How to Qualify to Offer a Green-e Climate Certified Product

Green-e Climate is a certification program for the sale of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction products sold in the voluntary market. This page summarizes the requirements that sellers offering a Green-e Climate Certified GHG Emission Reduction Product (Certified Product) must follow. Green-e Climate certification ensures that no double selling of GHG emission reductions occurs and sellers of these products make appropriate disclosure to their customers. Additionally, Certified Products can only source from projects that were certified by a Green-e Climate Endorsed Program. These programs use protocols that ensure that GHG emission reductions are real, verifiable, enforceable, permanent, and additional.

Requirements

To use the Green-e Climate logo, a seller of Green-e Climate certified emission reductions must agree to undergo the twice annual marketing compliance review and annual independent verification audit, as outlined in the Green-e Climate Code of Conduct. The Green-e Climate Code of Conduct describes the details of the Marketing Compliance Review. Marketing Compliance Review includes a biannual review by the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) staff of all marketing materials associated with a Certified Product. The annual verification audit must be performed by an independent certified public accountant or certified internal auditor in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Green-e Climate Verification Process Audit Protocol.

A seller must present customers with a Product Content Label (PCL) upon purchase of the Certified Product. The PCL must include the project types, project location and Endorsed Program by percentage for the Certified Product. The exact requirements for the PCL, as well as associated required disclosures, are detailed in the Code of Conduct. In addition, a seller’s website must contain a full project list of all resources being used to supply the certified product, including project name, project location, date of implementation, and the Endorsed Program which certified the project.

Product Types

There are two product types eligible for certification under Green-e Climate. A Fixed Mix Product has the same combination and proportion of GHG emission reductions from project type(s), locations(s) and Endorsed Programs(s) (for example: 45% Gold Standard energy efficiency from India, 55% VCS renewable energy from the U.S.) for all customers. Customized Mix Products allow the customer to choose a unique combination and proportion of GHG emission reductions from a specified list of project types(s), locations(s) and Endorsed Programs(s).

Third-Party Distributors

A third party distributor is a company that sells a Certified Product without any direct relation to procurement, but rather through an arrangement with a Seller of a Certified Product. Third Party distributors are only eligible to sell Fixed Mix Products. All third parties must provide Certified Product sales data to the auditor for verification.

Steps to Certification

All the documents referenced here can be found at Standards and Governing Documents.

1. Review Green-e Climate documents. The Green-e Climate Code of Conduct contains the Ethical Guidelines, Certification Categories, and Disclosure & Verification Requirements that apply to sellers of Green-e Climate Certified Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Products. The Green-e Climate Standard outlines the primary criteria for Green-e Climate.
2. Read and fill out program application. All materials necessary for application can be found on the Standards and Governing Documents page.
3. Mail Green-e Climate the following materials: The Green-e Climate Logo Use Agreement (two signed copies), Appendix A, and the fees to the Center for Resource Solutions.
4. Source GHG emission reductions from projects that are certified by an Endorsed Program or get your project certified by an Endorsed Program. All GHG emission reductions must be certified by a Green-e Climate Endorsed Program. If you have a specific project that you would like to get certified, review background materials on Endorsed Programs. To get project certification under the Green-e Climate Protocol for Renewable Energy, review the Green-e Climate Protocol for Renewable Energy Program Rules and submit the Generator Registration Form.
5. Update website with project list. Sellers of Green-e Climate Certified Products are required to maintain a list of projects which they use to supply their Certified Products. When a seller procures GHG emission reductions from a new project, they must add that project to the Project List on their website.
6. Ongoing monitoring, verification, outreach and support. To maintain certification, Sellers must comply with Green-e Climate requirements related to annual verification, adherence to the Code of Conduct, biannual marketing compliance review, and payment of the annual fee.