Climate Registered

1. Assess your organization's readiness: Review TCR's General Reporting Protocol and determine which emission scopes (Scope 1, 2, and/or 3) are relevant to your organization. Visit theclimateregistry.org to understand membership tiers and costs.

1. Join the Carbon Footprint Registry: Complete the membership application and pay annual dues (tiered by organization size). This gives you access to TCR's reporting software, guidance documents, and expert help desk.

1. Set your organizational boundary: Define the legal and operational boundaries of your GHG inventory — which facilities, subsidiaries, and activities are included — following TCR's General Reporting Protocol.

1. Collect and enter emissions data: Gather activity data (energy bills, fuel records, fleet data, etc.) and enter it into TCR's proprietary reporting software, which guides you through Scope 1, 2, and optional Scope 3 calculations.

1. Engage optional third-party verification: If you want verified status, contract with a TCR-accredited third-party verifier to independently review your reported data. This step enhances credibility with regulators and supply chain partners.

1. Submit your report: Finalize and submit your GHG emissions report through the TCR platform. TCR staff review submissions for completeness and protocol compliance.

1. Earn Climate Registered™ recognition: Upon successful submission (and verification if pursued), your organization receives Climate Registered™ status and can publicly display the recognition seal.

1. Renew annually: Maintain your status by renewing membership and submitting updated emissions reports each reporting cycle, building a multi-year emissions record.

Climate Registered evaluates an organization's greenhouse gas inventory across three primary emission scopes, following TCR's General Reporting Protocol (which is aligned with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard).

Scope 1 — Direct Emissions (Required): Emissions from sources owned or controlled by the organization, including stationary combustion (boilers, furnaces), mobile combustion (company vehicles), process emissions (industrial processes), and fugitive emissions (refrigerants, leaks). Organizations must document fuel types, quantities consumed, and applicable emission factors.

Scope 2 — Indirect Energy Emissions (Required): Emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat, or cooling consumed by the organization. Both location-based and market-based accounting methods are supported. Organizations must provide utility data and, where applicable, renewable energy certificate (REC) documentation.

Scope 3 — Value Chain Emissions (Optional but encouraged): Upstream and downstream indirect emissions across 15 categories defined by the GHG Protocol, including business travel, employee commuting, supply chain emissions, product use, and end-of-life treatment. TCR provides sector-specific guidance to help organizations identify material Scope 3 categories.

Data Quality and Methodology: TCR reviewers assess whether organizations have used appropriate emission factors, documented their calculation methodologies, correctly defined organizational boundaries, and followed TCR's General Reporting Protocol. For third-party verified reports, accredited verifiers additionally assess the completeness, consistency, accuracy, transparency, and relevance of the reported data against TCR's verification standard.

The Climate Registry occupies a distinctive niche in the North American GHG reporting landscape as the only major registry explicitly backed by U.S. states and Canadian provinces. Founded in 2007, it emerged from the Western Climate Initiative and related subnational policy efforts, giving it a level of governmental credibility that purely voluntary corporate programs lack. With hundreds of organizations reporting through its platform over nearly two decades, TCR has established itself as the go-to registry for organizations operating under or preparing for state and provincial carbon regulations, particularly in California, British Columbia, and other jurisdictions with active climate policy.

In terms of market positioning, TCR sits between the GHG Protocol (a standard/framework, not a registry) and CDP (a global investor-focused disclosure platform). TCR's strength is its integrated software-plus-registry model with hands-on expert support — making it particularly accessible for mid-market organizations that lack large internal sustainability teams. CDP tends to attract larger multinationals responding to investor pressure, while TCR is more commonly used by utilities, municipalities, universities, and regional businesses. ISO 14064 verification is often used alongside TCR reporting rather than as a direct competitor. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is complementary — organizations often report through TCR while also pursuing SBTi target validation.

Demand for GHG reporting programs is growing significantly, driven by the SEC's climate disclosure rules (even amid legal uncertainty), California's SB 253 and SB 261 supply chain disclosure laws, and increasing pressure from institutional investors and procurement teams. TCR is well-positioned to benefit from these trends given its North American focus and regulatory relationships. However, its regional scope means it is less relevant for multinationals seeking a single global reporting framework, and its relatively modest public profile compared to CDP may limit adoption among companies prioritizing investor-facing disclosures.

The Climate Registry was established in 2007 as a collaborative initiative of U.S. states, Canadian provinces, and Mexican states seeking a unified, credible platform for greenhouse gas reporting across North America. It grew directly out of the policy infrastructure being developed around the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and similar regional cap-and-trade frameworks, with the goal of creating a single, consistent registry that could serve both voluntary reporters and mandatory regulatory programs. This governmental backing distinguished TCR from other voluntary GHG registries of the era, such as the California Climate Action Registry (which TCR absorbed) and the Chicago Climate Exchange.

Over the following years, TCR developed its General Reporting Protocol — aligned with the internationally recognized GHG Protocol Corporate Standard — and built out its proprietary reporting software platform. The Climate Registered™ recognition program was introduced to provide public acknowledgment for organizations that measure and disclose their emissions through the registry. TCR has continued to evolve its tools and protocols in response to changing regulatory landscapes, including the growth of Scope 3 reporting requirements and increasing demand from supply chain transparency initiatives. By the mid-2020s, TCR had served hundreds of organizations across North America and positioned itself as the region's most trusted GHG reporting community, with nearly 20 years of continuous operation.