how to get the
Climate Neutral Product certification
A 3-step processes aimed at verifying compliance with Climate Neutrality Standards
What can be certified
Any product and service that has been on the market for at least 1-year can apply for verification of the requirements.
Events are also products even if are punctual in time and do not repeat themselves.
The verification is done by Climate Standard which assesses climate performance, transparency and accountability.
After the approval, the certification lasts for 1 year.
In order to achieve certification, a company must submit:
Product/service annual carbon footprint (recent)
The methodologies to be followed will be GHGP for product standard and ISO 14067.
Complete offsetting strategy
100% of the last year’s emissions must be offset by purchasing high-quality carbon credits.
Reduction strategy based on SMART pledges
The brand must plan and implement a reduction strategy to reduce future emissions based on formal and SMART pledges.
Statement of accuracy and completeness of the data
A statement by a legal representative of the company regarding the truthfulness, accuracy and completeness of the information submitted during the verification.
About the verification process
You can choose to start the application by contacting Climate Standard via the dedicated page or one of our consulting partners.
The verification process takes an average of 1 to 2 weeks but depends on the completeness of the information and response time to queries and documentation requests.
Read our requirements
You can download and read the specification of the Climate Neutral Certification for free
Do you still have doubts?
Read a brief introduction to the requirements
STEP 1
Product annual carbon footprint
Submitting a recent product/service annual carbon footprint and the total amount of emissions produced by the product’s line in the related year are the essential first step.
The methodologies to be followed will be GHGP product standard, ISO 14041 and ISO 14067.
Your product/service’s carbon footprint must represent 1-year of recent operations and can start at any time.
Emissions out of your operations always seem the hardest obstacle, but do not let perfection be the enemy of good.
We know you have to take various assumptions, but focusing first on the most important operations in your value chain will help you unpack upstream and downstream processes.
Free tools, specialized consultants, and our team can certainly help in the process.
It is not necessary to have your corporate carbon footprint certified. If you have a certified carbon footprint it is definitely better but it is not mandatory.
Certifying a carbon footprint costs a lot of money and you should spend that budget on doing emission management (offsetting and reducing).
No need, we will provide you with all the preset files to fill out. It will be easier for you to fill everything in and for us to analyze the data through our automated process and identify any missed data.
STEP 2
Complete offsetting strategy
You must offset 100% of your carbon footprint through the purchase of eligible and high-quality Carbon Credits.
The carbon credits purchased must meet specific requirements such as independent auditing bodies, vintage, reversal, leakage and mix strategy.
It is good to seek support from our team or specialized consultants to ensure that you do not fall into greenwashing.
Each carbon credit represents 1 metric ton of CO2e removed from the planet.
Simply put, carbon credits allow you to invest money in climate change solutions. With carbon credits, we support tree planting, combat deforestation, restore ecosystems, help generate more green energy in developing countries, and develop technologies that absorb CO2 from the air.
The requirements are divided into 4 demands:
1) Credits must be certified by international body such as Verified Carbon Standard, Gold Standard, PlanVivo or PuroEarth or be anaylized directly by our team.
2) Credits must be from projects located in developing countries (as defined by the IMF), with the exception of long-term carbon removal projects.
3) Credits from “avoided or reduced emissions without storage” projects must have been issued for up to 4 years, while up to 7 years in other cases.
4) Credits from “emissions avoided or reduced without storage” can offset up to 50 percent of total emissions.
No, as a certification body, Climate Standard does not sell or trade carbon credits but we can help you identify green projects that best suit your brand.
STEP 3
Reduction strategy based on Pledges
You must submit formal pledges to reduce future emissions.
Each Pledge targets a category of emissions (materials, production, distribution, use, and end-of-life) and must indicate how many emissions will be reduced, through which strategy and must be achieved in less than 12, 24 or 36 months.
These Pledges must be concrete and reflect the steps your team is prepared to take.
Pledges (or commitments) are specific, measurable, assignable, realistic goals with a date by which they must be implemented.
An example of a SMART Pledge is: “We will switch to 100% renewable energy use within 24 months through the purchase and internal production of green energy, thereby cutting nearly 100% of the emissions associated with energy use and 30% of total emissions.”
To achieve this certification, Pledges must target the 5 product emission categories (materials, production, distribution, use, and end-of-life), as described in the certification guidelines.
For brands with annual revenue of less than 50 million, identification of at least 2 emission reduction targets in one or more of the 5 emission categories are required.
For brands with annual revenue greater than 50 million, identification of at least 1 emission reduction target in each of the 5 emission categories is required.
As an alternative to this file, the brand can upload in the private area of the platform a Science-Based Target initiative certification.
Transparency means reliability
We are very serious about transparency.
After analyzing and confirming the presence of climate neutrality requirements, we aggregate the data to make it easy to understand and publish them here.
So you can trust your favourite company!
Get certified!
Apply for certification
SME: 1-2 days
Large Brands: 1-2 days
If you do not yet have the requirements, we can help you figure out how to get them and, if needed, point you to the best consultants in your area to support you in carrying out the application.
If you already have all the requirements, ask us your unique credentials and proceed with the submission of the documentation by following the steps indicated just inside the private area.
If everything is in order, our validation system will give us a “green light”, at which point one of our team will review the application and give you an answer within a few hours.
If so, with the signing of a license to use the Climate Standard mark and label, you will be able to report that you have been certified. The team will help you understand how to create maximum value through corporate communications.
In addition, you don’t have to worry about tedious and costly unplanned on-site audits. From Year 2, however, we will ask you to participate in periodic interviews to understand how your emission reduction Pledges are progressing.
Your status lasts for 1 year after the approval.
At the end of the year, the process will have to be repeated. It will be up to the brand to re-apply and adjust to any changes in certification requirements.
Max reliability for customers
We are very serious about transparency.
After validation, we create a web page dedicated to the brand’s product certified to publicise how the brand has achieved climate neutrality. You can see examples on our website.
This means maximizing transparency, reducing risks and engaging your stakeholders.
We are very serious about transparency.
After validation, Climate Standard creates a web page dedicated to the product’s brand to publicise how the brand has achieved climate neutrality. You can see examples on our website.
