Overall process

General steps of the process

To issue and distribute Climate Dividends, the Contributing Entity must complete the following 5-step process.

Overall Climate Dividends process

Even if you already have completed an avoided/removed emissions assessment before entering the Climate Dividends process, you must comply with the rules of the Protocol and formalize your claim into a Solution Detailed Declaration.

How long does it take?

The duration of the whole process depends on multiple elements, mainly:

• is it your first claim or are you within the validity period of your SDD? cf SDD vs Claims

• have you already validated the Eligibility criteria (e.g. you've already conducted your carbon footprint)? cf Eligibility and particularly At company level.

• have you already conducted a LCA or an avoided/removed emissions assessment of your Solution?

Depending on these elements, it can take from < 1 week to 6 months if you really start from scratch. Check this approximative timeline to learn more.

Role of the Climate Dividends team

All along the process, the Climate Dividends team will support you to complete those steps by providing guidance and having regular check-ins with you.

However, we do not offer to complete the process for you (data collection, calculations...etc). 👉 You can check the list of our Referenced Consulting Partners to help you.

Below is to help you understand better who does what during the process.

What does RACI stand for?

More on the RACI matrix here.

Basically:

• R = "Responsible" = the person directly in charge of doing the work

• A = "Accountable" = the person responsible for overseeing the task completion (but not necessarily doing the task herself)

• C = "Consulted" = the person responsible for reviewing and signing off the work

• I = "Informed" = the person(s) that are updated on the evolutions of the work

Macro-step	Step	Climate Dividends	Company (+ external consultants, if relevant)
0. Project preparation		Consulted	Responsible Accountable
1. Eligibility	Assessment	Consulted	Responsible Accountable
2. Evaluation		Accountable Consulted	Responsible
2. Evaluation		Consulted	Responsible Accountable
2. Evaluation	SDD formalisation	Consulted	Responsible Accountable
3. Validation & Verification	Finding the VV	Accountable Consulted	Responsible
3. Validation & Verification	VV's intervention	Informed	Accountable
4. Issuance	Issuance	Responsible Accountable	Informed
5. Distribution	Distribution	Responsible Accountable	Consulted

First year vs following years

`The process is slightly different between the first year of issuance and the following ones.

See the dedicated page (SDD vs claims) for more information.