Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Question: Why should the cleaning industry care about climate change?
Answer: Climate change is perhaps one of the most important issues of our time. Changing weather patterns can lead to widespread drought, which diminishes drinking water supplies, lowers food production, and causes famine and disease. Climate change can cause increased frequencies and intensities of storms like Hurricane Katrina. Warmer temperatures can raise sea levels, threatening the livelihoods of polar and oceanic species and potentially inundating coastal regions. Climate change will have a tremendous impact on our children and future generations if we don’t take measures to mitigate its effects now.
Question: Is the cleaning industry the primary culprit in the production of climate changing emissions?
Answer: The cleaning industry is responsible for only a minute portion of climate changing emissions, yet every industry and business must do its part to contribute to the solution.
Question: Can the cleaning industry really make an important difference?
Answer: We believe so. The cleaning industry is huge—comprised of over four million people, 70,000 companies, and hundreds of thousands of vehicles. However, we do not currently measure our consumption of energy or fuels and thus do not know exactly what we are contributing to climate change or what we can do better to reduce emissions. The Cleaning Industry Climate Initiative is specifically designed to help companies within the cleaning industry begin to capture the appropriate data, get educated, identify opportunities to voluntarily reduce emissions and become more energy efficient, and to easily purchase offsets for those who so choose.
Question: Why should individual cleaning companies participate?
Answer: Not only do we believe that every company has to do its part to mitigate climate change, we also believe that addressing energy consumption and emissions is a good business measure and will ultimately save companies money. Additionally, we believe that in the near future consumers will not only want to buy greener products and services, but they will want to purchase these from “greener” companies. Thus participating in the Cleaning Industry Climate Initiative will demonstrate environmental leadership and will help participants succeed in the marketplace.
Question: Is participating in the Cleaning Industry Climate Initiative Complicated?
Answer: No, participation in the Cleaning Industry Climate Initiative is not complicated. The graduated levels of participation make this program very practical to get involved in and to make a difference as an environmental leader in the cleaning industry.
Question: How does the cleaning industry generate emissions?
Answer: Emissions result from burning fuels like gasoline, jet fuel (kerosene), fuel oil, natural gas and coal in order to produce the energy needed for heating, cooling, and lighting our buildings used for operation, as well as to power the vehicles used by sales, service, cleaning personnel and other administrative staff.
Question: What types of emissions does the Cleaning Industry Climate Initiative program address?
Answer: The Cleaning Industry Climate Initiative program addresses emissions that contribute to climate change (such as CO2) and those that are harmful to human health (like SO2, NOX, Hg, and particulates).
Question: What are emissions offsets?
Answer: Offsets are the quantified emission reductions from some action that reduces, sequesters, or avoids harmful emissions, such as generating clean electricity from wind energy or planting trees to sequester carbon dioxide.
Question: What types of emission offsets does the Cleaning Industry Climate Initiative program use?
Answer: We use a number of different emissions offsets, including Green-E Certified Renewable Energy Credits and forest carbon sequestration projects.
Question: What is the additional service of “verification” of your company’s emissions and offset achievements?
Answer: This service is available, for an additional fee, for participants that are willing to provide the detailed information and documentation of their company’s emissions and offsets. We will work with you to gather and/or document information about your company’s building energy use, business travel and transportation, and other business-related energy use in order to calculate your company’s emissions. We will then verify your current emissions offset achievements or help you meet your offset target. If you would like additional information about verification click here.
Question: Why will this additional service of verified offset achievements for my company become important in the future?
Answer: It is expected that, as more and more companies take action to reduce their environmental impact and to mitigate climate change, many businesses will require their suppliers to provide verification that they have offset their emissions.
About The Green Cleaning Network:
The Green Cleaning Network is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to sharing information and promoting Green Cleaning. Its founding members include the likes of the US Green Building Council, Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, Healthy Schools Campaign, Responsible Purchasing Network, International Executive Housekeepers Association and BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association). The Network hosts a series of “discussion forums” which provides information on Green Cleaning to make it easier for the marketplace to adopt greener practices. To learn more, visit www.GreenCleaningNetwork.org.
About Leonardo Academy:
Leonardo Academy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1997 that is dedicated to advancing sustainability and putting the competitive market to work on improving the environment. We develop and distribute strategies, guidance, metrics, standards, education, and information on how to increase sustainability. We also help companies, organizations, families, and individuals successfully promote, encourage, and implement sustainability. Our integrated approach makes sustainability very practical for our clients. We provide: sustainability assessments and strategy development for companies and organizations, support for LEED® implementation and certification, emissions footprint analysis and development of emissions reduction and offset strategies, certification of emission reduction and offset achievements for events, companies and organizations through our Cleaner and Greener® Program, sustainable land management, and sustainability education and training. To learn more, visit www.leonardoacademy.org.
For Additional Information on the Cleaning Industry Climate Initiative:
Contact Amanda Raster Manager of Leonardo Academy’s Cleaner and Greener® Program
• Email: amanda@leonardoacademy.org
• Tel: 608-280-0255
