What It Is

ENERGY STAR is a U.S. EPA-administered voluntary labeling and benchmarking program established in 1992. It sets superior energy efficiency standards for products, homes, commercial buildings, and industrial plants. The core approach uses category-specific performance thresholds, standardized testing, and independent verification to signal top-tier efficiency.

Key Components

• Performance thresholds (e.g., 15% above federal minimums for appliances)
• Third-party certification via EPA-recognized labs and bodies
• Post-market verification testing (5-20% of models annually)
• Portfolio Manager tool for 1-100 building scores (75+ for certification)
• Brand governance with strict mark usage rules Certification requires ongoing compliance and annual building verification.

Why Organizations Use It

Reduces energy costs ($500B saved since inception), emissions (4B tons avoided), and unlocks rebates/procurement advantages. Builds consumer trust (90% recognition), enhances reputation, and supports ESG goals despite being voluntary.

Implementation Overview

Involves partnership agreement, lab testing, certification submission via QPX, and continuous verification. Applies to manufacturers, builders, and facility managers across sizes/industries in U.S./Canada. Requires third-party audits; phased approach: assess, test/certify, deploy, monitor.

What It Is

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority Cyber Security Framework (SAMA CSF), Version 1.0 (May 2017), is a mandatory regulatory framework for SAMA-regulated financial institutions in Saudi Arabia. It provides a principle-based, outcome-oriented blueprint to govern cybersecurity, focusing on detecting, resisting, responding to, and recovering from threats across information assets. Its risk-based approach emphasizes maturity progression through self-assessments and audits.

Key Components

• Four main domains: Cyber Security Leadership and Governance, Risk Management and Compliance, Operations and Technology, Third-Party Cyber Security.
• Numerous subdomains with principles, objectives, and control considerations (114+ subcontrols).
• Built on NIST, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS; features a six-level maturity model (Level 3 minimum: structured policies/standards/procedures, KPIs).
• Compliance via periodic self-assessments and SAMA reviews, no external certification.

Why Organizations Use It

• Mandatory for banks, insurers, finance firms to avoid penalties, audits, operational disruptions.
• Enhances resilience, reduces incident impacts, supports Vision 2030 digital growth.
• Builds trust with regulators, customers, partners; enables competitive differentiation via higher maturity (Levels 4-5).

Implementation Overview

Phased roadmap: initiation/gap analysis, risk assessment, control design/deployment, operations/monitoring, audits/improvement. Applies to all sizes of SAMA entities in Saudi Arabia; requires board sponsorship, GRC tools, training.