Colorado Green Business recognition

Applying for recognition

The Colorado Green Business Network uses an online reporting tool called GreenBizTracker, where businesses can register where businesses can register as a support level member, immediately connecting you to a Green Business Specialist who is available to help answer questions and review your application with you at any time.

Our recognition application is a points-based assessment that asks you to report sustainability projects or initiatives implemented at your organization while also helping you review best practices and assess where you are in your sustainability journey. Our application is accessible to businesses of all sectors and sizes, so you can pick and choose which questions to answer, and you do not need to answer every question in order to receive recognition. The goal is to recognize you for implementing what works best for your organization and encourage you to take the next step.

Our current application for recognition comes in four parts, which you can see and review on the “Survey” tab once you register in GreenBizTracker. Our team also offers ongoing recognition support, including:

• Application Clinics: Your Green Business Specialist will meet with you any time you wish to answer questions about your application and to provide feedback about the best ways to improve your score.
• Preliminary Score Reports: Your Green Business Specialist can pull your current application and provide you with an estimated score so that you know where you stand prior to submission. Our team offers preliminary score reports every year between October and April.
• On-Site Opportunity Assessments: Your Green Business Specialist can visit your facility/building to identify opportunities to help you realize cost savings, as well as energy, water, fuel, and waste efficiency. All these opportunities will translate to more points in our application, which helps businesses move from Bronze to Silver or Silver to Gold.

Trouble viewing the image? Access CGBN levels in a PDF format.

All current CGBN members at Bronze, Silver, and Gold Levels must submit an Annual Report for two years after your initial certification and renew your certification in the third year. Once an organization has been certified in the CGBN, the “Annual Report” survey will appear in the surveys tab on their GreenBiz Tracker account. Certified CGBN Members must submit the Annual Report two years before the June 30th deadline to maintain their certification.

The Annual Report is a small subset of the full application questions, asking for updated data for the most recent calendar year. Certified businesses must update their data every year to reflect their most recent calendar year.

If a certified organization fails to submit its Annual Report before the June 30th deadline, it will lapse in the program.

Organizations wanting to join the CGBN community must register in GreenBiz Tracker and submit all four surveys by June 30th to certify.

1. Welcome Survey
2. Policy & Leadership Survey
3. Resource Reduction Survey
4. Submission Agreement

For Recognition, the CGBN’s application committee will review and score your application, determining your membership level - Bronze, Silver, or Gold. Organizations do not need a perfect score to receive recognition. There are around 380 points on the table, but organizations only need 25 points for Bronze, 50 for Silver, and 100 for Gold. The application was created for organizations across sectors and sizes, so some questions may not pertain to a certain organization type.

The application committee will not review an organization’s application unless the Submission Agreement (the fourth survey) is submitted. A compliance check is a required part of our application process, and we run these compliance checks after our June 30th deadline each year for new applicants. The Submission Agreement gives us permission from the organization to complete this check, and we cannot move forward with the certification unless it is completed.

Certified green businesses

Each year, the Colorado Green Business Network recognizes and celebrates businesses that go above and beyond in implementing sustainability in their operations.