Contact Us Search: All EPA This Area

• You are here: EPA Home
• Climate Change
• Center for Corporate Climate Leadership
• Climate Leadership Awards
• Excellence in GHG Management: Goal Achievement Award

Excellence in GHG Management: Goal Achievement Award

Please note that the content on this page is from the 2013 Awards. This information will be updated for the 2014 Awards by June 11.

Description

Recognizes organizations that publicly report and verify corporate GHG inventories and achieve aggressive absolute GHG emissions reduction goals.

Goal Achievement Award Criteria

Overview

• Publicly report a complete, third-party verified GHG inventory base year.
• Set an aggressive, public GHG reduction goal at least three years prior to achieving it.
• Demonstrate achievement of an aggressive GHG reduction.
• Identify implemented GHG mitigation activities.

GHG Inventory Requirements

Publicly reported inventory of all scope 1 and 2 emissions of CO₂ (including biomass), CH₄, N₂O, SF₆, PFCs, and HFCs within an entity's corporate boundary (U.S., North American or global operations). Scope 3 emissions must also be reported if they are incorporated in the reduction goal. The inventory must be reported in accordance with international best practice and verified to at least a “limited” level of assurance or through a critical review (details below).

Reduction Target Requirements

Reduction target can be reflected in one of the following ways:

1. Aggressive absolute reduction in the organization’s corporate inventory (U.S., North American or global operations).
2. Aggressive intensity reductions resulting from publicly reported goals established between January 1, 2010 and October 5, 2010 (including all Climate Leaders goals), if they have not yet been recognized.
3. An intensity goal that resulted in an aggressive, absolute GHG reduction will also be recognized.

Reduction goals, including second and third generation goals, must be significantly better than business-as-usual and exceed a credible and transparent sector-specific performance forecast. For more information on benchmarking reduction goals, please refer to EPA’s guidance.

Goal Achievement Period

• The goal must have been achieved between January 1, 2010 and October 12, 2012.
• The timeframe between the goal being set and achieved must be three years at a minimum.
• The goal must have been publicly communicated within a year of the goal being set.
• Reductions that have already been recognized through the Climate Leaders or Climate Leadership Awards programs are not eligible.

Disclosure of GHG Mitigation Activities

Identify at least three GHG mitigation activities that contributed to the reduction in corporate emissions to demonstrate that planned reductions were not the result of organic growth or decline. These activities should reflect internal actions the applicant took to achieve the reduction, and should be in addition to REC or offset purchases (as applicable). Activities relating to supply chain management may be included if the goal incorporated scope 3 reductions.

Base year Reporting Requirement

Publicly disclose the base year inventory consistent with the GHG inventory reporting and verification requirements.

If the base year emissions have changed by more than 5% as a result of structural change, a change in calculation methodologies, or because an error has been discovered, the base year inventory must be adjusted to reflect this.

Verification Requirements

GHG inventories should include both scope 1 and 2 emissions and must be third-party verified to a “limited” level of assurance or have received a critical review. If scope 3 emissions are included as part of the applicant’s goal, these must undergo third-party critical review.

Base year reports submitted to U.S. EPA’s Climate Leaders program that have undergone technical review by an EPA-contracted reviewer, and have been found to be consistent with the requirements of that program, are also accepted.

If the inventory has undergone a previous third-party review but there has been an adjustment of 5% or more in base year emissions, a third-party verification body must attest to the accuracy of the base year adjustment.

(Beginning with applications for the 2015 awards, GHG inventories submitted for years 2014 and beyond will require third-party verification consistent with ISO 14064-3, conducted by a verification body accredited to ISO 14065, and performed to a reasonable level of assurance.)

For more information on levels of verification, see Frequent Questions.

RECs

Renewable energy certificates (RECs) can be applied to scope 2 emissions associated with the consumption of purchased electricity as part of a comprehensive GHG management strategy.

Offsets

High-quality offsets can be used to reduce scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions as part of a comprehensive GHG management strategy. Offset projects must demonstrate that the reductions meet four key accounting principles:

• Real: The quantified GHG reductions must represent actual emission reductions that have already occurred.
• Additional: The GHG reductions must be surplus to regulation and beyond what would have happened in the absence of the project or in a business-as-usual scenario based on a performance standard methodology.
• Permanent: The GHG reductions must be permanent or have guarantees to ensure that any losses are replaced in the future.
• Verifiable: The GHG reductions must result from projects whose performance can be readily and accurately quantified, monitored and verified.

Award Status

The award is tied to the year in which the award is received, i.e., if an organization is recognized at the 2013 Climate Leadership Awards, their award will be associated with 2013 (not the year in which the goal was achieved).

Top of page

Local Navigation

• Climate Change Home

  ---

• Corporate Climate Leadership Home
• Basic Information
• Awards
• Small Businesses
• Reporting
• Goal Setting
• Technical Guidance
• Case Studies
• Supply Chain
• Events and Webinars

• EPA Home
• Privacy and Security Notice
• Contact Us