New Company-Wide Certifications for Manufacturers

Three new certification standards in development would certify not the sustainability of buildings or of products, but the environmental and social performance of manufacturers. While there are many forms of corporate reporting on sustainability through voluntary protocols, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, there have not yet been third-party certifications for corporate or manufacturer performance.

• The first edition of Green Seal’s “GS-C1 Pilot Sustainability Standard for Product Manufacturers” came out in November 2009 and is open for public comment until September 30, 2010.

• UL Environment just announced the start of the public comment period for the draft “ULE 880 Sustainability for Manufacturing Organizations,” which will close on September 14, 2010. ULE 880 was developed in partnership with Greener World Media and follows earlier efforts by Greener World’s Joel Makower and others to develop such a standard. UL also plans to develop a sustainability standard for service-sector companies, ULE 881.

• Leonardo Academy recently extended to August 31, 2010 its call for committee member applications to develop LEO-1000 Standard for Sustainable Organizations, which is not specific to manufacturers.

Both the ULE and Green Seal standards have three performance tiers and address environmental and social policy and performance in areas of corporate governance and management, facilities and manufacturing operations, workforce, and the broader community and supply chain. Green Seal’s pilot standard includes specific requirements for each tier, and product life-cycle analysis for a subset of products, while ULE’s draft standard excludes product-specific requirements from the corporate level standard.

While any of the standards would have to demonstrate its credibility and catch on with the marketplace to have an impact, consumer demand for such companywide certification could raise the bar for a company’s entire product line, supply chain activities, and overall behavior, increasing the influence of concerned purchasers.

– Jennifer Atlee

For more information:

UL Environment
www.ulenvironment.com

Green Seal
www.greenseal.org

Leonardo Academy
www.leonardoacademy.org

---

There are no comments for this page yet.

Log in to add comments - Help with comments

---

A Green Building Wish List: Policies, Trends, and Products for 2011 and Beyond EBN: Feature - January 2011

---

DISCUSSIONS There are no comments for this page yet. Log in to add comments RELATED ARTICLES A Green Building Wish List: Policies, Trends, and Products for 2011 and Beyond EBN: Feature - January 2011 RELATED GREEN DESIGN Other Kinds of Certification and Rating

BuildingGreen.com