Climatop, Switzerland
Labelling intelligent, climate friendly products
Objectives
Climatop works as a tool for realising a Low Carbon Society. The label aims to support climate friendly purchase behaviour as well as a long-term development and distribution of climate compatible products and services world-wide.
A competitive approach
Climatop represents a best-in-class-label, thereby calculating and comparing innovative products and certifying those which emit, compared with a representative peer group or an industry average, less GHGs. This leads to an incentive for producers to change their products in such a way as to save energy and material, at the same time maintaining their functionality. Climatop calls these products “intelligent, climate friendly products”, since the company made an effort to improve the products in order to realise a lower environmental impact.
The award of the label is based on a full cradle-to-grave LCA taking into account not only CO2 emissions but also relevant environmental burdens. The LCA calculations are verified by an independent, external inspection body, which corresponds to the requirement of the ISO 14040 standard. Moreover, Climatop includes social criteria.
The label is only valid for two years. In the context of a new assessment the producer has to, thereafter, show that its label is still justified. In the new assessment, the most current standards of the LCA methods and database values are used. If a competitor has a better result, i.e. a more climate friendly product, the former holder of the award has to return the label.
Current status and future goals
So far, Climatop has certified 60 products since 2008. The range of the products varies from investment to consumer goods. One of the key goals for the future remains the cooperation with partners that enable a quick and geographic broadening of the label whenever it is reasonable. Recently, Climatop went international by labelling its first German product. Next important steps are going to be taken world-wide.
All labelled products are described in detail on fact sheets publicly available at
5th PCF World Summit
4th PCF World Summit