Explaining our Carbon Neutral Claims
What claims are being made? Is there independent third-party verification of these claims?
Neutral completes third-party verification of product-specific carbon neutral certifications on an annual basis to the SCS 108 Standard: Certification Standard for Carbon Neutral Entities, Buildings, Products and Services. SCS Global Services is the third-party verifier.
Our carbon-neutral certification for dairy
Our carbon-neutral certification for beef
How are these claims determined to be accurate?
Neutral determines the annual product footprint using the emissions factor for each product as determined by a life cycle assessment (LCA) multiplied by the annual unit sales for that product. Credits from verified inset projects and verified offset projects are retired to account for the total product footprint on an annual basis. The bulk of the work we do is to reduce on-farm emissions with producers in our supply shed. You can learn more about that work here.
The product emissions factors are determined using a conservative, highly detailed, ISO-compliant, activity-based life cycle assessment (LCA) developed by Dr. Greg Thoma, a leading expert in measuring the footprint associated with U.S. animal agriculture.
Projects that reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions are developed, implemented, measured, monitored, and verified to carbon credit or project-level accounting standards. This includes, but is not limited to, protocols from Verra (VCS), Climate Action Reserve (CAR), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), International Standards Organization (ISO), and California Air Resources Board (CARB). Project-level claims are validated and verified by an accredited third-party on an annual basis. All projects are verifiable, unique, measurable, permanent, and additional, as required by the SCS 108 Standard.
What are the projects offsets are sourced from? Are projects verified by an independent third-party?
Offset credits that Neutral has purchased are exclusively from projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the installation and operation of anerobic digesters on dairies, following the Climate Action Reserve Livestock Protocol. Projects have been verified by an independent third-party verifier. The list of projects that Neutral has purchased credits from include:
What entity is selling the offset and through which registry?
Offset credits for Alliance Dairy and Sunny Knoll were purchased through 3Degrees and registered with the Climate Action Reserve. Offset credits from Rainier Biogas were purchased from NativeEnergy and registered with the Climate Action Reserve. Climate Action Reserve is a leading carbon credit registry and requires projects to be developed through a rigorous and transparent process that ensures projects are real, additional, permanent, unique, and verifiable.