Carbon Neutral Government program

Under B.C.’s Carbon Neutral Government (CNG) program – legislated under the Climate Change Accountability Act (CCAA) – all provincial public sector organizations (PSOs) must be carbon neutral.

Municipalities are not PSOs.

On this page

• Requirements and timeline
• In-scope sources and emissions
• Guidance and templates
• Greenhouse gas calculation and reporting tools

Requirements and timeline

PSOs follow a five-step process to achieve carbon neutrality:

1. Measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from buildings, vehicles and paper use
2. Reduce emissions by lowering fossil fuel, electricity, paper and refrigerant consumption
3. Offset remaining emissions by purchasing high-quality, made-in-B.C. carbon offsets
4. Report annually through the PSO Climate Change Accountability Report (PSO CCAR)
5. Verify data and emissions

Timeline for the 2024 reporting year

January 2025: PSOs receive reporting materials via email from the Climate Action Secretariat (CAS), including:

• Links to the PSO CCAR Instructions and Template, and the Public Sector Climate Leadership Survey
• Instructions on completing the Self-certification Checklist in the Clean Government Reporting Tool (CGRT)

April 30, 2025: CGRT data entry and Self-certification Checklist due

• Deadline for PSOs to enter 2024 building, fleet and paper data into CGRT
• Deadline for PSOs to complete the Self-certification Checklist in CGRT to attest to the accuracy and completeness of the data and oversight of the quality assurance process

May 31, 2025: PSO CCAR and Public Sector Climate Leadership Survey due

• PSOs email their signed, completed PSO CCAR to Carbon.Neutral@gov.bc.ca (see PSO CCAR Instructions and Template for detailed instructions)
• PSOs complete and submit their Public Sector Climate Leadership Survey online
• PSOs receive their offset invoice with final emissions numbers and offsets to be purchased for the 2024 reporting year

June 30, 2025: CAS posts PSO CCARs and retires offsets

• CAS posts all PSO CCARs on the B.C. Government website
• PSOs submit their offset invoice payments to CAS
• CAS retires sufficient offsets on behalf of PSOs to achieve carbon neutrality for 2024

Fall 2025: CNG verification review

• CAS engages an accredited, independent third party to verify a sampling of PSO emissions reports

In-scope sources and emissions

Not all activities and emissions sources are in scope for the CNG program. Learn more about CNG scope.

Guidance and templates

Program guidance

• Becoming Carbon Neutral (PDF, 1.5MB) provides an overview of the CNG program and the annual reporting cycle
• 2024 B.C. Best Practices Methodology for Quantifying GHG Emissions (PDF, 1.1MB) explains how the CNG program determines emissions factors and how these factors can be applied to calculate GHG emissions
• Scope Summary for PSO GHG Emissions (PDF, 301KB) describes in-scope and out-of-scope emissions sources
• B.C. PSO Emissions Reporting: Quality Control and Quality Assurance Guidance (PDF, 543KB) provides guidance on developing governance structures and processes for reporting, storing and validating data to ensure data quality in the CNG program

Annual reporting and self-certification templates

• PSO CCAR Instructions and Template (DOCX, 249KB) - for 2024 reporting year
• Self-certification Checklist – PSOs to complete in CGRT for 2024 reporting year (CGRT login/password required)
• Supporting quality control and assurance resources:
  • Cascading Sign-off Checklist (DOCX, 104KB)
  • Roles and Responsibilities (DOCX, 83KB)

Greenhouse gas calculation and reporting tools

• Clean Government Reporting Tool (CGRT) - use this tool to measure and load data
• Supporting CGRT resources:
  • CGR Bulk Load Tool (March 2023) (XLSM, 315 KB) - includes CGR Generic Calendarize Tool functionality
  • District Energy System (DES) Calculator (XLSX, 65KB)
  • Emission Factors Catalogue (XLSX, 392KB)