Corporate demand for granular clean electricity is accelerating – but scale depends on coordination.
Matthew Doherty, Senior Advisor at the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), explains how standards, interoperability, and early engagement across value chains can translate growing interest in 24/7 carbon-free energy (24/7 CFE) into scalable, investable markets.
Corporate procurement of clean electricity continues to grow, with contracted volumes for PPAs and BESS having increased by 28% in 2025 compared to 2024, reflecting increasing demand for green electricity that is temporally and spatially aligned. The IT sector now accounts for 32% of corporate PPA volumes in the EU and 82% in the United States. Demand from IT buyers is set to intensify further as AI and cloud infrastructure expand: global investment in data centres has nearly doubled since 2022 and the sector’s electricity consumption is projected to more than double by 2030 to around 945 TWh, roughly equivalent to Japan’s total electricity use today.
Corporates are seeking more credible, comparable ways to source and report clean electricity, particularly as global value chains raise expectations for granular power procurement. The demand side’s commitment to granularity is exemplified by growing membership in the Climate Group’s 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy campaign, the 24/7 CFE Compact (which already counts 184 signatories globally), and Eurelectric’s Next-Level CFE Hub.
As interest in granular and 24/7 CFE procurement expands beyond early-mover markets, the challenge shifts from proving demand to coordinating implementation across geographies with very different market structures and data availability. Recent analysis by BNEF and GRA of APAC markets highlights both the scale of corporate interest and the uneven readiness of electricity systems, reinforcing the need for coordination mechanisms.
Standards development organisations and policymakers need to keep pace with the evolution of clean electricity markets so that suppliers can respond to demand at scale through shared definitions, interoperable data, and aligned methodologies (see GRA’s 24/7 CFE recommendations).
Regulatory and reporting frameworks are already moving in this direction. Revisions to the GHG Protocol’s Scope 2 guidance, the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and emerging standards for green hydrogen in the UK all reflect growing emphasis on temporal and geographic alignment.
The case for 24/7 CFE is increasingly a coordination challenge rather than a technology one. Demand is present, capital is flowing, and enabling infrastructure is expanding. For example, global investment into the energy transition hit a record $2.3 trillion in 2025, up 8% from the prior year, with $690 billion flowing into renewable energy and $483 billion into grid investment. 24/7 CFE-regulation and policy aligns credible demand with long-term capital and critical infrastructure, unlocking system savings and grid-wide decarbonisation.
