NEPCon and Climate Neutral Group partner to develop certification programme to help business reduce their climate impact
Climate Neutral Group - a European market leader in the field of carbon footprinting, life cycle analysis and emission reduction and carbon offsetting and NEPCon – a global mission-driven non-profit organisation that works to drive sustainability in more than 100 countries, announced a new partnership. NEPCon will act as a key stakeholder and co-developer of Climate Neutral Group’s Certification Programme.
Climate Neutral Group (CNG) European player in the field of footprinting, carbon life cycle assessments, emission reduction and carbon offsetting, launched the first version of its certification program (Climate Neutral Guaranteed Standard) a few years ago to help organisations become ‘climate neutral’ and/or deliver products or services that are ‘climate neutral’. This is part of CNG’s effort to accelerate the transition to a climate neutral economy.
The current momentum and increased interest of the public and organisations to tackle climate change in general and in the CNG’s certifications programme for (food) products, e.g. coffee, tea, packaging, (tropical) fruits and vegetables have urged CNG to revise its current certification programme. CNG has chosen to comply to the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice – a globally recognised framework for sustainability standards to operate effectively and achieve their sustainability goals. As part of this revision process, CNG will outsource all verification and certification activities to independent, third party certification bodies, who meet a set of stringent eligibility criteria.
NEPCon is a non-profit organisation that works for sustainable land use and climate-friendly solutions in over 100 countries around the world. Amongst other activities, NEPCon works with organisations to verify compliance with social and environmental certification standards, such as the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture, Forest Stewardship CouncilTM (FSCTM), Sustainable Biomass Program and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). NEPCon also certifies to their own LegalSourceTM, Sustainable Tourism and Carbon Footprint Management standards.
On 19 June 2019, the directors of NEPCon and CNG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, describing the terms for a new, exciting collaboration. As part of this collaboration, NEPCon will provide its global and technical expertise to the development of new CNG Certification Programme and act as an independent verification and certification partner. This new certification programme is expected to be launched in mid-2020.
“We are very pleased to partner with CNG to bring NEPCon’s strategy further to promote carbon neutral production and our other carbon related activities within the forestry and agriculture sector”, says Peter Feilberg, NEPCon Executive Director. “CNG with their comprehensive experience within the carbon neutral area matches well with NEPCon’s global network of staff and sustainability partners”.
René Toet, Managing Director of Climate Neutral Group, shares the excitement. “The urgency for an international credible scheme on climate neutrality is more than ever present, and we are very pleased to have found a valuable partner in NEPCon to improve our scheme collectively so that we can create real impact”, says René Toet.
For further information, please contact:
- Climate Neutral Group - Ciska Uijlenbroek - Ciska.Uijlenbroek@climateneutralgroup.com - +31302326175
- NEPCon - Anh Thi Ngoc Luu – aluu@preferredbynature.org - +84904372129
