You may or may not have heard of the Climate Active Program. It's an Australian Government program that sets out to support national climate policy by driving voluntary climate action (i.e. action by businesses and organisations to avoid, reduce, and offset emissions without a legislated requirement to do so).

At face value this sounds great. But who is this program really for?  and what’s involved? 

Considering that Australia has more than 2.4 million businesses, of which 98% are classified small to medium with under 20 employees, is this Climate Active Standard applicable to our country’s economy? 

Let start by summarising the Climate Active Program:

Overview:

The Climate Active Program is an Australian Government initiative that encourages businesses and organizations to take voluntary action to reduce their carbon emissions and transition to a more sustainable and low-carbon future. This program was formerly known as the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) and was rebranded as the Climate Active Program in 2019 to better reflect its broader goals. The Program makes reference to the GHG Protocol and ISO 1400 series standards as the foundational approach to lessen negative impact.

Key Objectives:

1. Emissions Reduction: The primary goal of the program is to help organizations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. This is achieved through activities such as energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy use, and carbon offsetting.
2. Certification: Businesses and organizations that meet the program's criteria can become Climate Active Certified. This certification serves as a way to demonstrate a commitment to environmental responsibility.
3. Carbon Offsetting: For emissions that cannot be eliminated through reductions, participants can invest in carbon offset projects approved by the program. These projects capture or reduce an equivalent amount of emissions, balancing out the organization's carbon footprint.

Eligibility:

The Climate Active Program is open to any business, government entity, or not-for-profit organization. It is voluntary, and participants can engage in different levels of commitment depending on their environmental goals.

Stated Benefits:

• Environmental Responsibility: Participation in the program showcases a commitment to addressing climate change and reducing the organization's carbon footprint.
• Certification: Climate Active uses Certification badges as a symbol of carbon neutrality.
• Marketability: Many consumers and stakeholders prioritize sustainability, making Climate Active certification a way to advertise your business.
• Access to Knowledge: Participants can access resources and guidance to help them make informed decisions about emissions reduction and offsetting.

What’s Involved?

We are not going to pull any punches here. If you are intending to do this yourself, be prepared for it to be complex, time consuming, and costly. The other alternative is to hire a consultant to do this for you – see the costs section. 

After you have waded through the 200+ pages of guidance material, you will need to set out to complete the following:

1. Emission Measurement and Reporting: Accurately measure and report emissions is a fundamental requirement for certification. Businesses must collect and analyse data from various sources, which can be complex and a resource-intensive process.
2. Carbon Footprint Assessment: Calculating an organisation's carbon footprint entails accounting for emissions from all scopes, including direct (Scope 1), energy-related (Scope 2), and indirect (Scope 3) emissions. 
3. Setting Reduction Targets: Once emissions are quantified, businesses need to set realistic and ambitious reduction targets. 
4. Implementation of Mitigation Strategies: Taking effective measures to reduce emissions requires planning and investment in energy-efficient technologies, renewable energy sources, and sustainable practices. 
5. Carbon Offset Selection: When emissions cannot be completely eliminated, businesses may need to invest in carbon offset projects. Finding a retailer that can do this for you is not easy, then selecting suitable projects and ensuring they align with program requirements can be intricate, you also have the cost of the offsets.
6. Data Verification: Climate Active certification involves third-party verification to ensure accuracy and credibility. Preparing for and undergoing this verification will require associated documentation and the hiring of consultants.
7. Cost Considerations: Becoming certified will require an annual license fee from Climate Active, third-party consultants to verify the measurement, carbon offsets for unavoidable emissions, and capital for emissions reduction initiatives. Balancing these costs with the benefits of certification can be a challenge for businesses.
8. Change Management: Implementing sustainability measures and fostering a culture of environmental responsibility may require a shift in organisational culture and practices.
9. Long-Term Commitment: Maintaining carbon neutrality is an ongoing effort, and businesses must continuously monitor and adjust their strategies to remain certified.

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The overall certification process can be illustrated below:

How long does all this take? 

This can vary depending on the size of your business and type of certification. In our experience, the longest part is usually the data collection. If you have this data readily available, and if you allow 4 weeks for processing, a competent consultant should be able to validate in 2-3 weeks. All relevant documentation needs to be completed and sent to the Climate Active team. Once an application is completed, a decision will be made – this can take up to 6 weeks.

So for an optimised result, the application would take a minimum of 3-4 months. 

What’s the Cost?

Costs are typically annualised so you will need to budget for this each year. 

License Fees

The Climate Active annual license fee to maintain certification and use the Climate Active Badge is:

The fees undergo an annual increase of 2.5% on 1^st July each year, unless the department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources publishes different fees through an updated license agreement. 

Consultant costs

The following are ball park figures in which we have established based on knowledge of what qualified consultants in this field charge out

We have supplied a range of offset costs depending on the project and the source of the offset. Noting that the Climate Active Program excludes certain types of projects and requires at this point a minimum vintage of 2012. 

Offset Costs assuming a small business have 65t CO2 p.a.:

So let’s run an example of a Small Business wanting to be Climate Active with an average of 65tCO2 measured per year:

• Verification Consultants = $3,000
• Offsets (Mid range costs combined) = $2,772
• Climate Active License Fee = $845
• Your Time = ?
• Total annual costs = $6,617 excluding time 

A full management scenario would add another ~$10,000 to this initially. 

As a small to medium business is this something that is easily slotted into the budget each year? 

Is there a better way?

For some businesses, Climate Active is the way to go, however for most it's probably unlikely given the cost elements. Does this mean your business can’t adopt sustainable values and do something positive? 

If we reflect on the Objectives of Climate Active, to lessen the negative impact on the environment, businesses need to consider:

• Emissions Reduction 
• Certification /Commitment
• Carbon Offsetting 

What if there was a way to do this that still is in alignment with the GHG Protocol & ISO 14000 standards without all the complexity, cost and time associated with this process!

Well there is…. 

Want to find out how Carbonhalo can do a verified-level assessment, complete with centralised platform software access, customised emissions reduction management plans, and automated reporting, access to a like-minded community, visibility across your entire supply chain and many more features. Find out more at https://carbonhalo.com/.