Review & Certification Services

Summary Overview

Purpose

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 "gold standard" endorsement. The bases for this "gold standard" are the Climate Neutral Network's Design Principles. The Design Principles can help companies develop a portfolio of projects that is scientifically sound, highly credible, and that merits broad stakeholder support. Companies seeking certification should submit their Climate Neutral strategies to the Network's Environmental Advisory Board for confidential review and accreditation, as described below.

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 Neutral certification is intended to be international. Indeed, several applications have been received from international groups and active partnerships to build Climate Neutral certifications 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 Neutral trademark should prepare a Climate Neutral 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 Review Group on a confidential basis. Staffed by leading environmentalists from the Network's Advisory Board, the Review Group will evaluate companies' proposals in the light of the expectations established by the Design Principles and make a recommendation to the Network's Board of Directors regarding whether a Climate Neutral certificate should be issued. Summarized below are the "10 steps" companies need to take to become Climate Neutral certified.

Climate Neutral Certification Process: Summary of Key Steps

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
Formalize the Relationship
Sign confidentiality agreements (PDF*, 15 KB) and certification services agreements formalizing expectations and fees
Footprint Development
Determine the product or enterprise footprint with help from the Network staff and tools
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
Application Development
Create a complete certification application following the guidelines provided by the Network
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
Awarding of Climate Neutral Certification
The Environmental Review Panel submits its recommendations to the Climate Neutral Network Board, which then grants certification
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
Additional Value-added Business Development Services
Participate in the Network's Buyer's Group, Implementation Support Services, and Networking and Advocacy services that help the newly-certified product or service find the widest and most creative markets.
Annual Reviews (PDF*, 8 KB)
At the end of each of the first five years of certification, prepare an annual review report for the Environmental Review Panel.

Climate Neutral Certification Application: Key Elements to Include

Example: Shaklee Corporation's successful Climate Neutral Enterprise application. A description of the requirements for a Climate Neutral proposal are outlined in more detail in our contract language here (PDF*, 13 KB).

Key elements to include, however, include:

An estimate of the climate impacts for the product line/s or enterprise for which you are seeking Climate Neutral certification
- Including CO₂ and other relevant climate gases
- Based upon the Network product and enterprise metrics systems, which are, for the most part, based on companies' internal data and national average coefficients. Very occasionally, where concentrated sources of climate gas emissions are contained in a company's raw material purchases, average factor loadings would be inaccurate and cooperation with key suppliers in creating these estimates may be needed.
An outline of the internal reductions and/or offset purchases which the company intends to make in order to eliminate these climate impacts, and a summary of how and why this "portfolio" of climate reductions meets the expectations laid out in the Design Principles
A summary of the measurement and verification system which the company will put in place (either directly or managed by your brokers or other partners) to ensure that both the climate impacts and the corresponding reductions which you targeted have indeed been achieved. Such monitoring and verification will be undertaken at the companies' own expense.
- Ideally, this section would provide an indication of the kind of action the company intends to take should variances arise
A summary of the efforts undertaken to achieve greenhouse reductions "onsite" as a testimony to the company's outstanding performance in reducing greenhouse gas emissions internally.
Suggestions the company would like to offer to the Review Panel regarding the measurement parameters by which its Climate Neutral performance could be tracked and evaluated on an annual basis to provide the foundations upon which future annual reviews can be agreed upon up-front

Climate Neutral certified companies are expected to inform the Network of any substantial material changes in a product or enterprise's Climate Neutral status so that steps to adjust the Climate Neutral Certification Application to these new circumstances can be agreed with the Review Panel.

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, Review Panel 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 Design Principles' standards 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 Design Principles.

Annual Follow-up Reviews

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

Full Disclose 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 Neutral Mark.

Final Approval

The Review Group will make a recommendation to the Climate Neutral Network's Board of Directors regarding whether a Climate Neutral application has been successful. Based upon their recommendations, it will be the Network's Board that will take the decision to formally approve Climate Neutral certification.

Climate Neutral trademark handling guidelines

A set of Guidelines for Use and Handling of the Climate Neutral 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 Neutral 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 Neutral 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 Neutral 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
Climate Neutral Buyers Club (to support Climate Neutral product marketing efforts)
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)

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