Net Zero Carbon Business Lite Certification Information

Net Zero Carbon Business Lite is Ekos’ certification for small businesses with a footprint under 50 tCO2e. Measure your footprint, have it reviewed, and offset it to receive your certificate.

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OPTION 1: MEASURE FOR FREE

Measure in order to understand your emission hotspots and start working out how best to make reductions. There is no fee for using the calculator to estimate your carbon footprint.

You will receive a summary of your carbon footprint.

There are three options:

OPTION 2: CARBON FRIENDLY RECOGNITION

Measure and offset a selected amount of your carbon footprint, without Ekos verification. This uses conservative estimates with an Ekos-approved estimate methodology. There is a $250+GST (NZD) administration fee which covers the costs associated with retiring the credits.

You will receive a Carbon Friendly recognition certificate. Carbon Friendly is not a certification programme, so this option does not include certification marks.

OPTION 3: NET ZERO CARBON BUSINESS LITE CERTIFICATION

Measure, review and offset your carbon footprint to receive Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certification*. There is a $700+GST (NZD) fee for an Ekos review of your data. You will also need to offset 100% of the measured result (and pay the $250+GST administration fee, as in Option 2).

You will receive a measurement report, verification, an offset receipt and an emissions summary report, followed by your Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certificate and certification marks from Ekos.

The criteria, process and costs are explained below.

*To know whether you’re eligible, use the business calculator to estimate your carbon footprint.

To help with data collection, you can download the Business Lite data verification sheet at any time.

If any of the following applies to you, you will need to follow our standard certification process. Request a certification quote, or contact the Ekos team at ekos@ekos.co.nz for further information.

1. Your carbon footprint is over 50 tCO2e.

2. You do not meet the required criteria for Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certification.

3. You want to offset your carbon footprint with carbon credits from a specific project.

4. You want Net Zero Carbon or Climate Positive Business Operations certification.

What is the Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certification?

This certification programme is designed for:

  1. Small businesses, with simple organisation structures (single site), and;

  2. Low carbon footprint (under 50 tCO2e), and;

  3. No complicated emissions sources (e.g. biomass, fugitive emissions, agricultural or industrial emissions)

  4. No land ownership where tree felling or sequestration occurred, and;

  5. No major business activities being outsourced to another party or assets leased to another party.

It is intended that a small business should be able to use this tool and follow a simple internal verification process to achieve Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certification with a minimal cost.

How much does it cost?

  1. There is no fee for using the calculator or estimating your footprint. It is also free to download a copy of the Business Lite data verification sheet for guidance on data collection and aggregation.

  2. There is a $700+GST fee for an Ekos verification review of your input data. (Please note the payment of this review fee does not guarantee that an organisation’s application for review and certification will be successful. The review fee above is non-refundable in the event an organisation’s application is unsuccessful.)

  3. To achieve Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certification, you need to offset your footprint. There will be a $250+GST NZD administration fee for the retiring of credits.

  4. Carbon credit prices in the Business Lite Calculator depend on the project selected, with prices currently starting from $75.00 NZD / tCO2e (per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent).

  5. These credits will be sourced from one of the restorative forest carbon projects within Ekos’ supply chain.

  6. You’ll be emailed an offset receipt and an emissions summary report. Ekos will then send you your Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certificate and certification marks.

  7. Since 1 April 2026, $1 from every carbon offset is donated to Upstream to help fund youth mental health counselling. Learn more about Upstream.

What’s the process?

The process is simple:

  1. First, we estimate your carbon footprint and confirm that it is below 50 tCO2e.

  1. We then confirm that you meet all of the criteria below:

    • Operates from a single site and DOES NOT own the premise

    • Did not burn any biomass (wood)

    • Did not own any land where land use change has occurred

    • Did not have agricultural activities

    • Did not use industrial gases

    • Did not outsource significant activities that are core to the business operations

    • Did not lease assets to another party, e.g. buildings or vehicles

  2. Then complete the Net Zero Carbon Business Lite data verification sheet. This spreadsheet provides you with guidance so that you can compile and consolidate the 12 months of data.

  1. Complete the calculator with entries corresponding to the totals in your Net Zero Carbon Business Lite data verification sheet and “Save” your calculator entry.

  2. If you have selected “estimation only” for any of your previous calculations, you must go back and delete the estimated entries, select “accurate measurement” and enter the total as per your spreadsheet record.

  3. Once you’ve finished entering your data, please select “I’m ready for the verification process”.

  4. Please follow the instructions on the page to upload your “Net Zero Carbon Business Lite data verification sheet”. You will then need to pay the verification fee of $700+GST (NZD) using the credit card payment portal.

  5. Ekos will review your data and email you with the next steps. If we find an error or have questions, we’ll ask you to correct your data and resubmit. If everything checks out, your data has passed review and you can go ahead and offset your footprint

  6. Offset your carbon footprint at the end of the calculator by using a credit card payment portal.

  7. You will be sent a Net Zero Carbon Business Lite certificate, certification marks and an emissions inventory report in PDF format via email.

  8. Your certificate is valid for 12 months. We’ll email you a reminder before it expires so you can repeat the process and renew.

Use the business calculator