Hollingsbee provides a breakdown of various certifications and accreditations that aim to guide manufacturers and designers to create and specify responsible products.

1. B lab

Used by: Patagonia, Ben and Jerry’s, Stoane Lighting, Anglepoise

B Lab is the not-for-profit organisation set up to measure a company’s entire social and environmental impact. B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. In order to achieve certification, a company must:
– Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and passing their risk review. Multinational corporations must also meet baseline requirement standards.
– Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.
– Exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.

www.bcorporation.net

2. Eco Vadis   

Used by: Ledvance, Signify, Zumtobel, Lucent

The EcoVadis platform helps you manage ESG risk and compliance, meet corporate sustainability goals, and drive impact at scale by guiding the sustainability performance improvement of your company and your value chain. By submitting to their EcoVadis assessment process, their assessors award medals dependent on the applicants scores relative to others on the EV database. eg. Platinum= top 1%, Gold = top 5% Silver = top 15% etc.

www.ecovadis.com

3. Declare   

Used by: David Chipperfield Architects, Haworth Tomkins

Architects Declare is free to join. Many signatories use the simplicity and clarity of the shared declaration as a catalyst to drive effective change within their organisations. Many also use it as a tool to demonstrate their commitment to combatting the climate and biodiversity emergency in discussion with their clients and project partners.

www.uk.architectsdeclare.com

4. BREEAM

BREEAM is used to specify and measure the sustainability performance of buildings. Using this framework helps projects to meet their sustainability goals and achieve optimal performance over time. The BREEAM framework provides solutions to many of the key challenges facing the built environment, from working towards net zero carbon to addressing health and social impacts

www.breeam.com

5. LEED

Used by: The Empire State Building. Apple Park (aka “Campus 2]

LEED categories can contribute toward meeting the SDGs, not only by saving water, increasing energy efficiency, minimising of carbon emissions (GHGs) and significantly reducing harmful air pollutants, etc. but also by promoting education, creating jobs, improving health and wellbeing, enhancing community resilience, and much more. Policymakers, planners, and builders can use LEED and sustainable building practices as strategies for achieving the UN SDGs. There are many synergies between LEED and the SDGs. Explore the synergies between LEED and the SDGs on their website, to identify strategies to achieve specific SDGs through LEED certification.

www.usgbc.org

6. International Living Future Institute   

The International Living Future Institute’s mission is to cultivate a society that is socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative.

Its work is driven by a belief that a compelling vision for the future is needed to reconcile humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Of the many initiatives that come under ILFI’s umbrella, perhaps the most pertinent to this article is their “Declare” label. An easy-to-read ‘nutrition label’ for products with online resources to promote, share, and find healthier building materials.

Also, under the ILFI’s umbrella (see above) is the Red List. The Red List is a list of chemicals representing the “worst in class” substances prevalent in the building industry that pose serious risks to human health and the environment. The Red List is organised by chemical class and lists individual chemicals by Chemical Abstract Registry Number (CASRN). Since its inception in 2006, the Red List has been an intuitive tool for communicating the need to stop using chemicals that cause harm. Building projects (particularly in USA) may ask suppliers to provide assurances of their absence in their products or declare presence where that may apply.

www.living-future.org

7. Science based Targets

Used by: Whitecroft Lighting

Science-based targets provide a clearly defined pathway for companies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, helping prevent the worst impacts of climate change and future-proof business growth. Science-based targets provide companies with a clearly defined path to reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement goals. More than 5,000 businesses around the world are already working with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

www.sciencebasedtargets.org