(Note from Sinalevi: This procedure was extracted from the website of the Ministry of Environment and Energy and is transcribed below:)
The Country Program for Carbon Neutrality (PPCN) is a voluntary mechanism accessible to organizations, public and private companies, communities, and event organizers, for the reporting of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventories, the demonstration of emission reduction, removal, and compensation actions, and the strengthening of decarbonization, developed by the Climate Change Directorate (DCC) of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE).
The PPCN - Educational Centers Category is a subcategory that simplifies the requirements of the Organizational category to facilitate the incorporation of educational institutions into the program.
Preschool, primary, and secondary education centers that are formally recognized by the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica can participate in this subcategory. Other educational centers that do not meet these requirements must participate in the Organizational Category.
RECOGNITION SYSTEM The Country Program for Carbon Neutrality 2.0 has a recognition system that acknowledges each stage towards achieving Carbon Neutrality and going beyond. This is the system that applies to educational centers.
Recognitions range from the estimation of the educational center's carbon footprint to efforts beyond carbon neutrality and are awarded every three years.
THE PARTICIPATION PROCESS IN THE PPCN The educational centers subcategory is a simplification of the Organizational category of the PPCN, therefore, it is guided by the INTE B5:2016 standard "Standard for demonstrating carbon neutrality". However, there are some simplifications to the participation requirements. The procedure for accessing the recognitions is shown in the following chart.
HOW TO OBTAIN THE "PLUS" RECOGNITION? 1 1. The complete and detailed conditions are on the DCC page.
To obtain Carbon Reduction Plus or Carbon Neutrality Plus, the educational center can use the criteria established in section 6 of the document "Country Program for Carbon Neutrality 2.0 Organizational Category".
Another option for obtaining the plus recognition is to meet the detailed conditions below. The educational center must meet at least one of the two conditions indicated for case 1 and additionally, must meet at least one of the three conditions described for case 2.
VALIDITY AND VERIFICATION The recognition processes of the PPCN educational centers subcategory will be carried out based on a three-year evaluation cycle. This cycle consists of an initial verification and two follow-up moments after 12 and 24 months from the start. After 36 months, the renewal verification can be performed.
Costa Rican Compensation Units (UCC).
The educational center must include in its GHG inventory direct emissions (scope 1) and indirect emissions from energy (scope 2). Other indirect emissions (scope 3) are not mandatory to report under this program.
The GHG inventory studies must consider the mandatory reporting of the following greenhouse gases: