Net Zero Carbon Business Lite Certification Information

What is the Net zero carbon Business Lite certification?

This certification programme is designed for:

  1. Small businesses, with simple organisation structures (single site), and;

  2. Low carbon footprint (under 50 tCO2e), and;

  3. No complicated emissions sources (i.e. biomass, fugitive emissions, agricultural or industrial emissions), and';

  4. No land ownership where tree felling or sequestration occurred, and;

  5. No major business activities being outsourced to another party or assets leased to another party.

It is intended that a small business should be able to use this tool and follow a simple internal verification process to achieve Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certification with a minimal cost.

How much does it cost?

  1. There is no fee for using the calculator or estimating your footprint. It is also free to download a copy of the Business Lite data verification sheet for guidance on data collection and aggregation.

  2. There is a $700+GST fee for an Ekos verification review of your input data.

    Please note the payment of this verification fee does not guarantee that an organisations application for verification and certification will be successful. The verification fee above is non-refundable in the event an organisation's verification and certification application is unsuccessful.

  3. To achieve Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certification, you need to offset your footprint. There will be a $250+GST NZD administration fee for the retiring of credits.

  4. The cost of carbon credits using the Business Lite Calculator is currently $50.00 NZD / tCO2e (per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent).

    • These credits will be sourced from one of the restorative forest carbon projects within Ekos’ supply chain.

  5. The certificate will be automatically generated once you have completed steps 1-4, and there will be no fees associated with certification.

What’s the process?

The process is simple:

  1. First, we estimate your carbon footprint and confirm that it is below 50 tCO2e.

  2. We then confirm that you meet all of the criteria below:

    • Operates from a single site and DOES NOT own the premise

    • Did not burn any biomass (wood)

    • Did not own any land where land-use change has occurred

    • Did not have agricultural activities

    • Did not use industrial gases

    • Did not outsource significant activities that's core to the business operations

    • Did not lease assets to another party i.e. buildings or vehicles

  3. Then complete the Net Zero Carbon Business Lite data verification sheet (link here):

    • This spreadsheet provides you with guidance so that you can compile and consolidate the 12 months of data.

  4. Complete the calculator with entries corresponding to the totals in your Net Zero Carbon Business Lite data verification sheet and 'Save’ your calculator entry.

  5. If you have selected "estimation only" for any of your previous calculations, you must go back and delete the estimated entries and select "accurate measurement" and enter the total as per your spreadsheet record.

  6. Once you’ve finished entering your data, please select “I’m ready for the verification process”

  7. Please follow the instructions on the page to upload your “Net Zero Carbon Business Lite data verification sheet”. You will then need to pay the verification fee of $700+GST (NZD) using the credit card payment portal.

  8. Ekos will then complete the review within 3 working days and send you a notification email with instructions for the next steps. This could either be;

    • We’ve found an error, or have questions regarding your data, and need you to correct this and resubmit,

      OR

    • You’ve done an excellent job and your carbon footprint has been verified, in which case you can proceed to offsetting your verified carbon footprint.

  9. Offset your carbon footprint at the end of the calculator by using a credit card payment portal.

  10. You will be sent a Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certificate and an emissions inventory report in PDF format via email.