Additional Product Certification Programs Approved for LEED Innovation Point

On May 4, 2007, the U.S. Green Building Council expanded a previous ruling regarding Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certification (see

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Vol. 16, No. 5) by endorsing a LEED innovation point proposal from two related certification programs: the SMART Building Product Standard and the California Gold Carpet Standard. As with C2C, these new standards were approved by LEED’s Materials and Resources Technical Advisory Group with reservations, primarily due to the lack of a clear screening process for third-party product certification programs. In this case, the approval is explicitly slated to sunset after twelve months, though the approval could be revised or superseded sooner if a screening process is established.