Review & Certification Services

The Climate Neutral Network offers a Review and Certification service to support companies in bringing climate neutral products to market in ways which merit the Network's Climate Cool™ endorsement. Briefly, the steps to creating a new Climate Cool™ product, service, or enterprise are:

  • Figure out with the Climate Neutral Network how CNN's climate neutral certification can best benefit your company's bottom line
  • Use CNN's metrics systems to calculate the current carbon emissions of your product or enterprise
  • Develop a portfolio of greenhouse gas emissions reductions and offset investments that will zero out your baseline emissions
  • Make application to be certified by the Climate Neutral Network's Environmental Advisory Board
  • Use our brand on your certified products and in your advertising to educate consumers about your new status

Please fill out our Interest Statement form to begin!

To contact Heather Christine Tischbein, Executive Director, please send e-mail to: Heather@ClimateNeutralNetwork.org

Summary Overview

Certification Options

Companies can seek to have the following certified:
  • Products
  • Services
  • Enterprises

Product and service certifications cover the greenhouse gas emissions "cradle to cradle," throughout the value chain. Enterprise certifications cover the greenhouse gas emissions "dock to dock," from the point where materials hit the company's docks to the point where they are delivered to the customers' docks.

The geographic scope of Climate Cool™ certification is intended to be international. Indeed, several applications have been received from international groups and active partnerships to build climate neutral certification standards are underway in the UK, Australia and Canada. A company can choose to certify one corporation under its umbrella group as climate neutral. For example, it could certify its US operations as climate neutral, provided that an appropriate percentage of any shared resources (such as corporate headquarters services located overseas) were included in the GHG footprints submitted with the company's application.

Network Tools and Services in Support of Certification

A range of climate neutral tools and services are available to support companies seeking climate neutral certification. Metrics systems are available with Excel spreadsheet support to help calculate greenhouse gas emissions.The metrics systems and other tool sets have been constructed with US emissions factors in place initially. The Network is committed to extending these tools to support international companies seeking certification.

Technical assistance is available from Network staff and from experts within the Network itself to assist companies in calculating these emissions accurately, access and build climate neutral certified offset portfolios and review any questions arising regarding appropriate boundary definitions. This staff support is included as part of the certification fees to a certain level, beyond which additional consulting time may be contracted on an hourly basis.

Process Overview

Companies seeking certification to use the Climate Cool trademark should prepare a Climate Cool™ Certification Application, outlining how they plan to zero-out the emissions from their product or enterprise. This application will be submitted to the Network's Environmental Advisory Board on a confidential basis. The Environmental Advisory Board will evaluate companies' proposals and make a recommendation to the Network's Board of Directors regarding whether a Climate Cool™ certificate should be issued. Summarized below are the steps companies need to take to become climate neutral certified.

Climate Cool™ Certification Process: Summary of Key Steps

  1. Engage with the Network / Build Business Case
    Discussions with Network staff to develop the climate neutral product or enterprise offering best suited to your company's needs and interests
  2. Formalize the Relationship
    Sign confidentiality agreements (PDF*, 15 KB) and certification services agreements formalizing expectations and fees
  3. Footprint Development
    Determine the product or enterprise footprint with help from the Network staff and tools
  4. Offset Strategy Design
    Select either a pre-certified portfolio of offsets or work with the Network to design offsets particular to the company's interests
  5. Application Development
    Create a complete certification application following the guidelines provided by the Network. A description of the requirements for a climate neutral proposal are outlined in more detail in our contract language here (PDF*, 13 KB).
  6. Review
    Pay the agreed certification fees and submit the application for review by a panel made up of members of the Network's Environmental Advisory Board; a first review and a revision review are included with the certification fees; additional reviews may be undertaken on a contract basis
  7. Awarding of Climate Cool™ Certification
    The Environmental Environmental Advisory Board submits its recommendations to the Climate Neutral Network Board, which then grants certification
  8. Launch / Public Relations
    Through existing media contacts and outreach through environmental and business media channels, the Network reaches out with press releases and promotional opportunities
  9. Annual Reviews
    At the end of each of the first five years of certification, prepare an annual review report for the Environmental Advisory Board.

Confidentiality

Climate neutral proposal reviews take place on a confidential basis. The Network has established a set of confidentiality agreements between leading climate neutral companies, Environmental Advisory Board members and the Network itself to ensure that all materials submitted are managed according to strict confidentiality guidelines.

Grandfathering

It is expected that from time to time the Network may seek to revise these standards. Companies that have already received certification for a specified period of time for their product or enterprise based upon a prior set of guidelines will be grandfathered for the duration of that agreement. Should they decide to reapply for certification when the initial agreement expires, they will be expected to submit new proposals that meet the then current set of guidelines.

Annual Follow-up Reviews

Annual follow-up reviews will take place to evaluate companies' actual performance, relative to their original Climate Cool™ Certification Application in order to uphold the integrity and value of the Climate Cool™ Mark for all certified companies.

Full Disclosure of Information

In a cooperative spirit between all leading companies seeking climate neutral certification, companies are asked to fully disclose any potential concerns, such as recent or pending regulatory infractions, which might, in the Network's opinion, serve to undermine or adversely impact the integrity of the Climate Cool™ Mark.

Final Approval

The Environmental Advisory Board will make a recommendation to the Climate Neutral Network's Board of Directors regarding whether a Climate Cool™ application has been successful. Based upon their recommendations, it will be the Network's Board that will make the decision to formally approve climate neutral certification.

Climate Cool™ trademark handling guidelines

A set of Guidelines for Use and Handling of the Climate Cool™ Mark has been established. Click here (PDF*, 15 KB) to review them. These guidelines make up Appendix B of both the Product and Enterprise Certification contract agreements. Companies are asked to make a formal commitment to these Use Guidelines as part of their climate neutral certification application. Companies seeking certification understand that the Climate Cool™ Mark is the property of the Climate Neutral Network and agree to respect this ownership in order to support the combined interests of all climate neutral companies in maximizing the value, integrity and effectiveness which the Climate Cool™ Mark will build.

Fees for Services

Fees for climate neutral certification services are comprised of two main elements: the certification itself and trademark licensing fees. Certification fees tend to range from $5000–$10,000, based upon the size in annual revenues of the company applying; annual follow-up reviews to monitor climate neutral performance are approximately two-thirds of these fees. Climate Cool™ trademark licensing fees are based upon the size of the certified climate neutral portfolio, and are currently set at 50 cents/ton of CO2.

Additional Network Services: Beyond Certification

The Network also offers a series of services, beyond certification, as part of its Learning Network activities. These are generally tailored to the interests of certified companies, cities and entities and include:
  • Business to Business Networking
  • Implementation Support Services (e.g., assistance in measuring the incremental value created through climate neutral certification)
  • Advocacy (to support treatment in future regulatory systems that will provide baseline protection, for example, for climate neutral certification commitments)
  • Network Learning Workshops (ranging across a broad range of topics, co-designed by Network members, which focus on challenges and opportunities that they wish to pursue)
Please fill out our Interest Statement form to start the process!

To contact Heather Christine Tischbein, Executive Director, please send e-mail to: Heather@ClimateNeutralNetwork.org
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