FAQ: answered briefly

The certificate depends on where you use the electricity, such as guarantees of origin (GoO) in Europe or GECs in China. Electricity and evidence come together through own generation, a power purchase agreement (PPA) or a green tariff; or you buy certificates separately. They must be cancelled in your name; if only the ZF share is checked, the cancellation also names ZF parts production as its purpose. ZF works with ACT Commodities on green electricity purchasing; suppliers get support there with certificates and PPAs. We do not sell certificates.

EAC is the umbrella term: Energy Attribute Certificate. It evidences time, location, technology and age for one generated megawatt hour. GoO, GEC, I-REC and REC are forms of it. Which one applies depends on the market in which you source the green electricity. We check the details for you.

Yes, if you can prove it. You prove own generation with meter readings and a green tariff with your energy supplier's cancellation statement. If certificates were issued for your plant and sold, that electricity no longer counts for you. How own generation counts when only the ZF share is checked, we clarify in the call.

It shows that green electricity was supplied or cancelled. An independent auditor checks that the cancelled certificates cover your consumption or the ZF share and are claimed by nobody else. That matters because your green electricity feeds into the carbon footprint of ZF parts and ZF's Scope 3 emissions.

In exceptional cases, yes. If the EACs were cancelled before the note could be added and the cancellation can no longer be changed, a signed allocation declaration (Appendix 9) is an option. Three conditions: the note was objectively impossible; the omission was not deliberate, not knowing the requirement suffices; the volume is clearly identifiable and allocated to ZF alone. Once you know the requirement, the note has to be set. For self-generated, self-consumed electricity without certificates, the allocation declaration is the normal case; the legal representatives sign it.

No. A purchase invoice shows that you bought, not that the electricity was consumed and attributed to nobody else. Both carry certificate numbers and look alike in the registry; in first-year audits we regularly receive purchase invoices only. Cancellation happens in the registry in your name, before we audit. Without your own registry account your supplier cancels for you. Keep the cancellation statement the registry issues; that document is what we need, not the EAC itself.

Your company committed a green electricity share to ZF. You can still procure the evidence now; ACT Commodities, which ZF works with on purchasing, offers support. Start early: cancellation in the registry takes time. We neither sell nor broker certificates and earn nothing from them. In the call we work out what is feasible by the deadline.

That depends on the market. If the other country lies within the same market in which the electricity is consumed, it qualifies; outside of it, it does not. The yardstick is the GHG Protocol Quality Criteria. Establish market and country of cancellation for each tranche.

Under the ZF GE Minimum Requirement the note has to assign the cancelled certificates unambiguously to ZF; the exact wording is free. The example from the ZF guideline, entered in English: “Cancelled exclusively for ZF Friedrichshafen AG: EACs for the electricity used in the manufacturing process in reporting year [YYYY]; not used or claimed for any other party or purpose.” Under the ZF GE Recommendation the note is needed only where your commitment covers single plants; it can then name the plant instead of ZF.

In Germany usually between January and March for the previous year, some only in April. A few providers take longer or are restrictive about handing the statements out; ask them again in that case. We have not yet seen one refuse in the end.

An external audit needs evidence: only what can be evidenced can be counted. The most common route is timestamped photographs of the meter readings, alternatively a reading log signed under the four-eyes principle.

Mostly what you already have: your commitment from SupplyOn, the power bills and supply contracts of the reporting year, and the cancellation statements. Checking only the ZF share adds a separate meter's readings, or ZF and total revenue for a mass balance. You get your full list with the calculator or in the call. If something is missing, that is normal and no reason to wait.

The records for the engagement are on the preparation list; switch to “For the engagement” at the top. Everything refers to the entity ZF selected; if the invoice is to go to a different one, tell us beforehand.

Only for mass balance, not for simple green electricity contracts. We need it as the basis for the ZF share: revenue or, alternatively, the weight of goods delivered. We are bound to professional secrecy in any case (section 43 WPO, section 203 StGB), and the engagement letter says so; a separate confidentiality agreement is not needed for this.

Not from us. You are our client, not ZF, and we pass neither revenue nor electricity data on to ZF. ZF sees what you upload to SupplyOn yourself: the audit report and the ZF declaration. You see both before you upload them. We reach our conclusion independently. Confidentiality is a professional duty (section 43 WPO, section 203 StGB).

The independent confirmation that a ZF supplier's electricity consumption is covered by renewable energy. It lowers the Product Carbon Footprint of the ZF parts and ZF's Scope 3. We match the cancelled certificates against the consumption data. The engagement runs under ISRS 4400, ISAE 3000 or ISSA 5000; the GHG Protocol is the frame the reporting follows, not an audit standard.

The navigator on the home page settles it in at most three questions. It names your scope and the audit approach that fits it.

The entities ZF names are the ones audited. Where ZF's contract is not with the manufacturing entity, the manufacturing entity is audited; we look at that case by case. SupplyOn records the entity in the SRM folder under “Green Electricity Roadmap”.

Your commitment sits in SupplyOn. Our SupplyOn page shows step by step where to find it.

Yes, because the standard and the effort follow from it. If you need the result for ZF alone, ISRS 4400 is an option; under the ZF GE Minimum Requirement, only after a prior assessment of the allocation. If you also need it for your own reporting or for other customers, the route is limited assurance under ISAE 3000 or ISSA 5000. If you do not know yet, we assume the wider route.

If only the ZF share is checked and ZF production has no dedicated meter, the share is calculated: ZF revenue divided by the site's total revenue, times total consumption. Of that, you prove the share you committed. The weight of goods delivered can be used instead of revenue. With the calculator you estimate your share yourself beforehand.

Under ISRS 4400 the procedures are agreed in advance. What comes out is a factual finding, not an audit opinion. ISAE 3000 is an engagement with an opinion: the procedures are not restricted, the auditor decides what is needed as the work goes, and forms a judgement on the result.

In principle the verified figures and cancellations can feed into your ESRS E1 disclosures and into your customers' Scope 3 reporting. How far they carry depends on the audit approach and has to be agreed beforehand. If you want to use the result for other purposes as well, choose an ISAE 3000 engagement from the start rather than ISRS 4400.

Under the GHG Protocol, Scope 2 covers the indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, district heating and district cooling. Scope 3 covers the remaining indirect emissions of the value chain, including Category 1 for purchased goods; the supplier's Scope 2 feeds into it. Of all that we audit electricity alone, and only for the ZF case. District heating and cooling we do not audit.

Possibly, but not on its own. The report has to carry your entity: either it names the entity at 100 percent, or it states 100 percent for the whole group with your entity inside it. A share alone does not identify your entity. That is our professional assessment, not a rule of the ZF Guideline. Otherwise ask your group auditor: a supplementary confirmation can often extend the statement, usually faster than a separate audit. Failing that, you need your own.

Your company pays, not ZF. Indicative fee, reporting year 2026: about €3,000 to €6,500 per legal entity plus VAT, depending on scope and audit approach. We bill by audit days, at one day rate for every ZF supplier; this is not a fixed price. Certificates you still need to buy come on top. You get your cost indication in the call; your purchasing team then receives, on request, a written offer with scope, standard and fee.

An independent public auditor (Wirtschaftsprüfer) or a registered audit firm, applying ISRS 4400, ISAE 3000 (Revised) or ISSA 5000. The licence does not have to be in your country; we audit remotely for sites worldwide. The ZF guideline excludes attestations from ISO or management-system certifiers.

Yes. You decide whom you appoint. The audit can be done by an independent public accountant or a registered audit firm. You can still put your questions to us.

Yes. We audit sites worldwide; the country does not change how we work. Which certificates qualify follows the market in which the electricity is consumed. Meetings run in German or English.

Yes. The same audit under ISAE 3000 or ISRS 4400 fits suppliers of other automotive OEMs with comparable requirements. We build the engagement so one report can serve several customers, if accepted. We do not name clients without written consent (§ 43 WPO).

Yes: energy audits (EnEfG/EED), evidence for industrial electricity prices and for the German Besondere Ausgleichsregelung, VSME and CSRD/ESRS engagements, Product Carbon Footprint verification, and Strompreiskompensation testates. One engagement often serves several purposes; ask us.

Once ZF has selected you, the audit report and the signed ZF declaration are due in SupplyOn by 31 May of the following year, so by 31 May 2027 for reporting year 2026. In Germany, energy suppliers usually issue cancellation statements between January and March. We recommend clarifying the engagement right after the selection.

Whether the audit can be postponed is ZF's decision, not ours. Without a timely upload you count as non-compliant with ZF. If time gets short, contact ZF early at sustainability.supplychain@zf.com. In the call we work out what is feasible by the deadline.

Send organisational questions on selection, deadline or procedure to ZF: sustainability.supplychain@zf.com, ZF's supply chain sustainability team. Scope and audit questions we clarify in the call.

At short notice. We work with the ZF Guideline daily and stay in professional contact with ZF. Templates and engagement design are ready; we set the start date together in the first call.

ZF selects against predefined sampling criteria, not every supplier every year. Your commitment in SupplyOn, by contrast, applies to every reporting year and has to be met every year, whether or not there is an audit.

As a rule remote. Meetings run as a Teams call, wherever your site is located.

We audit in German and in English. If your records are in another language we translate them; that is not a problem. What we do need is someone on your side we can talk to in English at least.