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Review & Certification ServicesThe 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:
Please fill out our Interest Statement form to begin! Summary OverviewCertification OptionsCompanies can seek to have the following certified:
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 CertificationA 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 OverviewCompanies 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
ConfidentialityClimate 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.
GrandfatheringIt 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 ReviewsAnnual 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 InformationIn 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 ApprovalThe 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 guidelinesA 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 ServicesFees 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 CertificationThe 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:
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