CLIMATE ESSENTIALS LIMITED

Net Zero Community

The Net Zero Community is an online learning and engagement platform. It provides organisations with access to educational resources, toolkits, templates, policy updates, news and monthly webinars on climate change, sustainability, legislation and carbon management. The community can be used as a standalone service or alongside other Climate Essentials products.

Features

• Online community platform
• Access to educational climate and sustainability resources
• Toolkits and templates for practical implementation
• Regular policy updates and regulatory insights
• Monthly educational webinars with climate experts
• Live and recorded event attendance access
• Ability to ask questions and seek guidance
• Peer-to-peer interaction with other organisations
• Expert-led discussions on carbon and net zero
• Standalone or integrated with other Climate Essentials services

Benefits

• Builds climate knowledge across organisations
• Supports informed net zero decision-making
• Keeps users updated on policy changes
• Reduces learning curve on carbon reporting
• Encourages collaboration and shared learning
• Provides direct access to climate expertise
• Supports continuous professional development
• Increases confidence in sustainability actions
• Complements carbon measurement and reporting tools
• Scales learning across teams and organisations

• Education pricing available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at a.campbell@climateessentials.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

998047718164841

Contact

Anna Campbell
07562 681330
a.campbell@climateessentials.com

About the service

• Service categories:

  Applications

  Production and operations

  • Other operations
• Multi cloud support: No

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Private cloud
• Service constraints: No. The Net Zero Community has no technical constraints that buyers need to be aware of. It is cloud-based and does not require specific hardware configurations beyond a standard internet connection and web browser.; ; Personalised support, advanced advisory input, and tailored guidance are available separately through optional consultancy packages, should buyers require additional hands-on assistance.
• System requirements:
  • Web application accessible via a standard internet connection
  • Modern web browser required (e.g. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari)
  • No additional software installations or licences required
  • No specific operating system requirements (works across Windows, macOS, Linux)
  • No specialist hardware or virtual machine configuration needed
  • Security managed at application level; no buyer-side antivirus dependencies required

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Support channels: Email support and online ticketing; ; Support hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm (UK time); ; Response time: Within 48 hours during working days; ; Weekend queries: Requests received over weekends or public holidays are responded to on the next working day; Enhanced support and faster response times are available through optional consultancy and support packages.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Standard support (included) covers email and telephone support. Email queries are responded to within 48 hours during working days. Telephone support available Monday to Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm (UK time). The standard support covers platform access, functionality and general technical issues. The standard support is included within the service price.; ; With Enhanced support (optional), we include a dedicated Project Manager / named point of contact, priority response times, proactive support and regular service check-ins. Also available: advisory support for reporting, data quality and reduction planning. This is available through optional support services, starting at £250/day, subject to scoping.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: We help users start using the service through a structured onboarding process included as standard. This includes guided onboarding to support initial setup, remote online training sessions, and access to user documentation and guidance materials. Ongoing email and telephone support is also available during working hours to assist users as they become familiar with the platform. Onsite training and tailored, in-person sessions can be provided at an additional cost, subject to buyer requirements and agreement.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: When a contract ends, users can request extraction of their data by contacting the Climate Essentials support team via email. Upon receipt of the request, the dedicated Climate Essentials team will securely provide all relevant user data in a suitable format. This ensures buyers can retain, archive or migrate their data in line with their own data management requirements.
• End-of-contract process: At the end of the contract, buyer access to the Climate Essentials service is disabled unless the contract is renewed. All data remains securely retained in line with agreed data retention policies during the contract period.; ; The contract price includes access to the Net Zero Community, standard onboarding, online training, user documentation, and standard email and telephone support during working hours.; ; Data extraction at contract end is available on request and provided in a suitable format at no additional cost.; ; Any additional services, including enhanced support, dedicated account management, consultancy, custom functionality, or onsite training, are provided at an additional cost and subject to separate agreement.
• Documentation accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 A

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
  • Other
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Description of service interface: The Climate Essentials Net Zero Community interface is a secure, web-based platform hosted on Heartbeat and designed for easy participation by organisational users. Members access a central hub containing educational resources, toolkits, templates, policy updates and recorded content. The interface supports discussion threads where users can ask questions, share experiences and interact with peers and climate experts. Live and recorded monthly webinars and events are accessible directly through the platform. Clear navigation and notifications help users stay informed about new content, discussions and updates, enabling ongoing learning and engagement on climate change, sustainability, carbon management and evolving legislation.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.2 A
• Accessibility testing: We have tested the Net Zero Community service interface with a range of assistive technology use cases to support accessibility. This includes keyboard-only navigation (use without a mouse), screen reader compatibility, and voice-assisted navigation. Testing focused on form inputs, data entry workflows, dashboard navigation, and report generation to ensure key functionality remains accessible. Findings from this testing have informed ongoing interface improvements, including clearer focus states, logical tab ordering, and accessible labels. Accessibility considerations are reviewed as part of regular platform updates to support inclusive use across organisations.
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: The community structure, including the creation of sub-communities, content focus, learning resources, events and branding. Content can be tailored to specific themes, sectors, programmes or user groups.; Climate Essentials and other administrators can create and manage sub-communities, curate and publish content, schedule webinars and events, and control which resources are visible to different user groups. Content can be updated and tailored on an ongoing basis to reflect policy changes, priorities or programme objectives. Customisation is carried out by authorised buyer administrators. Additional tailoring or content development can be provided by Climate Essentials as part of an optional consultancy service.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The Climate Essentials Net Zero Community is hosted on the Heartbeat platform, which operates as a scalable, cloud-based service designed to support multiple organisations and communities concurrently. Heartbeat manages infrastructure capacity, performance and resource allocation to ensure that user activity in one community does not negatively impact the experience of other users. This shared, scalable architecture helps maintain consistent performance and availability as demand fluctuates, ensuring users can reliably access content, discussions, events and resources regardless of overall platform usage.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: No

Supplier type

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 4.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: Never
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v4.0
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Equipment disposal approach: In-house destruction process
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed / Cryptographic Erasure
  • Data Erasure
  • Physical Destruction / Hardware containing data is completely destroyed

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Users can request a full data export by contacting the Climate Essentials support team, who will provide the data in a suitable format.
• Data export formats: ODF
• Data import formats: ODF

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: Private network or public sector network
• Data protection within supplier network: TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: The Climate Essentials Net Zero Community is delivered via the Heartbeat platform and is designed for reliable, ongoing availability. ; At present, Climate Essentials does not offer contractual application-level SLAs for platform uptime. Platform availability is continuously monitored, and operational alerts are in place to identify and respond rapidly to unplanned service issues. In the event of disruption, incidents are prioritised, and users are kept informed of progress and resolution timelines. Climate Essentials does provide defined service levels for customer support and communications. Queries submitted via the support inbox or platform contact channels receive an initial response within two working days, excluding UK public holidays. To ensure consistent service delivery, Climate Essentials actively manages internal resourcing and team capacity. Workloads are monitored across teams to avoid single-point dependencies, and planned annual leave is coordinated to maintain operational coverage across customer support, technical, and project delivery functions throughout the year. As no formal availability SLA is offered, refunds or service credits are not provided in the event that availability targets are not met. This position is reflected in the service pricing and contract terms.
• Approach to resilience: The Climate Essentials Net Zero Community is delivered using the Heartbeat platform, which is designed to operate in a resilient, cloud-based environment. The service benefits from the underlying hosting provider’s resilient infrastructure, including redundant systems, fault-tolerant design, and continuous monitoring to reduce the risk of service disruption.; ; Data is hosted within secure cloud datacentres with resilient power, networking and storage. Regular backups and recovery processes are in place to protect against data loss. The platform is designed to scale and recover in the event of infrastructure issues, supporting continuity of service.; ; Further details on datacentre architecture and resilience controls are available on request, in line with the government’s Asset protection and resilience principle.; Data is regularly backed up and stored in secure environments to protect against data loss. Platform components can scale and recover automatically in the event of infrastructure issues, reducing the risk of service disruption.; ; Detailed information on the underlying datacentre architecture and resilience controls is available on request, in line with the government’s Asset protection and resilience principle.
• Outage reporting: The Climate Essentials service reports outages and service disruptions through email alerts. When an outage or significant service issue occurs, affected users are notified by email with information on the issue and, where appropriate, updates on progress and resolution.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Access to management interfaces and support channels is restricted using role-based and least-privilege controls.; ; Administrative and management interfaces are accessible only to authorised Climate Essentials personnel and approved customer administrators. Access is protected through strong authentication, including multi-factor authentication, and permissions are granted based on job role and operational need.; ; Support channels are restricted to verified customer contacts. Requests received via email or telephone are validated before any account or data changes are made. Support staff follow defined procedures to confirm identity and authorisation prior to providing assistance or accessing customer information.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: No audit information available
• Access to supplier activity audit information: No audit information available
• How long system logs are stored for: Between 1 month and 6 months

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: No
• Security governance approach: Climate Essentials approaches security governance through a risk-based, proportionate framework aligned with recognised cloud security and data protection principles. Security responsibilities are clearly defined within the organisation, covering data protection, access control, incident management and supplier management.; The service is hosted on Heartbeat, and governance incorporates their security controls alongside internal policies and procedures. Access to systems and data is restricted on a least-privilege basis, with role-based access controls and multi-factor authentication in place.; ; Security risks are reviewed regularly, with periodic internal security and compliance reviews. Incidents are logged, managed and reviewed to support continuous improvement.
• Information security policies and processes: Climate Essentials follows documented information security policies and processes designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of customer data. These policies cover access control, data handling, incident management, change management and supplier security.; ; Responsibility for information security sits with senior management, with oversight provided at leadership level. Day-to-day security controls are implemented by the technical team, and access is granted on a least-privilege basis. Multi-factor authentication and role-based access controls are enforced.; ; Compliance with policies is maintained through internal security reviews, annual compliance and security assessments, logging and monitoring of system activity, and regular reviews of user access. Security incidents are recorded, investigated and used to inform continuous improvement.
• Software Security Code of Practice: Yes

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Climate Essentials follows defined configuration and change management processes to ensure the service remains secure, stable and well controlled throughout its lifecycle.; ; Changes are assessed prior to implementation, with consideration given to potential security, performance and availability impacts. Security-relevant changes are reviewed by the technical team. Changes are deployed using managed release processes to minimise risk and support service continuity.
• Vulnerability management type: Undisclosed
• Vulnerability management approach: Climate Essentials operates a proportionate vulnerability management process aligned with the size and risk profile of the service.; Potential threats to the service are assessed through annual security and compliance reviews.; ; Information about potential threats is obtained from trusted sources, vendor notifications, and publicly available vulnerability databases such as CVE notices. Heartbeat's built-in security monitoring and alerts also inform risk awareness at infrastructure level.; ; Security patches and updates are applied as part of planned maintenance cycles. Where a vulnerability is assessed as higher risk, patches or mitigations are prioritised and deployed as soon as practicable
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: Climate Essentials applies a proportionate protective monitoring approach to identify and respond to potential security issues.; When a potential compromise is identified, it is investigated by the technical team to assess scope and impact. Appropriate actions are taken, which may include restricting access, applying configuration changes, or deploying fixes. Where required, affected users are informed.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Climate Essentials follows defined incident management processes to identify, manage and resolve service and security incidents.; ; Pre-defined processes are in place for common events such as service disruption, access issues and suspected security incidents.; ; Users can report incidents by contacting the Climate Essentials support team via email or telephone during working hours. Incidents are logged and prioritised based on impact and urgency.; ; Where an incident affects service availability or data, users are kept informed through email updates. Incident reports can be provided on request, outlining the nature of the incident, actions taken and resolution status.
• Post-quantum cryptography secure: No

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: No

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

• Less than £250,000: 3%
• Between £250,000 and £500,000: 5%
• Between £500,001 and £1,000,000: 7%
• Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000: 10%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 12.5%
• Over £5,000,001: 15%

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: No
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: C12f794d-1e68-46d5-a201-bd5ad72bda7b
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Cyber Essentials Alternative: You do not have a current and valid Cyber Essentials Plus certificate, or will not have in place within 12 months of the date of award but have an IASME certified equivalent.
• Other security certifications: No

Social value

• Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower:

  To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero

  Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.

  • Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at a.campbell@climateessentials.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.