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Mark of Achievement

The Better Climate for Camden Marks of Achievement

The marks of achievement are for any member organisation of the Camden Climate Change Alliance, but especially those smaller organisations who can't afford expensive certification fees. The marks of achievement provide a light-touch, free and externally supported award scheme to support and help communicate environmental achievements by organisations in Camden. The result for members is an easy to communicate environmental achievement to support pre-qualification and tender documents or applications for grants and funding.

There are three levels of award, each based on the required steps included in the Climate Commitment. The three awards are shown below:

Going Green for when an organisation is just getting started.
Cutting Carbon for when an organisation can show that they are making a difference.
Carbon Champion for organisations who are helping others to achieve reductions in carbon emissions.

Intended use of the Marks

The marks have been designed for use on websites, letter heads, and other corporate stationary and promotional materials as a visible demonstration of an organisation’s commitment to taking local action to tackle climate change.

The marks may be used as evidence of environmental achievement for reasons such as applying for awards, bidding for contracts, applying for grants, and achieving certification to ISO14001 or EMAS.

See the CCCA Marks of Achievement guidance notes for more information.

What is the criteria?

Going Green

To achieve the Better Climate for Camden ‘Going Green’ mark, an organisation must have completed the following steps:

• Calculated its carbon footprint including at least 12 months worth of scope one and scope two data (see Workshops and Training for our next Carbon Footprinting Workshop).
• Set a challenging target for reducing this footprint.
• Produced an action plan detailing how the organisation will meet this target.
• Joined the Camden Climate Change Alliance.

All organisations taking part in Carbon Confident will qualify for this mark when they have completed the steps 1 to 3 of the scheme.

Cutting Carbon

To achieve the Better Climate for Camden ‘Cutting Carbon’ mark, an organisation must have completed the following steps:

• Met the criteria for the ‘Going Green’ mark.
• Disclosed to the Camden Climate Change Alliance a second carbon footprint for a full 12 months of data, which demonstrates one of the following two things;
  (a) a % reduction in total carbon dioxide emissions from one year to the next, or
  (b) a reduction in CO2 per m2 gross internal area of occupied buildings from one year to the next. This is suitable for organisations which are expanding. Scope 1 emissions from owned vehicles should also be decreasing on a per unit basis (i.e. CO2 emissions from transport have decreased relative to annual turnover).
• All CO2 emissions reductions must be significant in relation to the organisation’s overall CO2 reduction target. A less than 1% annual decrease will be subject to scrutiny by the Camden Climate Change Alliance Advisory Board.
• Emissions may be corrected for the weather. Please state this when completing the application form.
  

Carbon Champion

To achieve the Better Climate for Camden ‘Carbon Champion’ mark, an organisation must have completed the following steps:

• Met the criteria for the ‘Going Green’ and ‘Cutting Carbon’ marks.
• Demonstrated leadership by sharing knowledge or experiences other participants. Examples of interaction include: becoming a written case study; helping to lead workshops with the Better Climate for Camden Team, providing resources, running an event, speaking at an event, and so on. More examples are available on Getting More Involved.

How do I apply?

Step 1: Join the Camden Climate Change Alliance. 

Step 2: Gather the necessary evidence for the Mark that you would like to apply for.

Step 3: Complete the short application form.

Step 4: Submit the application form along with the evidence to better.climate@camden.gov.uk (see Contact Us).

An organisation can apply for any of the three Marks at any time. Organisations do not need to progress up the levels if they already meet the criteria of a higher level.

Organisations taking part in Carbon Confident do not need to apply initially as their Carbon Mentor will award their mark on completion of steps 1, 2, and 3 of the programme.

 What Evidence will I need to provide?

Once you have joined the Alliance you can submit the following evidence that you meet the award criteria:

Going Green

• a carbon footprint report 
• an action plan with a carbon reduction target . 

Cutting Carbon

• a carbon footprint report which shows at least scope 1 and scope 2 carbon emissions over two consecutive twelve month periods and shows that emissions are reducing
• an action plan for the continued reduction of emissions over time and a carbon reduction target. 

Carbon Champion

• a carbon footprint report which shows at least scope 1 and scope 2 carbon emissions over two consecutive twelve month periods and shows that emissions are reducing
• an action plan for the continued reduction of emissions over time and a carbon reduction target 
• evidence of acting as a Carbon Champion, such as a press release from an event or a case study. In most cases Carbon Champions will have been active members of the Camden Climate Change Alliance and therefore their efforts will be known by the Better Climate for Camden team and evidence for meeting this requirement need not be submitted, simply referenced.

All evidence should be submitted electronically to better.climate@camden.gov.uk along with the application form which contains an evidence checklist for each Mark.

What support is there?

Each organisation applying for a mark of achievement will be assigned a Carbon Mentor who will help them to improve their application should it not fully meet the criteria in the first instance.

The Better Climate for Camden Team provide a number of services for members of the Camden Climate Change Alliance which will help them to complete the steps required to gain a mark of achievement. For example, the Carbon Confident programme for SMEs results in achievement of the Going Green Mark, and Carbon Footprinting workshops help all organisations complete the first step of calculating their carbon footprint.  

What happens next?

Once the Better Climate for Camden team have received your application it will be reviewed by your Carbon Mentor who will ensure that the criteria has been met fully. Where criteria has not been fully met or any doubts are raised your Carbon Mentor will contact you for clarification.

Once your Carbon Mentor is satisfied that your organisation can be awarded a mark of achievement you will be sent a certificate, the CCCA Marks of Achievement guidance notes  and a jpeg of the mark.

Auditing

Where necessary your Carbon Mentor will request a short visit to verify some of the submitted information. This will not take up more than two hours and could take place remotely.

Where there is any doubt that an organisation has met the criteria for award of a mark of achievement the application will be considered by the Camden Climate Change Alliance Advisory Board who will come to a final decision. 
 

Further information

Download the CCCA Marks of Achievement guidance notes for full information.

The application form is also available from our resources page.

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