Carbon Neutral Government program requirements

Under B.C.’s Carbon Neutral Government program – legislated under the Climate Change Accountability Act (CCAA) – all provincial public sector organizations (PSOs) follow a five-step process to achieve carbon neutrality:

Five-step process

  1. Measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from buildings, vehicles and paper use
  2. Reduce emissions as much as possible by conserving electricity and fossil fuels
  3. Offset remaining emissions by purchasing an equivalent amount of high-quality, made-in-B.C. carbon offsets
  4. Report annually on progress through the PSO Climate Change Accountability Report (PSO CCAR), formerly the Carbon Neutral Action Report (CNAR)
  5. Verify data and emissions

Detailed step-by-step information is available in Becoming Carbon Neutral (PDF, 388 KB).

Timeline for the 2021 reporting year

January/February 2022: Receive reporting materials

  • PSOs receive an email from the Climate Action Secretariat (CAS) containing:
    • A link to the PSO CCAR Instructions and Template 
    • A link to the Public Sector Climate Leadership Survey
    • Instructions on completing the Self-Certification Checklist in the Clean Government Reporting Tool (CGRT)

April 30, 2022: CGRT Data Entry and Self-Certification Checklist due

  • Deadline for PSOs to populate 2021 building, fleet and paper data into the Clean Government Reporting Tool (CGRT)
  • Deadline for PSOs to complete the Self-Certification Checklist in CGRT to attest to the accuracy and completeness of the populated data and the oversight of the quality assurance process

May 31, 2022: 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 an offset invoice by May 31, 2022 with the final emissions numbers and the amount of offsets to be purchased for the 2021 reporting year

June 30, 2022: CAS posts reports and retire offsets.

  • CAS posts all PSO CCARs on the CNG website
  • PSOs must submit their offset invoice payments to CAS
  • CAS retires sufficient offsets to achieve carbon neutrality for 2021

Fall 2022: CNG Verification Review.

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

Self-certification templates

Archived guidance documents