01 Eligibility
Eligible Certifying Entities
The Climate Neutral Certified Standard represents a leading approach to climate action by consumer goods and business services companies. Companies can seek certification of a corporate entity, subsidiary, or brand, but not of individual products or services. To protect the integrity and reputation of the Climate Neutral Certification and marks, companies within sectors that appear on the Restrictions on Eligibility for Certification list are ineligible for Climate Neutral Certification.
Although the focus of Climate Neutral Certification is corporate brands, non-brand entities, such as events or film projects, may be eligible to achieve certification if they align with the mission and goals of The Change Climate Project (TCCP), which administers the Climate Neutral Certified Standard.
02 Measurement
Requirements for Greenhouse Gas Measurement
a. Measurement Boundaries
Entities seeking certification in 2024 are required to count their cradle-to-customer emissions from the full calendar year 2023, or an overlapping full fiscal 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 calendar year 2023. Measurement boundaries are based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and include all of Scope 1 emissions, all of Scope 2 emissions, and 8 out of the 15 categories of Scope 3 emissions, as shown below.
Table 1: Climate Neutral Certified measurement boundary requirements
scope 1
Direct Emissions
- Fossil fuels used at your facilities
- Fuel consumed by your vehicles
scope 2
Indirect Emissions
- Electricity used at your facilities
- Steam bought and used at your facilities
scope 3
Table 1
* Required for Finance and Investment Firms - Certifying entities with significant financial holdings must also measure Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3.15 emissions. Institutions assumed to have significant financial holdings include asset management/asset 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.
b. Data Requirements
Use of verifiable activity data vs. estimated data: Certifying entities are strongly encouraged to provide actual metered or billed data, rather than modeled estimates, for Scopes 1 & 2.
Use of activity data: Certifying entities are strongly encouraged to use activity data or physical data for emissions Scopes & Categories where emissions are equal to or more than 5% of the total footprint. Companies with science-aligned reduction targets are required to use activity data or physical data (i.e. kWh, not dollars spent on electricity) for Scopes 1 & 2 starting in their second annual certification year.
c. GHG Measurement and Verification
While all GHG inventory submissions must follow the boundaries defined in Table 1, how you measure your emissions depends on your annual revenues. In cases where multiple subsidiary brands within a larger company seek to achieve certification, the combined revenue of all certified entities will be used to determine certification requirements.
Once GHG inventory has been completed, our staff will review your submission and evaluate it for compliance with the Standard.
Table 2: Verification Requirements
Small brands:
2023 revenues below $5 million
Estimate your emissions using the Business Emissions Evaluator (BEE) or equivalent pre-approved tool using sector, geography, financial, and other firmographic data.
Medium brands:
2023 revenues $5-100 million
Prepare a measurement report, detailing total emissions by scope and category, generated using the Business Emissions Evaluator (BEE), a third-party calculator, or an internally-built tool, as long as it aligns to the GHG Protocol and meets measurement boundary requirements. Third party verification is not required.
Large brands:
2023 revenues above $100 million
Prepare a measurement report, detailing total emissions by scope and category, can be generated using the Business Emissions Evaluator (BEE), a third-party calculator, or an internally-built tool, as long as it aligns to the GHG Protocol and meets measurement boundary requirements. A third-party verifier must review the inventory (see below).
Table 2
d. Requirements for Third-party Verification
All verification reports should follow these five common principles of carbon footprint verification: relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency, and accuracy.
Verifications must conform to one of these standards: ISO 14064-3, ISAE3000, ISAE 3410, or Corporate GHG verification guidelines from ERT. Verification 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.
- Ability to demonstrate independent control and ownership from the company under review to avoid any conflicts of interest.
- 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 2(d).
e. Counting Renewable Energy Purchases
Energy Attribute Certificates (such as RECs and GOs) that are bundled or unbundled with energy purchases may be used to make “market-based” adjustments to the total emissions from your electricity consumption.
The Standard requires that vintages of any Energy Attribute Certificates used for compliance be purchased within the certification year or one year prior. For example, when considering 2023 Scope 2 emissions, you must purchase RECs or GOs with a vintage of 2022 or later. All RECs and GOs used for compliance must also take place on the same grid subregion as your Scope 2 electricity consumption.
If there is a question about the eligibility of renewable energy instruments in the case of your pending certification, TCCP certifiers will reference the GHG Protocol guidance.
f. Corrections to Measurement Reports
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 bank excess carbon credits to be used for future years of Climate Neutral Certification, provided that the credits meet current requirements of the Standard. In the case of higher restated emissions, companies are encouraged to cover any carbon credit purchase deficits.
03 Reductions
Requirements for Investing in Value Chain Reductions
Certifying entities are required to create a Reduction Action Plan using Change Climate’s template that shows progress toward reducing emissions from products and services. Action plans must include a minimum of two measures that will reduce emissions within the next 12-24 months. If a certifying entity has annual revenues over $5 million, it must identify at least one reduction measure that applies to Scope 3 emissions. To recertify, reduction plans must include reports on progress made toward prior years’ reduction actions.
a. Target Setting Requirements
If the certifying entity has over $100 million in annual revenues, it is required to create 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 2023 emissions baseline, a target approved under 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 2030 science-aligned targets.
In cases where multiple subsidiary brands within a larger company seek to achieve certification, TCCP certifiers will use the combined revenue of all certified brands to determine certification requirements.
b. Checkpoint Year Requirements
Success toward reduction actions and science-aligned targets will be closely evaluated in Checkpoint Years set in 2025 and 2028. Certified entities will be required to evaluate and report on progress towards the following goals:
Checkpoint Year 2025 Goals:
- All RAPs set through 2023 should be complete.
- Clearly report on progress toward targeted year-over-year emissions reductions.
- You should be roughly 50% toward completing 2030 target requirements, if applicable.*
Checkpoint Year 2028 Goals:
- All RAPs established through 2026 should be complete.
- You should be roughly 80% toward completing 2030 target requirements, if applicable.*
* Failure to match exact Checkpoint Year reduction plan goals may be explained if you can demonstrate that you have significant pending reduction actions, or that you are following a separate but clear reduction plan with custom baseline or target years.
04 Compensation
Requirements for GHG Mitigation Beyond the Value Chain
Certifying entities are required to contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation projects at a level proportional to their measured emissions (all product, services, and operations) by making investments beyond the value chain. Carbon inventories may be adjusted with clean energy purchases made via eligible Energy Attribute Certificates such as RECs or GOs. All carbon credits and/or EACs must meet the following criteria:
a. Third-party Verification
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.
b. Vintage Year Restriction
With the exception of forestry and land-use, all carbon credits must represent avoided emissions or removals from within the four years up to and including the emissions year. For companies getting certified in 2024 for a 2023 emissions footprint, this includes any vintage year from 2020 through 2023. For forestry and land-use projects, all credits must represent emission reductions from within the seven years up to and including the emissions year, which includes any vintage year from 2017 through 2023. There are no requirements for project start dates as long as the credits meet the vintage year requirement.
c. Portfolio Requirements
All carbon credit purchases must be from the approved project categories and types in Table 4. Certifying entities are encouraged, but not required, to follow the Suggested Portfolio Allocation Targets.
Table 3: Eligible Carbon Credit Types and Categories
Project Category
Project Type
Suggested Portfolio Allocation Targets
Avoided Emissions from Energy and Industry
Project Type
- Agriculture & Grasslands: e.g. avoided ecosystem conversion, grassland & rangeland management, soil carbon, biochar
- Blue Carbon: e.g. mangroves, coastal conservation, wetland & seagrass restoration
- Forestry: e.g. afforestation, avoided deforestation, improved forest management, peatland restoration, REDD+, reforestation
Suggested Portfolio Allocation Targets
Emissions Avoided or Removed From Nature
Project Type
- Chemical / Industrial: e.g. manufacturing, high-GWP gas capture, N2O abatement
- Household & Community: e.g. cookstoves, composting, household energy efficiency, water filtration
- Renewable Energy: e.g. biomass, geothermal, small-scale hydropower*, solar, wind
- Transportation: e.g. electric vehicles
Suggested Portfolio Allocation Targets
Engineered Removals
Project Type
- Engineered Removals: e.g. direct air carbon capture
- Open System Carbon Removals: e.g. oceans, mineralization
Suggested Portfolio Allocation Targets
Excluded Project Types
Project Type
- HFC-23 Destruction
- Large-scale Energy Efficiency in non-LDCs***
- Large-scale Hydro
- Tokenized credits
Suggested Portfolio Allocation Targets
Table 3
* “Small-scale" follows UN CDM definitions (i.e., < 15MW for renewables and < 60 GWh in annual improvements from energy efficiency)
** Carbon Dioxide Removals apply to new project types where methodologies have not yet been developed, so verification is not possible.
*** A list of the UN’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) can be found here.
Open Allocation for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Credits:
Up to 10% of the carbon credit portfolio may consist of CDR credits that are not verified under one or more of the standards listed in 2(a). Credits must be issued & retired in order to count toward certification.
In addition to meeting all project documentation requirements outlined in section D, you must submit methodology documents for CDR projects for the credits to be eligible for certification.
d. Requirements for Procuring and Documenting Carbon Credit and Clean Energy Purchases
Beyond value chain mitigation may be conducted with carbon credits and clean energy purchases from any provider, as long as the instruments meet the requirements of these standards.
All carbon credit purchases must be substantiated with an attestation form signed by the provider that contains the following information:
Table 4.1: Required Carbon Credit Purchase Details
Project Name
e.g. Honduras Hydro
Project Type
Small Hydro
# of Credits Purchased
30,000
Vintage Year
2020
Verification Standard
VCS
Project ID
VCS1234
Project Location
Honduras
Seller
Carbon Broker
Price Per Tonne
$10.00
Table 4.1
This attestation form serves as a proof of purchase and retirement, and provides the information needed to confirm that the credits meet the requirements of the Standard. In addition (or in the event that a credit attestation form is unavailable), you may provide the following for all carbon credits that you purchase:
- Registry report (via hyperlink or screenshot) showing carbon credits retired on your behalf, plus a report of the average price paid per credit
OR
- Fully executed purchase contract, payment receipt for credits purchased, and a letter attesting that they were retired on your behalf. A valid purchase contract must indicate either (a) that the certifying entity has completed a purchase of all required carbon credits or (b) has a contractual obligation to complete the purchase of all required credits within 12 months. Installment purchases should be spaced at least quarterly and weighted evenly across the 12 month period.
Purchases of clean energy must be substantiated with the following information:
Table 4.2: Required Clean Energy Purchase Details
Type of contractual instrument
e.g. Renewable Energy Certificate (REC)
Quantity and units purchased
5,000 MWh
Country where renewable energy was generated
United States
Table 4.2
In addition, you must provide at least one of the following for every clean energy purchase: contract attestation document, certificate, and/or payment receipt.
05 Disclosure
Requirements for Information Disclosure
The Standard requires that companies with active certifications publicly disclose the following information on the Brand Profile Directory on the Change Climate website:
- Total annual GHG footprints calculated broken down by Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions
- For recertifying entities, total annual emissions intensity for prior certification years, beginning with 2023 certifications, including any emissions corrections/adjustments. Reporting of historical absolute emissions by Scope is also strongly encouraged
- Total annual investment (in USD) in carbon removal and avoidance credits as well as the project types supported
- Categories of certified products and/or services
- Summary of reduction action plans and science aligned targets (if set)
- Progress toward past reduction action plans
06 Advocacy
Requirements for Climate Advocacy Reporting
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 will include a requirement to report on 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:
- Climate Lobbying: Support climate policy at any political level directly or in collaboration with an advocacy or trade organization.
- Internal Climate Literacy: Engage your team in the Climate Neutral Certification process and conduct education sessions to increase staff understanding of climate issues.
- Consumer Climate Literacy: Engage consumers in the Climate Neutral Certification process and importance of climate action.
In addition, use of the Climate Neutral Certified label is an important form of advocacy. Re-certifying companies must provide evidence of at least one (1) example of using the label in either a digital or real-world setting.
07 Transition Period
Standard Transition Period and VER Eligibility Window
The Change Climate Project staff reviews and updates this Standard annually through an in-depth stakeholder review process. For significant year-to-year changes to the Standard, a transition period may be provided for re-certifying entities to have more time to comply with the revised requirements. The length of the transition period for a given change (if any) will be defined during the annual review process.
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.
