FAQ
General questions
If you have provided all the complete documents required for the verification, the response time is approximately 10 business days. If the documents are missing or incomplete, we will notify you within 5 business days.
For the Locally Sourced certification, you can prepare the documentation yourself.
For the EcoDesign and Carbon Neutral certifications, these certification programs are designed so that a construction project can be certified without the use of a consultant. That said, companies often hire consultants to help them throughout the process. If there is a clear deadline for certification, if the financial resources are greater than the time available for staff, or if the company wants professional advice throughout the process, a consultant should be considered.
For the EcoDesign and Carbon Neutral certifications, these certification programs are designed so that a construction project can be certified without the use of a consultant. That said, companies often hire consultants to help them throughout the process. If there is a clear deadline for certification, if the financial resources are greater than the time available for staff, or if the company wants professional advice throughout the process, a consultant should be considered.
Yes, we have developed standards for each certification. We would be pleased to provide them to you upon request.
Yes, we can offer a customized package of different certifications for the same project. Please contact us and we will be happy to arrange a meeting with you to assess your needs.
Local sourcing is the sourcing from local suppliers (provincial or national level) of one or more product components that have undergone value-added processing. Brokers, distributors or any intermediaries who do not provide added value to the components of the product are not considered as suppliers.
For Taïga Initiative™ a product is defined as any good or service. Services can represent tangible and intangible elements (based on the definition of ISO 14044 : 2006, section 3.9).
All specific activities, grouping of activities or events of a company or organization carried out in a given or planned time.
Yes we offer a bundle package for several different products for the same company. Please contact us and we will be happy to arrange a meeting with you to assess your needs.
For local procurement certification, a mass balance is required, the nomenclature (BOM) with the mass of the product components with data on the suppliers of the components: postal addresses, contact persons, email addresses and telephone numbers. This report must be signed by a duly authorized representative of your company.
For the certification about local sourcing: the contact person for the company that supplies material or a product to the manufacturer. Brokers, distributors or any intermediaries who do not add value to the product are not considered as suppliers.
Taïga Initiative offers you a 1 hour training session to explain how to perform a building LCA. Contact us and we will be happy to organize a virtual meeting with you.
The BOM/nomenclature of materials for LCA only, for Carbon Neutral certification must be added the distance travelled by workers to go to the construction site and the type of vehicle used. We recommend the free LCA software available online from Athena Impact Estimator (IEB), to perform the LCA of the building design: calculatelca.com/software/impact-estimator
If the BOM is complete for the Comparative LCA (for EcoDesign certification), allow 10-20 full days of work. It all depends on the complexity of the design. For the simple LCA, necessary for Carbon Neutral certification, about 5 to 10 full days of work can be expected depending on the complexity of the design.
The company or organization must demonstrate that there has been a reduction in potential impacts according to the three possible levels of certification in EcoDesign.
The first level, Bronze, is awarded if the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) shows a 5% reduction in construction or renovation compared to a baseline construction or renovation in at least three of the six categories, including one which must be the global warming potential.
The second level, Silver, as above with at least 10% reduction.
The third level, Gold, is awarded if the LCA demonstrates a reduction of 20% for the global warming potential and 10% in two other categories.
Levels one to three require that no category can increase by more than 5% in the building from the baseline construction or renovation.
Potential impacts analyzed in the LCA
The first level, Bronze, is awarded if the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) shows a 5% reduction in construction or renovation compared to a baseline construction or renovation in at least three of the six categories, including one which must be the global warming potential.
The second level, Silver, as above with at least 10% reduction.
The third level, Gold, is awarded if the LCA demonstrates a reduction of 20% for the global warming potential and 10% in two other categories.
Levels one to three require that no category can increase by more than 5% in the building from the baseline construction or renovation.
Potential impacts analyzed in the LCA
