FAQ – Green Business Certification

Generally, accreditation is awarded on a case-by case basis. For the B-Corp certification, a business must have an above average score in the environmental category.

Yes, the Quick Start Guide is available for download in pdf format and gives a step by step “walkthrough” through the path of a certification.

Typically, businesses in the Landscaping/Lawn care industry perform the majority of their operations outside of an office environment. Therefore, on the Landscaping/Lawn care questionnaire, the green initiative questions better reflect practices in the industry, which are possible to implement.

For the standard certification, the questionnaire platform follows a point based structure. As points are accrued, your business will move closer to achieving a higher recognition tier. The recognition tiers are as follows: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Your business can focus on a specific area of sustainability actions, and there is ongoing advice and guidance on how to approach and conduct new initiatives so that you can sustain continual progress

• Develop a sustainability mission statement for your business and define your company’s core commitments
• Establish a sustainability committee or green team to be the responsible for contact and action throughout the certification process. 
• Gather any environmental policy documents, green initiatives, energy or water efficiency metrics or surveys of environmental practices at your organization.

Payment is on a yearly rolling basis and renews from the start date of your portal access. Your certification fee is proportional to the size of your organization. Your organization will be placed into pricing brackets based on your full-time and part-time employee count. One full-time employee is equal to two part-time employees. More information on the pricing tiers can be found in the Quick Start Guide.

No, each location of your organization must be separately certified. Therefore, provide the count only factoring in the number of employee, part-time and full-time, at said location. The employee count pricing adheres to a ration of 2:1 for part-time to full-time employees. Remote workers associated with a location are factored into the count, even if they are not Montgomery County based. Additional discounts are applicable if your organization elects to certify multiple locations.  

The Montgomery County Green Business Certification has partnered with the Green Business Benchmark to deliver a comprehensive sustainability management platform. Through the certification portal, your organization will be able to assess performance across various categories. Then you will be able to take action by planning and implementing various initiatives at your organization, whilst accruing points towards higher certification recognition tiers. By participating in the Montgomery County Green Business Certification, your organization will also have access to GBB’s global network of sustainable businesses.

No, your business’ point total is a sum of the points earned from green initiatives active at your business. Any non-completed initiatives do not count against your score. Additionally, certain limitations on implementing green initiatives resulting from being a tenant do not limit your ability to gain a higher recognition tier. Within the certification, there is ample opportunity to implement green initiatives and accrue points. 

Yes, there are numerous opportunities through green initiatives to engage a remote employee base in sustainable practices. This will require effort on part of the organization to set goals, distribute informational material, and report employee participation. 

After certification, you will receive a  follow-up email with a branding and social media kit on how to display your recognition.

The scheduling of the check-in meeting can be flexible. Generally, the intervals between progress check-ins should be 6-12 months.

After your business finishes the verification process, in your follow-up email a Bethesda Green staff member will ask for a biography for your organization’s listing. 

The certification is valid for 3 years from the date of awardence. You may also opt to receive a new certification upon reaching a new award tier. This would thereby reset the 3 year validity period. However, continual engagement and yearly check-in meetings are required.