How a Municipality or Political Domain Can Become a CSZ

In order to be certified as a CSZ, a county, city, state, nation, or other political domain must meet the following criteria and terms of engagement:

  • The CSZ initiative must have explicit support from the controlling government and/or body politic for a period of at least 3 years (renewable thereafter), and must designate a Sustainability Zone Coordinator on its staff to help plan, implement and administer the program
  • No less than an agreed-to level of for-profit businesses within the domain must initially agree to participate in the first 3 years (e.g., equating to at least 5 percent of the private sector workforce), rising to an agreed-to higher level by the end of the fifth year (e.g., equating to at least 10 percent of the private sector workforce), including regular measurement, management and reporting (if only internally) of their Triple Bottom Line performance using the program’s performance accounting tool, the MultiCapital Scorecard (MCS), a free and open-source method
  • No less than an agreed-to level of governmental agencies and non-profit organizations within the domain (e.g., equating to at least 7.5 percent of the public sector workforce) must also initially agree to participate in the first 3 years (including the controlling government in all cases), rising to an agreed-to higher level by the end of the fifth year (e.g., equating to at least 15 percent of the public sector workforce), with all participants also agreeing to use the same performance accounting tool specified for the private sector above
  • Participating organizations must also agree to pay annual fees (scaled to their size) in return for ongoing program support
  • The controlling government must also commit to prepare and publish an annual Aggregate Capital Sufficiency (ACS) report as an alternative to GDP – with Center for Sustainable Organizations’ (CSO) support – with all participating for-profits and non-profits also agreeing to cooperate in the effort
  • Initial and ongoing funding ($2 per resident in year-one, $1 per resident each year thereafter) and other support from the controlling government and/or economic development authority(ies) is also required (subject to negotiation for very large entities) for:
    • Start-up and recurring program costs, including training and support for participating organizations (provided by CSO)
    • Training facilities (provided by controlling government)
    • Local marketing of CSZ program (by the controlling government)
    • Physically dispersed CSZ signage and literature (by the controlling government)
    • ~0.5 FTE Sustainability Zone Coordinator (controlling government staff person)
    • Program verification and assurance (by 3rd-party providers, trained and qualified by CSO)

As the owner and administrator of the CSZ program, the Center for Sustainable Organizations (CSO), in turn, agrees to provide the following support:

  • Initial and ongoing program design and updates
  • Implementation assistance to controlling governments, including initial and ongoing training
  • All Triple Bottom Line accounting methodologies (the MCS and ACS)
  • Training and technical support to participating organizations and other entities within a CSZ
  • Direct program verification and assurance to participating organizations
  • Training and technical support to 3rd-party providers of program verification and assurance
  • Local marketing support of CSZ program
  • National promotion and marketing of CSZ program

For more information about CSZs and how counties, cities, nations, and other political domains can get involved – including start-up fees and ongoing costs – contact CSO’s Executive Director, Mark W. McElroy, PhD.