Hot off the presses, we've published our 2023 Climate Neutral Certified Standard, which describes all requirements for entities completing certification in 2023. The Standard covers work required to measure past emissions, compensate for them, and invest in future reductions.**
We update the Standard annually for two reasons: to increase the rigor of our program, and to incorporate new information. Climate change is not slowing down, and each year brings us one year closer to 2050. As the urgency increases, the bar gets higher. At the same time, carbon markets are changing rapidly, as are the opportunities to cut emissions from corporate value chains. Our updates to the Standard reflect the new information that we gather from year to year.
Our Standard walks through the requirements needed to attain Climate Neutral certification. In creating one, uniform Standard that all brands follow, regardless of size or industry, we ensure that the Climate Neutral Certified label means the same thing for everyone. I’ll talk through this year’s main changes to each section of the Standard below.
This year, we have new data requirements for how certifying brands measure their cradle to customer emissions. Brands are strongly encouraged to use actual (vs. estimated) data for Scope 1 and 2 measurement. Additionally, brands are encouraged to use physical data for emissions Scopes & Categories that make up at least 5% of total emissions. Any brand that sets a science-aligned target through Climate Neutral will be required to use physical data for Scope 1 & 2 emissions starting in their second certification year.
New this year, we are establishing two Checkpoint Years in 2025 and 2028 where brands will be required to demonstrate progress towards reduction actions and science-aligned targets. Our goal in establishing Checkpoint Years is to hold brands accountable for their important reduction work, but acknowledge that even if effort towards reduction work is linear, outcomes are often nonlinear. Other reduction requirements remain in place from our 2022 Standard.
For 2023 we are establishing an “open allocation” for brands to fulfill up to 5% of their required compensation with carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits that have not received third party verification. This open allocation is specific to CDR projects that are not eligible for verification because they come from emerging technologies or processes. It does not include projects that are eligible for, but have failed to receive, verification under an accepted registry, or projects that have been verified under a standard that is ineligible.
We have also added an exclusion on cryptocurrency tokens as a means of making compensation investments.
All Climate Neutral Certified brands are required to disclose their emissions, annual contribution toward carbon credits, reduction action targets, and their progress towards past reduction action plans during their annual certification cycle. There are no changes to our disclosure requirements each year.
We recognize that corporate reduction work is one important piece to big-picture climate mitigation along with other key drivers like policy and individual action. For this reason, we’ve developed new goals for all certified brands to participate in some form of climate advocacy, whether it relates to climate lobbying, internal climate literacy, or consumer education, during every certification year. These are optional actions that will engage our brands in the broader conversation about the importance of their climate work.
We are excited to continue to push our brands to create the greatest possible impact through their work in the certification process.
As you scan through our website and updated Standard, you’ll notice that we’ve changed how we talk about our framework: it’s gone from Measure | Offset | Reduce to Measure | Reduce | Compensate. We’ll use this new framework because it makes more sense to more people than the old one. It changes nothing about our mission to inspire brands to invest in internal reduction work while compensating at each step along the way for all of their past emissions.
--------------------------
Header photo by Jonas Jacobsson on Unsplash
Stay up to date with Climate Neutral!
Subscribe to the latest news and announcements from our team.
Austin Whitman is the CEO of The Change Climate Project. He started working on climate and clean energy 19 years ago and believes companies and individuals can make a huge difference for the climate if they're just shown how. When he's not engrossed in organization-building, he's probably with his family or being an amateur at one of his many hobbies.
.png)
In late 2023, we launched a multi-year project to update our certification framework and introduce a new climate label by 2025. Our aim is to create a certification that is both clear and motivating for companies. Over the past 10 months, we engaged with NGOs, certified brands, and other stakeholders, conducted a public survey, and beta-tested with over 20 companies. This process has gathered extensive feedback, which will shape the final 2025 Standard, set to be revealed during Climate Week NYC in late September. This blog post previews 4 key takeaways from the stakeholder process.
Companies need to ramp up their financial contribution to climate solutions, spend those funds on the right things, and publicly disclose this capital allocation to stakeholders. So that begs the question: how should each company determine its next steps? What level of investment is needed to decarbonize?
.png)
At a moment when report after report shows the world is nowhere near its climate goals, the corporate climate movement is slowing down - not speeding up. For the past decade, thousands of companies raced to set ambitious, long-term targets for emissions reduction. But few if any are meeting those targets.
Sign up to receive the latest news and announcements from the Climate Neutral team.
Sign up to receive the latest news and announcements from the Climate Neutral team.
