Application Process, Eligibility and Evaluation Criteria

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.

Eligibility

Applicants for all categories of the Climate Leadership Awards program must meet the following criteria as well as any additional eligibility requirements specified within each category.

Applicants must meet one of the following descriptions:

Legally-recognized corporate organizations with annual revenue over $100 million; or
Governmental entities or academic organizations with annual budgets over $100 million.

Applicants must have significant operations in the United States. Given the global nature of climate change, the majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions do not have to occur in the U.S.
Individual Leadership Award applicants must be employees of an organization that meets the above requirements.
Finalists will need to pass an EPA compliance screen in order to be selected.
Leadership activities must have taken place between January 1, 2010 and October 12, 2012.

In order to qualify for an award (except the Individual category), organizations must have established one of the following:

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

Applicants will be required to provide a publicly reported corporate GHG inventory that, at minimum, includes scope 1 & 2, establishes the base year for the goal, and has been third-party verified to a “limited” level of assurance or through a critical review. (Beginning with the 2015 awards, third-party verification for 2014 inventories and beyond will need to be consistent with ISO 14064-3, conducted by a verification body accredited to ISO 14065, and meet a “reasonable” level of assurance).

For more information on benchmarking reduction goals, please refer to EPA’s guidance.

Application Process

An application form will be made available for each category when the application period is opened in on August 22, 2012. Applicants will be asked to fill out the form and to submit it using an online tool. The application form will require you to answer a set of questions specific to the awards category. Applicants should review the step-by-step instructions that will be made available on the category pages linked to below.

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation criteria differ by awards category. Please select from the following:

Judging and Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated by EPA, The Registry, C2ES and ACCO in collaboration with recognized independent experts. Applicants will be reviewed to ensure that they are in good standing with EPA. Award winners will be notified in January 2013 and will be recognized at the Climate Leadership Awards Dinner at the Climate Leadership Awards Dinner and Conference from February 27 - March 1, 2013 in Washington, DC.

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Climate Leadership Awards

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