It sounds to me like they're identical in the main except for, you know, the dimensionality required for a 'back'. The physical is a sort of beige and I can't see the gradient well enough from the scan to say - so the colour scheme and that kind of thing may be different.
Anyway, it sounds like the e-certificate could be printed up to look quite nice on paper; someone who knows how to print things well and get the right vibrancy and look of the colours (like the red maple leaf) and physicality out of it (things like thickness of paper).