ICT Carbon Footprint Certification Workflow

What is the ICTFOOTPRINT.eu Light Certification Scheme?

This is a procedure to certify your organisation's current level of carbon footprint generated by usage of information & communication technologies (ICT). The certification indicates the positioning of your organisation with respect to current practice (i.e. below average, above average, or in the 95th percentile). In addition, partial compensation of your carbon footprint, carried out in collaboration with WeForest, is included as part of the certification process.

Whom is the Light Certificate intended for?

The Carbon Footprint Light Certificate is a lean, online certification workflow that has been designed and implemented for ICT-intensive organisations. The certificate, issued by the independent certification authority ICIM spa has two purposes: Firstly, it establishes the organisation’s positioning within the Green-IT-aware community; and secondly, it partially compensates for CO2 emissions, in collaboration with WeForest.

Why should I certify my organisation’s ICT carbon footprint?

Nowadays, responsible usage of ICT resources is a parameter of excellence. Certify your carbon footprint from ICT and be among the leading companies in your market. Green-IT also means more energy-efficient behaviour, ultimately increasing your competitiveness.

How do I obtain certification?

The certification process can be completed from your desk, with a streamlined, online workflow developed for organisations like your own. This involves 2 macro-steps:

FIRST: A self-assessment phase (through an online questionnaire);
SECOND: An interactive phase, involving submission of some basic documentation to the Certification Authority (ICIM), followed up with a conference call, after which the certificate is issued.

All in all, the certification process takes just a few hours effort on your part, spread over a few days. The rest of the work is done by experts at ICIM, through the ICTFOOTPRINT.eu technical platform, where a simple dashboard enables you to keep track of the entire certification process.

Upon completion of the process, your personalised certificate can be downloaded directly from your ICTFOOTPRINT.EU account. At this point, you will be registered to the list of the virtuous, ICT-intensive organisations. Last but not least, thanks to the collaboration with WeForest, your ICT carbon footprint will be partially compensated with carbon credits purchased and with trees planted in South America.

How much does it cost to obtain a Carbon Footprint Certificate?

The investment involved to obtain the certificate ranges from € 1,000 to € 3,000, depending on the complexity of your organisation. A highly-efficient workflow ensures that the necessary steps involved can be completed with just a couple of hours effort from your ICT Manager.

Who is behind the Certification Scheme?

The ICT Carbon Footprint Certification Workflow is offered by the Certification authority ICIM Spa, an independent organisation established in Milan, operational since 1988 in several standardisation fields including energy & environment. The initiative, developed by ICTFOOTPRINT.eu, is hosted by Trust-IT Services Ltd as technological partner and data processor. Finally, WeForest ASBL is a not-for-profit, exclusive partner for partial carbon compensation of the organisations acquiring the ICTFOOTPRINT.eu Light Certificate.

What are the business benefits from certifying the ICT carbon footprint of my organisation?

We see at least 3 main points that are beneficial, from a business point of view:

With the certification, you distinguish yourself from most of your direct competitors, showing your clientele your virtuous behaviour (for instance, inserting the logo of your ICTFOOTPRINT.eu Certificate on your website or in the communications to your clients);
You stand out in the ICTFOOTPRINT.eu community and gain visibility at European level;
By certifying your ICT carbon footprint, you ultimately become aware of your energy consumptions and, ultimately, you end up saving energy - this is verifiable in most carbon footprint-aware organisations.