Steps

Minimum requirements
to meet
to achieve
the Standard

Best practices
to achieve
market-leading
status 

How will OCW support you? 

1) Measure

• Define your ‘Scope and Boundary’

• Measure Scope 1 and 2 emissions as defined by the GHG Protocol

• Collect activity data

• Apply up to date emissions factors

• Report your total carbon emissions

As minimum plus: 

• All significant Scope 3 data collected

• Scope 3 emissions included in your reported carbon emissions

We first invite you to select a date and time for a phone consultation with your dedicated technical expert. During the technical call, our expert will explain the emissions sources that we will include and the methodologies we will apply. We’ll guide you through the data collection procedure and also review any data you have already collected, if applicable. We always attach a guide for data collection for reference. If you have made a self-assessment of your carbon footprint we will talk you through the OCW UN approved verification process. Once we receive your data, our experienced team of carbon auditors will calculate your carbon footprint, and this will be sent for independent external validation

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Best practice support:
We will dedicate part of your technical consultation to discussing your Scope 3 emissions. OCW will set out clear steps of what information we will need in order to calculate these. We will follow up with a simple pro-forma (for example to capture your financial spend data that we can use to calculate your Scope 3 emissions) that allows you to capture your significant Scope 3 emissions. This support results in a more robust and complete carbon footprint so that you can demonstrate best practice to your stakeholders

2) Reduce

• Initial discussions and plans in progress to set reduction targets in line with science based targets

• Awareness of carbon reduction opportunities across your organisation

As minimum plus:

• Developed science based target aligned with the 1.5°C or 2°C pathway outlined by IPCC

• Developed decarbonisation plan in line with your targets and interim milestones to measure progress

Once our technical team has validated your data and calculated your carbon footprint, we will issue your bespoke Carbon Footprint Report detailing the emissions resulting from your activities over the footprint period. The report will also provide recommendations for reducing and rebalancing your carbon footprint

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Best practice support:

We will dedicate part of your technical consultation to discussing your carbon reduction targets. This could include reviewing targets that you have already set and advising on weather these align with a 1.5°C decarbonisation pathway. If you do not have targets in place we will set out clear steps of how to set science based targets. This support helps you to demonstrate that you are taking action to mitigate your carbon impact while increasing efficiency and reducing costs across your organisation

3) Offset &
Contribute

• Offsetting only those 100 carbon credits included in your grant (if your carbon footprint is under 100 tons of CO2e, your organisation will achieve the Carbon Neutral International Standard)

As minimum plus:

• Offsetting for your entire carbon footprint (when it is over 100 tons of CO2e)

• This would mean your organisation will also achieve Certified Carbon Neutral status

Once we issue your carbon footprint report, we will offset the footprint, up to a footprint total of 100 tons. This will be achieved through purchasing and retiring carbon credits in the name of your organisation. Offsetting enables organisations to compensate for the GHG emissions they cannot avoid by supporting climate-friendly projects that reduce global GHG emissions. It can be seen as crowdfunding for climate action!
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Best practice support:

We will dedicate time advising how you can rebalance your carbon footprint so that you can achieve carbon neutrality. We will provide clear information on the high quality projects that you will be supporting all of which are independently audited against recognised third-party certification standards. We will issue a Statement of Carbon Neutrality for your organisation that can be shared to your stakeholders as assurance of your robust and verified climate action.