The Climate Label Certified Standard

Entities seeking certification in 2025 are required to count their cradle-to-customer emissions from the full 2024 calendar year. This includes emissions related to all products, services, and business activities. Fiscal year data can be used as long as six or more months overlap with the 2024 calendar year.

Measurement boundaries are based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and include all Scope 1 emissions, all Scope 2 emissions, and 8 out of the 15 categories of Scope 3 emissions, as shown below.

* Required for Finance and Investment Firms — Certifying entities with significant financial holdings must also measure Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3.15 emissions following PCAF standards. Institutions assumed to have significant financial holdings include asset managers/owners, retail and commercial banks, insurance companies (when functioning as asset managers), real estate investment trusts (REITs), and companies with at least 5% of revenue associated with these activities.

Use of verifiable activity data vs. estimated data: Certifying entities are strongly encouraged to use activity data or physical data for Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and Scope 3 categories with emissions equal to or more than 5% of the total inventory. Companies with science-aligned reduction targets are required to use activity data or physical data (e.g., kilowatt-hours, not dollars spent on electricity) for Scopes 1 & 2 starting in their second annual certification year.

While all GHG inventories must follow the boundaries defined in Table 1, measurement and verification requirements depend on the certifying entity’s annual revenues.¹ Once the GHG inventory has been submitted, TCCP evaluators will review it for compliance with the Standard.

When required, all third-party carbon inventory verifications should follow these five common principles: relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency, and accuracy. Assurance reports must conform to one of these standards: ISO 14064-3, ISAE3000, ISAE 3410, or Corporate GHG verification guidelines from ERT. Assurance reports must specify the level of assurance provided by the report as either limited or reasonable.

Third-party verifiers (e.g. environmental auditors or consultants) must be able to demonstrate the following:

• At least five years of corporate history working in carbon accounting and/or lifecycle analysis at product and company levels, with at least 25 documented client engagements involving corporate or product level footprints.

• At least five years of corporate history auditing and/or verifying corporate GHG footprints of companies with over $100 million in annual revenue.

• At least five years of corporate history auditing and/or verifying corporate GHG footprints of companies with over $100 million in annual revenue.

• Ability to act as an unbiased third party in the verification process. 

• At least five years of corporate history with one or more of the third-party verification standards referenced in this Section 2d.

Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs, such as RECs and GOs) that are bundled with or unbundled from energy purchases may be used to make “market-based” adjustments to the Scope 2 emissions tied to electricity consumption. Inventory submissions should include both location-based and market-based totals, where applicable, and all Climate Transition Budget calculations (see Section 3) will use the market-based total.

Vintages of all EACs used to make market adjustments must match the emissions year or the certification year. For example, when considering 2024 Scope 2 emissions, EACs must have a vintage of 2024 or 2025. EACs must originate within the market where the electricity consumption occurs.

If there is a question about the eligibility of renewable energy instruments, TCCP evaluators will defer to the GHG Protocol.

In the case of errors or omissions that exceed a 5% materiality threshold from a prior submission, the certified entity is required to restate emissions from the affected year(s). In the case of lower restated emissions, companies may carry forward, up to one year, any excess invested Climate Transition Budget amounts. In the case of higher restated emissions, companies are encouraged to cover any prior year Climate Transition Budget deficits.

The Climate Transition Budget (CTB) is a company’s minimum total required investment in the Net Zero transition, and brings financial structure and transparency to corporate climate transition plans.

Certifying entities must calculate a CTB to determine the minimum amount they must invest in qualifying projects across Value Chain Abatement (VCA), Beyond Value Chain (BVC), and Other Contributions to the net-zero transition (defined in Sections 4-6) in order to achieve certification. Companies are encouraged to exceed the minimum.

The CTB is the product of the total GHG inventory (tCO2e) and the carbon fee for the year in which certification occurs (see Table 3). A preliminary CTB can be calculated for planning purposes at any time during Measurement. A final CTB must be calculated using assured inventory data.

A minimum portion of the CTB must be allotted to qualifying VCA projects (defined in Section 4), following the minimum percentages in Table 4. There is no cap.²

The portion of the CTB that is not allotted to VCA must be invested in a combination of BVC projects and Other Contributions, following the requirements below. A maximum of 15% of the CTB may be allotted to Other Contributions.

Timing of VCA investment can include new expenditures (capital or operating) made or accrued during four consecutive quarters in the certification year and/or the emissions year³ that contribute toward reducing value chain emissions. Certifying entities may choose their time frame based on their spending and budgeting practices.

BVC investment and Other Contributions can take place during the emissions year or the certification year, up to the date of submission.

Qualifying Value Chain Abatement (VCA) investments include projects undertaken to reduce emissions within a company’s direct operations or supply chain. Common ways to reduce emissions include fuel switching, installation of clean energy, and use of low carbon materials.

Refer to the Technical Appendix for documentation requirements for VCA investments.

Carbon credits must be verified according to one of the following standards: Gold Standard, Verified Carbon Standard, Climate Action Reserve, American Carbon Registry, or European Biochar Certificate.

If the certifying entity has over $100 million in annual revenues, it must set a science-aligned reduction target for 2030. This target applies to all emissions included in Table 1. The target can be a default target of 50% absolute reductions based on a 2024 emissions baseline, a target validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative, or a well documented science-aligned target that is sector specific. Entities with less than $100 million in annual revenues are strongly encouraged to set a 2030 science-aligned target.

All re-certifying entities must annually submit the following data to enable tracking of progress toward reduction action plans and science-aligned targets:

• Absolute emissions
• Emissions intensity
• Reduction Action Plan completion status

Certifying entities should aim to complete RAPs within two years of setting them, and should demonstrate emission reductions in line with their science-aligned targets or a general goal of 50% reduction by 2030.

Qualifying Beyond Value Chain (BVC) investments include market-based instruments to accelerate the net-zero transition outside of the value chain. Common instruments include carbon credits, carbon removals, and unbundled Energy Attribute Certificates.

The level of BVC investment must be determined based on the VCA threshold requirements in Section 3a.

Refer to the Technical Appendix for documentation requirements for BVC investments.

Carbon credits must be verified under methodologies from one of the following carbon crediting programs: Gold Standard, Verified Carbon Standard, Climate Action Reserve, American Carbon Registry, or European Biochar Certificate.

In addition, all carbon credits that meet the ICVCM’s Core Carbon Principles (“CCP-approved methodologies”) as of the date of purchase are eligible, as long as they meet the vintage year restrictions in Section 5b.

Carbon credits from project categories that have specifically received a status of “Rejected” on the ICVCM website, before the date of purchase, are not eligible to be used toward certification.

All carbon credits from forestry and land-use projects must have a vintage year from 2018 to 2024. All carbon credits from other project types must have a vintage year from 2021 to 2024.

All carbon credit purchases must be from the approved project categories and types in Table 7. Certifying entities are encouraged, but not required, to follow the portfolio allocation principles outlined in the Oxford Principles for Net-Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting.

Certifying entities are encouraged, but not required, to evaluate third-party project ratings from providers including BeZero, Calyx Global, Renoster, and Sylvera.

Expenditures on RECs, GOs, and other EACs such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) credits and zero-emission shipping credits may count toward the BVC allocation, provided that they have not already been used to make market-based adjustments to emissions reported anywhere in the GHG inventory.

Up to 15% of the total investment in BVC projects may fund market-based instruments that do not conform to the requirements above, because they are not verified under one or more of the standards listed in Section 5a, and/or have not yet been issued and retired. This provision is intended to shape the markets by encouraging supply-side growth for high quality projects, emerging methodologies, and early-stage CDR markets. Examples include carbon removal purchases, Advanced Market Commitments, and offtake agreements.

Qualifying Other Contributions include investments that are expected to indirectly accelerate the global Net Zero transition. Combined investment in these categories may not exceed 15% of the CTB.  

Refer to the Technical Appendix for documentation requirements for Other Contribution investments.

Certified entities are strongly encouraged to engage in lobbying, education and stakeholder (e.g. customer, supplier, employee, consumer) mobilization efforts in support of climate solutions. Applications for certification must include a brief summary of such activities completed in the prior calendar year. This reporting will not be made public, but should generally include one or more of the following activities:

1. Climate Lobbying: Support climate policy at any political level directly or in collaboration with an advocacy or trade organization.
2. Internal Climate Literacy: Engage your team in The Climate Label certification process and conduct education sessions to increase staff understanding of climate issues.
3. Consumer Climate Literacy: Engage consumers in The Climate Label certification process and importance of climate action.

In addition, use of the certified marks in marketing is an important form of advocacy. Re-certifying companies must provide evidence of at least one (1) example of the label in use on either digital or physical materials.

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Entities with active certifications must disclose the following information in the Brand Profile Directory on the public website of The Change Climate Project:

1. GHG inventory totals for the emissions year, categorized as Scope 1, 2, and/or 3 emissions, including any emissions corrections/adjustments. Reporting of historical total emissions by year is also strongly encouraged
2. Total annual emissions intensity figures for the emissions year and all available prior certification years
3. Summary of reduction action plans and science-aligned targets (if set)
4. Progress toward past reduction action plans
5. Total amount of the CTB and investment allocations to VCA projects, BVC projects, and Other Contributions
6. A list of the project types supported by BVC investments
7. Types of products and/or services provided by the certifying entity

All entities certifying for the first time must comply with the version of the Climate Neutral Certified Standard for the applicable certification year. 

Transition periods will not apply to changes in the requirements for purchasing carbon avoidance or removal credits / offsets. Certifying entities with pre-existing multi-year offtake agreements that do not conform to the Standard will be considered on a case-by-case basis.