Environment & Carbon Management

Step Up! You CAN Become Carbon Neutral!

Demonstrating environmental responsibility can help grow your business, reduce your operating costs and enhance your reputation with your various stakeholders. But how do you support and promote your claims with credibility and confidence?

Whether you're starting from the beginning and need to learn the basics, or you're ready to demonstrate your achievement of carbon neutrality, CSA Standards can help. From training and personnel development programs, to standards and guidance publications, CSA offers a comprehensive suite of products, services and programs that can move your organization towards declaring carbon neutrality. And, when you're ready to declare your achievement to the world, participation in the CSA Registered Carbon Neutral™ Program recognizes your accomplishments through our Program Registry and authorized use of the CSA Registered Carbon Neutral™ Label.

Are You Ready to Step Up?

Participation in the CSA Registered Carbon Neutral™ Program sends a clear signal to your various stakeholders of your commitment to carbon management responsibility. It shows your organization or building has voluntarily determined its carbon footprint and offset that footprint, using transparent and rigorous standards-based processes that can be third-party verified. The end result: the impact of your operations can be deemed as carbon neutral. For more details on the CSA Registered Carbon Neutral™ Program.

Before You Begin: Carbon Neutral Basics

You may already be aware of the impact increasing levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are projected to have on changing climate. You may have already decided that becoming "carbon neutral" makes good sense both for your business and the environment. What you may not know is becoming "carbon neutral" does not mean you are no longer producing GHG emissions (in fact, in today's world, it is virtually impossible to leave no carbon footprint no matter how strong your commitment or your plan). Rather, becoming "carbon neutral" consists of balancing your company's carbon footprint with offsets from outside your defined corporate boundary.

Companies typically follow a clearly-defined process, with specifically-defined criteria, that will help them achieve and declare carbon neutrality:

• Measure your annual carbon footprint and prepare an independent, third-party verified GHG inventory report.
• Reduce your organization's GHG emissions, either by implementing directed actions, by investing in GHG reduction projects, or by the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (REC's) or green power.
• Purchase carbon offsets from GHG emissions reducing activities that others have undertaken.

Once you've achieved carbon neutrality, you can obtain recognition for your achievement by applying to the CSA Registered Carbon Neutral™ Program and registering your achievement on the Program Registry.

At every step of the way, CSA Standards is there to help with training and support programs to help you eventually achieve your carbon neutral goal.

Step 1: Measuring Your Carbon Footprint

Before you can reduce your GHG emissions, you'll need to determine what activities your company engages in that create GHG emissions in the first place. You'll also need to decide the method by which you'll measure and verify your GHG emissions.

Quantification and Verification standards for GHG emissions provide guidance on how to proceed with emissions measurement and verification processes. GHG emissions calculators and internationally recognized protocols and other existing best practices can be used to estimate GHG emissions from specific activities.

CSA Standards offers training in the use of the ISO 14064 standard to measure your carbon footprint, while Personnel Certification programs are available for quantifying and verifying GHG emissions, which can help guide you through the process of establishing a GHG emissions inventory. When you're ready, the CSA Registered Carbon Neutral™ Program identifies the requirements for accepted, verified GHG inventories.

Step 2: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Once you've established your carbon footprint, you'll need to look for ways to reduce your emissions by managing the activities that created them.

Generally, you can begin improving your company's carbon footprint by improving energy efficiency and reducing energy usage through conservation measures. This straightforward first step can result in significant cost savings along with reduced GHG emissions.

Next steps are often less clear. For organizations in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, investments in green technologies to reduce process emissions may be feasible. Changes to production or business processes can also help reduce emissions created during manufacturing.

You can also reduce emissions by reducing the fossil fuel intensity of electricity usage. For example, the installation of solar hot water systems in a facility would reduce electricity used from the grid by the amount of green power produced onsite.

Step 3: Offsetting Your Carbon Footprint

If it were physically and economically feasible to eliminate all of our GHG emissions, there would be no need for offsets. In reality you can take actions to reduce your GHG emissions but you will continue to have some remaining carbon footprint. This is where the purchase of qualified offsets can help bridge the gap.

Carbon / GHG emission offsets are emission reductions that are counted against another set of GHG emissions. Offsets are created and sold by organizations that implement voluntary GHG emission reductions projects. The GHG emission reductions for the projects are then expressed in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (t CO2e) and the results validated & verified by a third party. These validated & verified emission reductions or removals are sold or traded to other companies that wish to offset their own GHG emissions. The validation & verification process is a critical element as it helps ensure that the GHG emission reductions are real and "additional".

Purchasing offsets allows your company to help make GHG emission reduction projects more economically feasible for business and industry.

As part of your application process to the CSA Registered Carbon Neutral™ Program, CSA confirms that your offsets have been independently third-party validated & verified, and have been purchased from recognized sources.

Declaring Carbon Neutrality

Congratulations! You've followed the steps and your company has achieved carbon neutrality. Now you're ready to declare it to the world.

The CSA Registered Carbon Neutral™ Program is a voluntary program that provides a clear, standardized approach to follow on the road to becoming carbon neutral. We currently offer programs for entire organizations, individual building and tenants.

Your application will be considered regardless of organization size or type provided you meet the following criteria:

• You can successfully demonstrate how you have met the requirements of the program
• You have provided in a timely manner all application information as defined in the program application form

Once accepted into the program, your accomplishment will be recorded in the Program Registry, and you'll receive guidelines to help you promote your success to your important stakeholders through the authorized use of the CSA Registered Carbon Neutral™ Label.