LEED® recognized Global GreenTag Product Health Declaration™ (PHD™) receives glowing reviews from sustainability leaders

Green building and sustainability leader John Harrison of GreenSlate Sustainability is pleased to hear of the decision to green light the Global GreenTag PHD™ for LEED™ projects in the USA. Mr Harrison who is also an Architect and LEED Fellow said:

"Not only does the Product Health Declaration validate a product's characteristics needed for building rating system requirements, but it holistically considers the global environmental and human health attributes of a product in final use and shares those impacts."

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In July, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) recognized the Global GreenTag PHD™ for the US LEED® market and in over 167 countries worldwide under its world leading building certification and rating system LEED® Versions 4.0 and 4.1.

The Global GreenTag PHD, first launched in 2017, now holds a unique place in green product certification globally. Amongst leading US and global product and materials certification companies like UL and Cradle to Cradle, the GreenTag PHD is now the only ingredient hazard transparency report to be compliant with LEED® and also with WELL™ - the rating tools of the International WELL™ Building Institute.

Daniel Huard, CEO of Global GreenTag Americas explains that:

"The PHD™ program provides industry practitioners with deeper levels of product health information with content inventory and hazard analysis to the 100parts per million (ppm) level. The program firstly bans a comprehensive list of the worst ingredients. It then offers toxicology information about the constituent materials in products and then also uniquely informs through its BronzeHEALTH, SilverHEALTH, GoldHEALTH or PlatinumHEALTH tiered HealthRATE™ system, the potential level of healthiness the products help deliver when correctly installed in clients' offices or homes – a big plus for professionals working on projects to help mitigate risks," says Mr Huard.

The GreenTag HealthRATE™ system of Marks ranges from Bronze (indicating a product has achieved a Good HealthRATE) through to Silver (Very Good), Gold (Excellent) and Platinum (World Leading).

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David Baggs, CEO and Program Director of Global GreenTag International, who led the development of the GreenTag PHD, said it was motivated by a number of studies to help prevent toxic products being used in workplaces and homes.
"We already knew from studies that product toxicity found in buildings is a very real cause behind a range of human health problems – even to unborn babies – including cancer, hormone disruption, asthma, allergies, chronic fatigue and many other toxicity related illnesses. One study in Australia proved a link between toxic products in a workplace and employee sickness and by retrofitting with a range of strategies, including low toxicity products, that employees became healthier as a result. In fact, sick leave was reduced by 30% and productivity went up an extraordinary 45%," says Mr Baggs.

When the GreenTag PHD tool was first released, Jorge Chapa, then Head of Market Transformation at the Green Building Council of Australia said: "When most people spend 90 per cent of their time indoors, there is a huge potential for our buildings – and the products within them – to positively influence the health and wellbeing of occupants. We support innovative approaches, like the PHD Product Heath Declaration, that can accelerate market transformation."
Manufacturers from Australia to Europe, leading in sustainable product design have since sought the PHD to help underscore the direct health benefit claims of their products, claiming the Declaration "a game changer for the health of interiors and transparency in products."

Vertilux Corporation who saw the value for marketing health a priority has eight of its sustainable window covering products awarded GreenTag PHDs, each with a GoldHEALTH Level rating under the program. Debbie Hessenberger, National Marketing Manager says that:

"With compliance rapidly changing in the marketplace, environmental certifications are becoming more important than ever. As a sustainable leader in the window coverings industry, it just made complete sense to extend our product certification into Global GreenTag's PHD Program.

"It has definitely assisted Vertilux in cementing specifications for Government, Low Carbon and Green Building Designs, and particularly when an Architect sees that it meets the WELLTM Building Standard: Feature 04, 26 and 97. Additionally, it has created product transparency amongst our competitors in facilitating the exchange of information to enable a future for healthier buildings and its occupants."

For manufacturers, the decision by LEED to recognize the PHD now makes product certification easier and cost efficient given that GreenTag now offers a unique one-stop certification system for products recognized by most of the major international building rating systems; enabling manufacturers to avoid multiple fees certifying with different systems in different countries.

The unique value of the Global GreenTag PHD™ for industry professionals is that it offers detailed toxicology information about constituent materials in products and simultaneously provides simplified ratings underpinned by peer reviewed science to clarify health impacts that products may or may not have on end users, without any need for interpretation by designers, architects or construction teams. The program also considers environmental impacts in the hazard assessments.

Video overview of GreenTag PHD

Video overview of GreenTag HealthRATE

For more information and or to organize interviews with Daniel Huard and David Baggs, please contact:

Debra Robertson (GMT +10 Brisbane Australia time zone).
Email:
Mobile: 0437 407 377

OR

Daniel Huard (US Pacific Time zone)
Email:
Cell: +1 702 604 3359

Read more about:

BIO: Daniel A. Huard

BIO: David Baggs

Main Image Caption: 

US sustainability specialists (left to right) Architect John Harrison (LEED Fellow and Founder of GreenSlate Sustainability), David. W. Ware (Knauf Insulation North America) and Dylan Beach (GOJO Industries) discuss the merits of the Global GreenTag PHD to help rigorously specify healthy products on building projects.

Related links:

• vimeo.com/439901424