We are pleased to announce the 2021 update to Climate Neutral’s Standards, which will apply to all brands certifying in 2022. These standards are the requirements of the Climate Neutral certification process.
Our goal is for the standards to be clear and easy to understand by both brands and consumers, rigorous but achievable, and unambiguous for all who get certified. We want consumers to feel confident knowing that all Climate Neutral Certified brands have measured their cradle-to-customer carbon emissions, compensated for them fully with verified carbon credits, and begun working to reduce future emissions.
We update the standards each year to ensure our process reflects the best available information on climate mitigation and carbon markets. The update process is an in-depth review conducted with outside experts (you can learn more about that process here).
Our standards are broken into five sections: Measurement, Offsetting, Reduction Actions, Disclosure, and Standards Transition. We’ll go through the main highlights and changes to the standards below. For more detail, please refer to the complete 2022 Climate Neutral Standards.
We made no substantial changes to our measurement process in our 2022 Standards. Our measurement requirements outline how brands of different sizes are expected to measure their footprints, and the boundaries they are expected to follow in the certification process. All brands are required to measure cradle-to-customer emissions.
Our offsetting standards set boundaries on the different kinds of carbon credits that brands can invest in, including some specifications on location, the year a credit is issued, the list of eligible verification standards, and how brands may purchase credits. This year, we are removing Clean Development Mechanism credits from our eligibility list, although credits with CDM methodologies that are appear in accepted registries such as Gold Standard and Voluntary Carbon Standard are still permitted.
We also will no longer be requiring brands to meet specific portfolio allocation targets for different project types. Instead, we will be internally tracking purchased credits based on three project categories: Energy and industry, natural climate solutions, and engineered carbon removals. Brands will be required to report on how their credits fit within these three categories, and are strongly encouraged to follow our suggested portfolio allocation targets for these three categories.
All brands are required to set two reduction action targets that outline emission reduction strategies to occur over the next 12-24 months. We have two new changes to our reduction action standards this year. First, we’ll be requiring brands with over $5 million in annual revenues to set a reduction action target focus on value chain or Scope 3 emissions. Second, we will be requiring all brands with over $100 million in annual revenues to adopt science-aligned 2030 reduction targets, or targets that are in line with the Paris Agreement’s goals to limit global warming to 1.5oC.
Our disclosure standards outline what information brands must share on their Climate Neutral Brand Profile pages. This includes total footprint, US dollar amount spent on carbon credits, and a summary of committed reduction action plans. This disclosure requirement keeps brands accountable for their reduction actions and helps us align our certification with important neutrality standards.
Finally, new this year, we are introducing a standards transition period to allow brands some wiggle room to adapt to larger changes to the standards. During our annual standards review process, we’ll discuss whether or not to allow a transition period for recertifying brands to meet new standards. Transition periods in a given year will only apply brands that are re-certifying, not those who are certifying for the first time.
We look forward to continuing to drive immediate and ambitious impact in 2022 with these new standards!
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At this stage in the game, it’s baffling that such a fundamental question remains unanswered: how - and how much - are companies investing in the climate transition? The proposed Standard will look directly at this question.
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Every corporate sustainability leader who is now laying out a climate plan for 2024 or 2025 will wonder at some point: should I spend money on carbon credits?
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Thousands of people around the world study emission factors full time, and their research improves the data so that we can better understand the impacts. We just finished updating the emission factor library in our measurement tools, an annual process that brings our datasets - tens of thousands of emission factors - up to date with the latest releases and scientific research.
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