HuellaChile programme

HuellaChile is the programme run by Chile's Ministry of the Environment to encourage the calculation, reporting and management of greenhouse gases in public and private sector organisations. Taking part is voluntary and free, and the programme recognises the level of carbon management achieved through a system of seals.

Its legal basis is article 30 of Law 21,455, the Climate Change Framework Law, which empowers the Ministry of the Environment to issue certificates, labels or marks covering the quantification, management and reporting of emissions, with verification carried out by technical bodies supervised by the Superintendency of the Environment.

What the programme offers

HuellaChile is built on three elements:

• A free online calculation tool, embedded in the RETC Single Window system. Organisations may also use their own calculator: in that case they enter the final results using the ISO 14064 categorisation.
• Technical support for registered organisations by email, meetings and training on corporate carbon footprint calculation.
• A recognition system of seals, according to the level of carbon management reached.

The programme operates across four areas: organisations, events, products and municipalities. The seals described below are the organisational ones, which is what matters to most companies.

Who can take part

Any Chilean organisation with a legal tax number (RUT), or that has started activities with the Internal Revenue Service under first category, can register. Registration takes three steps inside the RETC Single Window: create an establishment request, approve it from the legal representative's profile, and request access to the carbon footprint sectoral system together with the voluntary participation letter. Approval usually takes five to seven working days.

One point that clears up a common worry: registering with HuellaChile does not create reporting obligations in other RETC systems. Organisations whose profile only contains voluntary systems, such as carbon footprint, are not thereby required to file mandatory environmental instruments.

The four seals

The system is cumulative: each level requires the previous one for the same reporting year.

The seven excellence attributes

For the excellence seal, an organisation must demonstrate at least four of the following attributes defined by the programme: commitment (formal agreements and policies on carbon management), cooperation (joint action with other organisations, preferably in the value chain), awareness (outreach and capacity building), environmental co-benefits (action on natural resources and waste), neutralisation (holding that seal), continuous improvement (a greenhouse gas management system in place) and gender (equity actions and policies).

Costs, deadlines and use of the logo

• Joining the programme is free. What does cost money is the independent third-party verification, which the organisation pays for and which only bodies validated by the programme can carry out.
• There are no application deadlines: submissions can be made at any time of year. The programme has a maximum of 25 working days to respond. The cut-off dates announced each year only determine the invitation to the annual recognition ceremony, which is honorary: digital recognition carries the same validity.
• The logo is tied exclusively to the recognised organisation and cannot be used on products, because the organisational seal certifies a corporate footprint, not a product footprint.

Its counterpart in other countries

HuellaChile plays the role in Chile that the Spanish MITECO carbon footprint registry plays in Spain: a public registry, voluntary for private companies, that recognises in tiers the move from measuring to reducing to offsetting. The main differences are that HuellaChile requires independent third-party verification from the very first tier, and that its offsetting criteria are limited to credits from projects carried out in Chile.

Frequently asked questions

Is participating in HuellaChile mandatory?

No. It is a voluntary programme. Participation creates no binding commitments and does not force filings in other RETC systems.

Which standard is used to calculate the footprint?

NCh-ISO 14064/1:2019 for the organisational inventory and NCh-ISO 14064/2:2019 for reduction projects.

Does scope 3 have to be included?

Yes. The quantification seal requires direct emissions, indirect emissions from imported energy and other indirect emissions as minimum categories.

Do renewable energy certificates count as a reduction action?

No, they do not count as a reduction action. The programme accepts them on the path towards neutralisation, not to obtain the reduction seal.

How is registration evidenced?

With the RETC Single Window registration certificate, downloadable from the establishments section of the portal.

Reaching the quantification seal requires a complete inventory by scope, traceable back to the invoice or delivery note behind it, because a verifier will ask for the evidence. At Manglai we help build it and keep it alive year after year. Start with our carbon footprint solution.