The Climate Neutral Network Gold Standard

Climate Cool products, services, and enterprises are those that reduce or offset the greenhouse gas emissions with which they are associated to achieve a net zero impact on the earth's climate. A principal goal of the Network is to completely offset the greenhouse gases generated at each stage of the life-cycle of a product or service: the sourcing of its materials; its manufacturing or production; and its distribution, use, and ultimate end-of-life disposition. Companies or institutions that offset all of the gases resulting from the full spectrum of their internal operations can also receive Climate Cool enterprise certification.

Global-warming gases can be offset in a variety of ways ranging from investing in technologies that dramatically reduce carbon emissions, such as renewable energy, highly fuel-efficient vehicles or energy-efficient lighting in public schools, to the planting of trees, which absorb global-warming gases.

What Is The Climate Neutral "Gold Standard"?

The Design Principles provide the bedrock upon which companies' investments and reductions will be founded in order to earn consumers' trust and credibility.

Companies may choose to submit their draft Climate Cool strategies to the Network's Environmental Review Group for confidential review and certification.

Reductions vs. Offsets

Equipment upgrades, improvements in process and operations efficiency, and the use of renewable energy technologies are all examples of internal reduction activities that could be used as part of a Climate Cool certification application.

External offset projects might include energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects such as installing energy efficient lighting in a public school or purchasing rooftop photovoltaic systems for a community center. Offsets can also be made through greenhouse gas sequestration projects like the conservation and management of threatened forests or planting trees in a public park or urban setting.

Climate Neutral Design Principles

I. Climate Neutral Market Innovations are Designed to:

1. Create new powerful choices for consumers, employees and companies:

   Individuals and organizations can choose to invest in Climate Neutral products and services to offset their climate impacts as an optional, voluntary investment.

   These transactions can be facilitated at any point of purchase — through any companies, NGOs or other organizations with whom they are affiliated.

2. Create new Climate Cool products:

   Climate Neutral products or services are determined to completely offset the greenhouse gases generated across each stage of their life-cycle — including the sourcing of its materials, its manufacturing or production, its distribution, use, and ultimate end-of-life disposition.

   Climate Cool warranties would apply to products such as cars or appliances (which consume a lot of energy /fuel during use or have ambiguous lifetime durations) to cover the majority of emissions from both manufacturing and use (e.g. 60,000 miles for cars).

3. Empower new Climate Cool Enterprises:

   A company can choose to become a Climate Neutral enterprise by offsetting the climate impacts of its internal operations across critical areas, including manufacturing, administration, transport of product to customers etc.

   A network "metrics system" paper is available to outline and help estimate these enterprise emissions.

   Companies can also offset individual components of its internal operations embracing Climate Neutral through a series of incremental steps to create a series of "ramp-up" options which nonetheless maintain the integrity of the brand.

4. Maintain Credibility and Integrity of the Climate Cool Brand:

   Products or projects which would, in the view of the Network's board, undermine the credibility of the initiative or the integrity of the Climate Neutral brand — due to inconsistencies with the purpose of the trademark/organization for example — may be refused the Climate Neutral mark.

   The board reserves the right to refuse accreditation to any application that it concludes is not in the best interests of the brand. "Climate Neutral hummers," for example, could pose such integrity problems!

5. Reward early movers:

   Given pending legislation regarding early action crediting, the Network reserves the right to refine these principles further at a later date to ensure that companies' early Climate Neutral commitments would not be undermined by any future regulatory requirements.

   A Climate Cool enterprise might therefore be able to draw upon its Climate Neutral investments to assure its compliance with new regulatory systems; Climate Neutral investments made way in excess of these compliance requirements would not be available to enable other companies to increase their emissions since they would be permanently retired (see II-F on next page).

   A Climate Cool enterprise should therefore be able to draw upon its Climate Neutral investments to assure compliance with new regulatory systems since our intentions are to go beyond compliance, provided future regulatory systems are designed accordingly.

   Reductions could be registered to protect companies' baselines in any future allocation system — but not to obtain saleable credits.

   Although the Network seeks to promote future regulatory compliance as a result of companies Climate Cool commitments, it cannot guarantee such compliance nor be held liable in any way for requirements or liabilities resulting from future regulatory systems.

6. Encourage tax benefits:

   The network supports a proactive tax treatment for Climate Cool investments such that companies or individuals could benefit from appropriate tax deductions as a result of their investments — for example, by retiring them through donations to a not-for-profit — since this could increase the value of the benefits received.

   Companies seeking Climate Cool certification understand, however, that the Network cannot be liable for any future IRS rulings or interpretations in this regard.