Green Labels and Building Certifications

Green Labels/Ecolabels

An ecolabel is a symbol or certification granted to products, services, or buildings that meet specific environmental criteria, indicating that they have been produced or designed with reduced environmental impact compared to similar alternatives.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) green labels serve as a valuable tool for industries striving to demonstrate their commitment to environmental responsibility. These labels, such as the ENERGY STAR certification and the WaterSense label, signify that products, buildings, or processes meet stringent environmental performance criteria set by the EPA. Ecolabels can also be owned or managed by nonprofit environmental advocacy organizations, or private sector entities and can be used for better purchasing strategies for customers.
The labels below mostly focus on ecolabels for the building and chemicals industry.

U.S. EPA-owned Ecolabels/Programs:

ENERGY STAR

The government-backed symbol for energy efficiency provides simple, credible, and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions.
ENERGY STAR itself has multiple certification categories for commercial buildings, homes, electronics, etc. For commercial buildings, there are mainly three categories:

Existing buildings:

If a building’s overall energy consumption when fed to the Portfolio Manager Tool on the EPA website scores between 75-100, it can get an ENERGY STAR certification. It is to be done annually and has to be verified by a licensed third-party professional.

NEXTGEN buildings:

This certificate is awarded if - the building can demonstrate superior energy performance by getting 75 or higher on the Portfolio Manager, and meet all criteria associated with ENERGY STAR certification.

The building must also obtain at least 30% of the total energy it consumes—or 100% of the total electricity it consumes, if lower—from eligible renewable sources, while also meeting a direct emissions target, which should be below a specified level.

Designed to earn ENERGY STAR:

Awarded to eligible projects that are in the design or construction phase. In addition, the project's estimated total annual energy use must achieve a 1–100 ENERGY STAR design score of its peers, once operational.

There also exist other Tenant Space programs for leasing agencies and ENERGY STAR Partnership Awards for organizations that make commendable contributions to efficiency.

SmartWay

The SmartWay program helps companies advance supply chain sustainability by measuring, benchmarking, and improving freight transportation efficiency. EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership helps companies and organizations achieve their freight supply chain sustainability goals by providing credible tools, data, and standards—at no cost—for measuring, benchmarking, and improving environmental performance. It helps by:

Generating emissions data (CO2, NOx, and PM) with scientifically-based methods using EPA emission factors, and providing consistent and comparable metrics for freight emissions across all industry sectors;

• Encouraging shippers to collaborate with their freight carriers and establish shared efficiency goals; and

• Actively working with several large, global sustainability reporting protocol organizations to integrate SmartWay emissions data directly into their guidelines and standards.

Different programs under SmartWay help companies to become Partners or Affiliates to use resources and benefits based on mode of transport, size, etc.

Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP):

The EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) identifies and evaluates substitutes in end-uses that have historically used ozone-depleting substances (ODS). It includes data and substitutes for the following industries: Adhesives, coatings, inks, aerosols, cleaning solvents, fire suppression and explosion protection, foam blowing agents, refrigeration and air conditioning, sterilants and tobacco expansion.

While the focus is on reducing ODSs and HFCs, there are better alternatives available on the website that manufacturers can consider or submit newer substitutes.

Comprehensive Procurement Guideline (CPG) Program:

The program is part of EPA's Sustainable Materials Management initiative that promotes a system approach to reducing materials use, associated greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, and the other environmental impacts over the materials’ entire life cycle.
EPA designated products that are or can be made with recovered materials and recommended practices for buying these products. Once a product is designated, procuring agencies are required to purchase it with the highest recovered material content level practicable. The EPA website has a product and supplier directory for procuring products for the construction, landscaping, and transportation industries alongside others.

Building ecolabels/certifications:

LEED:

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is one of the most widely recognized ecolabels for buildings worldwide. Administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED certification signifies a building's adherence to stringent environmental standards across various aspects of design, construction, operation, and maintenance. The certification process involves a rigorous evaluation of factors such as energy efficiency, water conservation, materials selection, indoor environmental quality, and sustainable site development. LEED offers different certification levels based on the number of points earned, ranging from Certified to Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Validity of LEED certification typically lasts for five years with renewals, after which buildings may undergo recertification to ensure ongoing compliance with evolving sustainability criteria. LEED's international presence and comprehensive approach make it a valuable ecolabel for businesses and organizations committed to environmental stewardship and sustainable building practices.

BREEAM:

BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is a leading ecolabel for sustainable buildings, widely recognized in the United Kingdom and internationally. Developed by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), BREEAM certification assesses buildings' environmental performance across several categories, including energy use, water consumption, materials selection, waste management, ecology, and pollution. The certification process involves a thorough evaluation of these criteria, with buildings achieving ratings ranging from Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent, and Outstanding based on performance benchmarks. BREEAM certification demonstrates a commitment to environmental responsibility and high-performance building standards. The validity of BREEAM certification varies depending on the specific scheme and version used, typically ranging from one to five years. BREEAM's holistic approach and alignment with global sustainability goals make it a valuable ecolabel for developers, owners, and tenants seeking to create and occupy buildings that minimize environmental impact and prioritize occupant well-being.

The Carbon Care Certification:

It is offered by the Enviro-access organization, based in Canada. Through this certification, Enviro-access confirms that the organization is sensitive to the problem of climate change and proactive in its emissions management. The Carbon Care CertificationTM is accessible to private companies as well as public organizations such as financial and educational institutions. They offer different certifications for carbon neutrality and Carbon ResponsibilityTM

Carbon Neutral Certification:

Offered by Climate Impact Partners, a Carbon Neutral Certification is a label given to businesses that offset their Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint. Carbon neutrality is achieved by calculating a carbon footprint and reducing it to zero through a combination of efficiency measures in-house and supporting external emission reduction projects.

CarbonFree:

The certification protocol was developed and is offered exclusively by Car
bonfund.org. The Carbonfree Product Certification program uses life cycle assessments (LCAs) to determine the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over a product’s entire life cycle. GHG emissions (expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents) that cannot be reduced or eliminated from the product’s life cycle are offset or ‘neutralized’ with third-party validated renewable energy, energy efficiency, and forestry carbon offset projects.

Cleaner and Greener Certification:

The Cleaner and Greener Certification program promotes the reporting and offsetting of emissions by companies, organizations, buildings, events, and transportation fleets.

The base-level certification is given to companies that report emissions in general. Higher tiers are given to companies that show a commitment to offsetting their emissions. Bronze, Silver, and Gold certifications are achieved based on the percentage of greenhouse gas emissions that are offset. Platinum certification is earned by offsetting 100% of greenhouse gas emissions as well as emissions that affect human health.

The Cleaner and Greener certificate program is managed by Leonardo Academy, owned by Impaakte and based in the UK.

Cradle to Cradle Certified(CM) Products Program:

The Cradle to Cradle Certified® Product Standard provides a framework to assess the safety, circularity, and responsibility of materials and products across five categories of sustainability performance: material health, product circularity, clean air & climate protection, water & soil stewardship, and social fairness.

ECOLOGO:

The ECOLOGO Certification Program was acquired by UL Environment, a division of UL (Underwriters Laboratories) in 2010. ECOLOGO Certification is based on multi-attribute, life cycle–based standards. All products certified to an ECOLOGO standard must meet or exceed each of the listed criteria before receiving the mark. ECOLOGO Certification is classified as an ISO, and UL solutions also offer various certifications based on requirements.

GREENGUARD:

Owned by UL, GREENGUARD Certification helps manufacturers make and market construction and building materials with low chemical emissions that help better indoor air quality alongside overall emissions. Products with UL GREENGUARD Certification or UL GREENGUARD Gold Certification can contribute to achieving points in established green building rating systems such as LEED and Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).

Gold Standard:

The certification process under Gold Standard for the Global Goals is set up to help initiatives and projects create maximum positive impact. The company Gold Standard, is based in Switzerland and builds certifications and review processes based on the UN’s SDG goals.

Green Business Benchmark°:

Green Business Benchmark° is a program owned by Clearyst, a sustainability solutions company that offers certifications, points, and marketing services. They also offer various subscription plans to maintain sustainability tracking based on company/requirements.

Green-e® certification:

Green-e® certification program is a clean energy and carbon offsets certification offered by the Center for Resource Solutions, a non-profit based in California. The organization helps businesses and individuals to purchase verified clean energy, and consumers to choose sustainable products and services. Currently, it happens to be the only program to monitor how offsets are transacted and advertised in the retail market, protecting both the buyer and the seller.

Verified Carbon Standard (VCS):

Owned by Verra, the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program is a widely used greenhouse gas (GHG) crediting program. Once certified, these projects are eligible to be issued Verified Carbon Units (VCUs), with one VCU representing one metric tonne of carbon dioxide reduced or removed from the atmosphere. Projects can monetize these VCUs in the carbon market to support and scale up their climate change mitigation activities. Projects are subject to independent auditing by Verra and qualified third parties. The Verra Registry also tracks the generation and retirement of all VCUs, where data is publicly available.