FAQs

Climate Active is an Australian Government program that supports national climate policy by driving voluntary climate action by Australian businesses. The brand represents Australia’s collective effort to calculate, reduce and offset carbon emissions to lessen our negative impact on the environment.

Climate Active certification is awarded to businesses and organisations that have credibly reached a state of carbon neutrality. 

Climate Active certifies organisations, products, services, events, buildings and precincts. 

Large, medium and small businesses, and non-government organisations including some of Australia’s best-known enterprises have achieved Climate Active certification. Local government and not-for-profit organisations have also been certified. 

The department held a public consultation on a paper that outlined potential reforms to Climate Active and sought input on the future of the program (consultation page here). 

The consultation period commenced on 20 October 2023 and closed on 15 December 2023. The department received 158 submissions. The feedback is being considered alongside the future direction of the Climate Active program.

The future direction of Climate Active is subject to government consideration. Program reforms will be announced in due course.

If you are considering Climate Active certification, please take into account that there may be changes to the program that could affect your ability to achieve certification.

Anyone can self-assess their activities against the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard. However, only entities that have met the certification requirements and signed a Licence Agreement can claim Climate Active certification and use the trade mark.

Applications for organisation, product, service, event or precinct certification can be made via the Climate Active user Portal. You can view a sample of the application form to see what details will be required to get started with an application. 

If you are interested in achieving an Upfront Carbon for Buildings certification following the department’s pathway, you can download the application form from our website and email it to climate.active@industry.gov.au. 

NABERS and GBCA are our delivery partners for providing the Climate Active Buildings certification.

The length of time to achieve certification will depend on the type of certification you are seeking and the complexity of your carbon account. You may need to collect a year’s worth of data to prepare the carbon account and get it independently validated.

All relevant documentation needs to be completed and sent to the Climate Active team who will review your carbon neutral claim. Once an application is reviewed, a decision will be made as to whether certification has been granted. The review and decision can take up to 8 weeks, or longer, depending on the complexity of your claim.

Certification for organisations, products, services and precincts is ongoing as long as you maintain an active Licence Agreement and comply with the terms and conditions to maintain certification, such as providing your annual report and paying your certification fee. If you no longer wish to maintain certification once it has been granted, you must notify the department as soon as possible. You may be required to provide a final annual report.

Certification for events lasts for 12 months after the event ends.

Upfront Carbon for Buildings certifications are ongoing.

Buildings certifications are for 12 months or less from the date granted and will require renewal to maintain the certification.

If your business wishes to withdraw its certification prior to the expiry of its Licence Agreement, it may do so by providing Climate Active with written notice. Notice can be provided via email to climate.active@industry.gov.au. Withdrawal from the program would take effect 30 business days later.

Climate Active will provide a notice of withdrawal letter, which will outline any remaining program obligations your business has on termination of the Licence Agreement. Obligations could include providing a final annual report, payment of any outstanding certification fees and ceasing use of the trade mark.

No. The Climate Active certification trade mark (CTM) can only be used for organisations, products, services, buildings, events and precincts that are certified, where a Licence Agreement has been signed and the responsible entity has received a Notice of Certification.  

As the CTM is designed to be used by members on a range of applications to highlight a business’s certification, businesses have a responsibility to ensure that carbon neutral claims are not misleading or inaccurate. 

Further advice can be found at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) website and the Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s website. The ACCC’s guidance for business making environmental claims should also be used. 

Refer to the Licence Agreement which outlines the certification fee schedule, noting that fees increase by 2.5% each 1 July. 

Other costs associated with certification vary depending on the use of technical experts, the types of offsets used and the auditing services used. Technical advice may include developing a carbon account and having your carbon neutral claim and data independently validated. 

Offset costs will depend on how many are required and the types of offset units purchased. These costs are separate to the certification fee, are set by the market and vary across the industry.  

No. We do not develop offset projects, issue or sell offset units. We also don’t accredit companies seeking to develop projects or trade carbon credits. 

Transparency of information is important for maintaining consumer confidence in Climate Active claims. Public reporting ensures the public can understand what an organisation has done to achieve carbon neutrality. This must include:

• information on emissions sources included in a carbon account 

• what emissions sources have been excluded or not estimated 

• actions taken to reduce total emissions or emissions intensity over time, and 

• the number and type of eligible offset units that have been purchased and retired to achieve carbon neutrality. 

   

This information is posted on the Climate Active website and must also be available on a certified organisation’s website. 

The Climate Active team needs to be able to check that data used to compile your carbon account is accurate and complete. Not all data needs to be published. 

Submitting a carbon account and the public report to the Climate Active team as part of your application means data that is made public is controlled. There must, however, be enough detail in a public report for readers to be able to understand what emissions have been offset as part of your carbon neutral claim. 

Applications for registered consultant training are closed while we consider the future direction of the Climate Active program. 

The Register of consultants for Climate Active certification webpage will be updated when applications for training re-open. You can also keep up to date with the Climate Active News for updates on program reforms and registered consultant training.