Green Product Ratings - Australia?

Question

Is there a nationally accepted standard for sustainability ratings for companies and their products in Australia?

Answer 1

The Green Building Council Australia does it for buildings.

Products and Materials

The Green Building Council of Australia does not test, review or certify products or materials. Instead, the GBCA currently relies on third party certification bodies, such as Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) [formerly the Australian Environmental Labelling Association (AELA)] for and testing of products and materials.

Product suppliers are welcome to market their product as contributing to a project's Green Star rating. However, the Green Building Council of Australia does not endorse any claims. Suppliers must validate the environmental merit of a product or material in the project's submission for Green Star assessment. This can be done in one of two ways:

1. Product Documentation that validates the product's compliance with the Credit Criteria of any given credit (e.g., for Materials credits Mat-1 through Mat-7, provide documentation to support the 'product score'). To put together this package, you will require a Technical Manual for the relevant rating tool. Green Star rating tools are publically available free of charge. Most interior products are addressed within Green Star - Office Interiors v1.1 rating tool, under the Materials category and under IEQ-11 'Volatile Organic Compounds' and IEQ-12 'Formaldehyde Minimisation'.

2. Third Party Product Certification

Green Star recognises products that have been certified for their environmental merit by one of the third party certification bodies recognised by the Green Building Council of Australia.