Categorie serviciu: Sustainability and Governance

• reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;
• compliance with the requirements of the European Renewable Energy Directive, respectively with the legal measures and requirements of sustainability;
• demonstrating the sustainability and traceability of raw materials in the food industry, chemical industry (eg bioplastics), feed, and other fields of bioenergy (eg solid biomass);
• sustainable use of agricultural land;
• improving the image on the internal and external market;
• financial advantages as a result of the facilitation of both the national and the international trade by accepting the products traded in the ISCC sustainability chain by the main ISCC certified traders.

Sustainability or “sustainable development” is a concept that responsibly promotes the development of society, without depleting available resources and without destroying the environment, so as not to compromise the possibilities of meeting the needs of future generations.
ISCC is an independent sustainability certification system applicable globally to all types of agriculture and forest biomass, biogenic waste and residues, non-biological renewable materials, and recycled carbon-based materials.

The objective of ISCC is represented by the creation of an international, efficient, practical, and transparent system for the certification of biomass and bioenergy.

SRAC offers the possibility of ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS certification

• Completion by the client of the ISCC certification application
• Analysis of the request by SRAC
• Conclusion of a contract between the client and SRAC
• Registration of the organization using the ISCC HUB platform
• Carrying out the audit performed by SRAC to evaluate the conformity of the ISCC system
• File analysis and decision-making certification by SRAC
• Issuance of the certificate by SRAC
• Evaluation of the file by ISCC Gmbh
• Publication of the certificate on the ISCC website

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Contact

Manager schema de certificare ISCC: ing. Marilena Croitoru
email: marilena.croitoru@srac.ro
mobil: 0785.235.495

• Ease in evaluating alternative product configurations, sourcing and production methods
• Selection of raw materials and selection of suppliers based on greenhouse gas emissions associated with them
• Creating a knowledge base for initiating projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and quantifying the results obtained
• Identifying opportunities to save energy costs
• Demonstrating to customers and stakeholders a real commitment to social and environmental responsibility
• Creating competitive advantages (e.g. green public procurement)
• Ease of adaptation to requirements in case of introduction of mandatory schemes or regulations

Global agreements and the growing public attention to the impact of climate change are leading to comprehensive government action plans and aggressive reduction targets.
As part of the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, governments, investors, stock exchanges and organizations have implemented reporting requirements and are putting pressure on businesses to reduce emissions across their entire value chain.

Validation and verification of GHG emissions are important for an organization for several reasons, such as:

• contribution to the annual report,
• communication with clients,
• compliance with the reporting requirements of regulatory authorities or investors
• publication of achievements in terms of emission reduction.

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About the standard

The ISO 14064 standard consists of three parts.
The first part (SR EN ISO 14064-1:2019) specifies principles and requirements at the organization level for the quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals
The second part (SR EN ISO 14064-2:2019) details the requirements at the project level for quantification, monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emission reductions or removal enhancements
The third part (SR EN ISO 14064-3:2019) provides principles and requirements and provides guidance for verifying and validating greenhouse gas (GHG) statements.

Compliance with ISO 14064 series standards will allow you to:

• Enhance credibility, consistency and transparency of GHG quantification, monitoring and reporting, including reducing emissions and increasing disposal in GHG-related projects
• Develop and implement of GHG management strategies and plans of an organization
• Develop and implement of GHG-related projects
• Monitor performance changes and progress in reducing emissions and/or increasing GHG elimination
• Allocation of credits to reduce emissions or increase GHG elimination

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Stages of certification

• Review of the information provided by the organization
• Determining the potential risks, objectives, scope, criteria, level of assurance
• Appointing the leader of the verification / validation team

Team Planning

• Selecting the verification team
• Communication with the organization
• Developing the verification plan

Verification / Validation

• Evaluation of the organization’s GHG declaration in compliance with the requirements, information reviews, verification and data sampling plan
• Evaluation of evidence

Issuance of the declaration of verification / validation

• Issuance of the declaration of verification / validation based on the conclusion of the verification findings.

• Set clear requirements for quantifying the carbon footprint;
• Monitoring performance in reducing the carbon footprint of products;
• Better understand the carbon footprint of products, identifying opportunities to increase GHG removals and reduce GHG emissions;
• Supporting the transition towards a sustainable low-carbon economy;
• Improved credibility, consistency and transparency in quantification and reporting;
• Evaluation of alternative options for product design, sourcing, production, manufacturing methods, raw material selection, transportation, recycling and end-of-life processes;
• Facilitating the development and implementation of GHG management strategies and plans throughout the product life cycle.

Independent verification of the carbon footprint is essential as organizations are increasingly being judged on their commitment to sustainability. Independent verification provides credibility, consistency and accuracy of the carbon footprint and enables meaningful communication of the carbon footprint.
 

Why SRAC?

• strengthening your organization’s position in a world increasingly concerned about climate change;
• long-standing experience (our greenhouse gas verification body has been providing verification and validation services since the inception of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme);
• ISO 14065 accreditation for the verification and validation of GHG emissions quantification, monitoring and reporting.

Our verification process complies with ISO 14064-3 and is subject to high competence requirements, guaranteeing a professional and reliable analysis of your product carbon footprint reports.

Benefit from:

• Increased integrity of the carbon footprint of products through compliance with recognized standards;
• Improved credibility, consistency and transparency in quantification, monitoring and reporting;
• Creating a solid basis for developing and improving monitoring systems to track GHG emissions;
• Develop and implement emission reduction and decarbonization strategies.

Quantifying your carbon footprint can be a complex and time-consuming process, with the risk of errors. Choosing SRAC to verify your product’s carbon footprint will ensure that your GHG emissions claim meets international standards, is credible, consistent and accurate. Reducing the risk of carbon calculation data errors and building stakeholder confidence is an important benefit of working with SRAC.
 

Steps in the verification process

1. Starting the activity

• Analysis of information provided by the organization
• Determination of objectives, scope, limits, criteria, level of assurance
• Appointment of the verification team leader

2. Planning

• Selecting the verification team
• Communication with the organization
• Strategic and risk analysis
• Developing the verification plan

3. Check

• Assessment of the carbon footprint study of the product according to the requirements
• Evaluation of the information and sampled data used to calculate the carbon footprint

4. Issuing the verification certificate

• Drafting the verification report and statement
• Independent analysis of the verification report and statement
• Issuance of the verification certificate based on the conclusion of the verification findings (after resolving any findings during the verification)

• Credibility and transparency: ISO 14068-1 implementation enhances the organization’s credibility with stakeholders, including customers, investors and regulators;
• Alignment to global standards: Ensure compliance with the latest practices and requirements in the field of climate change;
• Risk mitigation: By verifying carbon neutrality claims, organizations identify and mitigate the risks associated with greenhouse gas emissions, including financial, operational and reputational risks;
• Access to new markets and funding opportunities: Organizations that demonstrate their commitment to sustainability through carbon neutrality have easier access to new markets and funding opportunities, especially in sectors where sustainability is a key factor;
• Improving corporate ESG / CSRD reporting: the Standard helps organizations to improve the quality and consistency of their sustainability and climate change reporting.

Legal Context and Importance of Climate Action

To limit the increase in global temperatures to no more than 1.5°C and avoid the severe effects of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
The European Green Deal, initiated by the European Commission, aims to transform the European Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy. It also aims to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050 and decouple economic growth from resource use. An interim target is to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030.

However, it is difficult to achieve a long-term goal of net zero emissions without recognizing achievements along the way. In this respect, carbon neutrality can help. Organizations that have a clear plan and have started to make real greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions and GHG removal improvements can offset their remaining carbon footprint by using high-quality carbon credits to achieve carbon neutrality.

In recent years, there have been many claims of carbon neutrality that have not been backed up or have been backed up only by the purchase of a few carbon credits, leading to the risk of greenwashing.
Compliance with ISO 14068-1 means that organizations will be able to demonstrate that their carbon neutrality claim is backed up by real actions to reduce GHG emissions and includes a clear pathway to eliminate all possible GHG emissions and improve GHG removals, so that it is not just about purchasing carbon credits from the market. This significantly improves the credibility of a statement.

The role of SRAC in promoting sustainability

SRAC is distinguished by its deep commitment to sustainability, offering a full range of verification and validation services in the field of environmental protection, including:

• ISO 14001 certification,
• Greenhouse Gas (GHG) verification according to Regulation (EU) 2018/2067
• EMAS verification,
• ISCC certification,
• verification and validation of GHG statements according to ISO 14064-1 and ISO 14064-2,
• verification of the carbon footprint of products according to ISO 14067,
• SRAC ECOLABEL according to ISO 14024.

SRAC’s commitment to promoting environmentally responsible business practices is essential to supporting its clients’ sustainability goals.
 

• Ensures compliance with legal requirements;
• Reduces the risk of greenwashing or legal penalties;
• Improves internal processes for monitoring and managing emissions;
• Supports access to green financing and sustainable public procurement.

Why SRAC?

SRAC is a RENAR accredited body for the verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reports and tonne-kilometer data reports (certificate nr. OV 006).

This verification is intended to arrive at a verification opinion with reasonable assurance that the data submitted by the organization that owns the GHG-generating installation in the emission monitoring reports:

• are correctly stated (e.g. that the report does not contain material misstatements);
• are in compliance with the EU ETS permit* and the monitoring plan for installations.

*EU ETS (EU Emission Trading Scheme) – greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme
 

Why GHG verification?

All installations falling under the provisions of HG no. 780/2006 on the establishment of the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme, with subsequent amendments and additions, must prepare an annual GHG Emission Monitoring Report.
The monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions shall be carried out in accordance with the harmonized requirements laid down in Commission Regulation (EU) No 2066/2018 and shall be complete, consistent, transparent and accurate for the proper functioning of the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme established by Directive 2003/87/EC.
The operator or aircraft operator shall submit to the competent authority, by March 1st of each year, the Emission Report covering the annual emissions for the reporting period which is verified in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 2067/2018.

Why SRAC?

SRAC is accredited as EMAS environmental verifier (certificate no. VM 001) having the ability to validate environmental declarations for those scopes it has been accredited for.

Any organization, public or private, regardless the type of performed activity, that wishes to continuously improve the environment performance, can require EMAS registration.

The necessary documents for the EMAS registration of an organization are those mentioned in Order No. 2086 of 17th of August 2011 regarding the registration procedure in the Community eco-management and audit scheme – EMAS, order issued by the Ministry of Environment.

Organizations wishing to be registered for the first time shall for EMAS shall (in compliance with the provisions of art. 4 Regulation EC No 1221/2009):

• carry out an environmental review;
• develop and implement an environmental management system;
• carry out an internal audit;
• prepare an environmental statement;
• the initial environmental review, the environment management system, the audit procedure and its implementation shall be verified by an accredited or licensed environmental verifier and the environmental statement shall be validated by that verifier.

The application for registration shall be made to the EMAS Office and shall include the:

• EMAS registration application form, see Annex 2 of Order no. 2086/ 17 August 2011;
• The validated environmental statement in electronic or printed form;
• The declaration signed by the environmental verifier which validated the environmental statement.

EMAS office verifies the correctness and validity of the documents.

The detailed assessment of the documents required for EMAS registration application that is realized by the Competent Body together with EMAS Committee. If during the evaluation meeting all the legal criteria for EMAS Registration, mentioned in art.13, line 2 of the Regulation, are fulfilled, the Competent Body decides to grant the EMAS Registration, based on EMAS Committee notice.

• a way to integrate sustainability in the procurement process, at a strategic level, in the organization’s policies and practices and processes;
• manage financial, environmental and reputational risks more efficiently and effectively;
• promoting innovation;
• sustainability benefits, including life-cycle cost savings;
• contribution to the local economy;
• encouraging small and medium-sized suppliers;
• ensuring respect for human rights in your supply chain;
• reducing resource waste and emissions.

What is ISO 20400 and why is it important?

• demonstrating commitment to sustainability and long-term value creation for the organization and its stakeholders;
• managing risks (including opportunities) for environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development.

• Organizational Governance
• Human rights
• Work practices
• Environment
• Fair practices
• Consumer aspects
• Community involvement and development

Why ISO 20400 certification with SRAC?

SRAC certification confirms the actions implemented by organizations to:

• ensuring the organizational conditions and management techniques necessary to implement a sustainable procurement policy and strategy;
• prioritization of supply chain actions based on risk analysis and sustainability criteria;
• to minimize the organization’s operational risks with regard to the social and economic environment;
• incorporation of the whole value chain in sustainability performance. This necessarily includes the dual involvement of the value chain. In other words:

– Upstream: by encouraging organizations to establish a supply chain with a more positive impact on the environment and the economy, building trust in their value chain;
– Downstream: by generating a positive environmental, social and economic impact throughout the product life cycle.

• sustainable financing and responsible consumption;
• empowering organizations by pursuing much more than making profits at any cost;
• meet the sustainability requirements of clients and investors, reducing the risk associated with environmental regulation;
• turning procurement into a competitive advantage by validating companies’ ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria.

• consumer confidence: certainty that products comply with strict environmental protection standards;
• reduced environmental impact: contribution to a cleaner environment and sustainability;
• market differentiation: a competitive advantage for eco-certified manufacturers;
• support for corporate responsibility: adopting eco-labelling not only improves a company’s image, but also contributes to the achievement of sustainable development goals;
• long-term savings: energy efficiency and sustainability that translate into financial savings;
• regulatory compliance: meeting or exceeding environmental standards and regulations;
• consumer awareness: eco-labelling helps educate the public about the importance of green choices and the impact they can have on the environment.