Excellence in GHG Management: Goal Setting Certificate

Climate Leadership Awards

Dates to Remember

June 11, 2013 – Climate Leadership Awards Informational Webinar, 12:00PM EST

June 24, 2013 – Application period opens

September 13, 2013 – Deadline for 2014 award applications

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 publicly set aggressive GHG emissions reduction goals.

Application and Submission Instructions

Review the general eligibility requirements and the specific evaluation criteria for the GHG Management: Goal Setting category.
Download the application form to review questions, provide requested information, and prepare materials as needed. Once application form is completed, save a final copy of your PDF forms on your own computer.
- GHG Management: Goal Setting Application (PDF) (9 pp, 455K)
Once application is complete and materials are finalized, please submit accordingly through the online submission tool. Reminder: The application must be complete before uploading to the online tool. Online submission is absolutely the last step of the application process.

Please Note: If applying for an award in more than one category, new submissions must be made for each.

Applications must be submitted using the online submission tool by October 12, 2012.

Goal Setting Certificate Criteria

Overview

Publicly report a complete, third-party verified GHG inventory.
Set an aggressive, public GHG reduction goal.
Identify planned or 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:

Aggressive absolute reduction goal pertaining to the organization’s corporate inventory (U.S., North American or global operations).
Aggressive intensity goal established between January 1, 2010 and October 5, 2010 (including all Climate Leaders goals), if it has not yet been recognized.
An intensity goal that will also result in an aggressive, absolute GHG reduction.

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 Setting Period

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

Base year Reporting Requirement

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

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.

(Beginning with applications for the 2015 awards, GHG inventories submitted for years 2014 and beyond will require third-party verification be 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 about levels of verification, see Frequent Questions.

Disclosure of GHG Mitigation Activities

Identify at least three GHG mitigation activities that are planned or underway in order to demonstrate that planned reductions will not be the result of organic growth or decline. These activities should reflect internal actions the applicant is taking 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 incorporates scope 3 reductions.

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 annually.

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 certificate will be associated with 2013 (not the year in which the goal was set).

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