themselves are not a perfect solution either, especially as they allow for certificates and from parts of the energy system where the power would be physically impossible to deliver to where it is being used, and then recombine them with regular electricity to count it as greener energy, but we acknowledge this is a common practice at present and recognised by the current GHG Protocol guidance on Scope 2. We’ve touched on this in our feedback to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 2 Public Consultation on reforms to the standard. With this in mind, we aim to gradually move towards hourly matched disclosures (see above), and also require certificates to be purchased in the same geographic region as an organisation’s operations (see below).
We are not able to purchase unbundled certificates in the region we operate. What can we do?
Another bit of feedback we heard from some providers was that purchasing unbundled certificates for the regions they operate in is not possible or maybe very expensive due to several factors including the limited size of their operations or the limited options available for purchasing such certificates in some regions.
Our response
Providers should refer to Appendix D of the 24-7 Carbon-Free Coalition (24-7 CFC) Technical Standard for a list of markets in which Energy Attribution Certificates (EACs) are in common use.
This map from The International Tracking Standard Foundation also serves as a good reference point, and includes links to organisations selling unbundled certificates in several regions around the world.
With that said, if a provider is still unable to obtain certificates in the same location as their operations, then we would ask them to share a justification for this as part of the verification process.
I use a green tariff, what information should I share?
A couple of providers responded to our consultation with information from their energy supplier in the form of a webpage which mentioned their supply of renewable energy. These providers were wondering if that page would be sufficient for verification under the updated criteria.
Our response
No, a webpage is not sufficient evidence for us to verify the claims made by a hosting company or their energy supplier when it comes to the use or delivery of renewable energy. That is the case under our current verification criteria and remains the case under the proposed updated verification criteria.
Providers wishing to be verified based on the use of green tariffs should ensure that the documents they share clearly include references to the timeframe of energy being supplied, type of energy being supplied, and the quantity of energy supplied. These requirements match those put forward by the Climate Group 24-7 Carbon-Free Coalition Technical Standard, which is backed by large industry players like Google and Iron Mountain.
If this is not available then formal fuel mix statements or invoices from their energy supplier should be provided.
When do these changes take effect, and who do they affect?
We received a few questions from people who were unsure about when the updated verification criteria would take effect. Others asked about whether these changes applied to new providers seeking verification or existing providers already listed in our data set.
Our response
The updated verification criteria will not take effect until October 1, 2026. Until then all verification and reverification requests will be assessed against the existing verification criteria which has been in place since 2019. After October 1, 2026 all verification and reverification requests will be reviewed against the proposed updated criteria.
Until then providers can begin preparing the disclosures required under the updated criteria and may even submit those documents for review via our Provider Portal.
I have further questions and I missed the first feedback period
We’ll be experimenting with running regular office hours as we make the internal changes to the platform, to explain these changes, and leave space to field further queries about meeting these criteria.
Our first one is taking place at 10am CET on April 9th, 2026 session, and you can sign up via our contact form.
