Official Recognition for New Green Tag Building Certification System

Ecospecifier has been recognised under the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA’s) Assessment Framework for Product Certification Schemes and its GreenTag GreenRate Assessment is only the second to be completed and recognised under the Framework. Ecospecifier’s David Baggs will be holding workshops on his Green Tag scheme in Melbourne on 11 May, Sydney 12 May and Brisbane 19 May.

Green Building Council Australia announcement (4 May 2010):

Ecospecifier has been recognised under the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA’s) Assessment Framework for Product Certification Schemes.

Ecospecifier’s GreenTag GreenRate Assessment is only the second to be completed and recognised under the Framework. The Carpet Institute of Australia’s Environmental Certification Scheme was the first to be recognised in March 2010.

This recognition means that products certified by GreenRate (one of two streams of the GreenTag scheme) under three categories – ‘carpet and flooring’, ‘furniture’ and ‘walls, partitions and ceilings’ – may achieve points under the Materials Category in the Green Star environmental rating tools for buildings.

According to the GBCA’s Green Star Executive Director, Robin Mellon, Ecospecifier’s product certification scheme was recognised after stringent independent assessment.

“We congratulate Ecospecifier on this certification, which will help to raise standards for green building materials and methods, and support Australia’s green building industry.

“Ecospecifier’s achievement is yet further confirmation that all schemes can now be recognised equally, provided they meet the strict criteria of the Framework,” Mr Mellon says. “We expect more schemes will be recognised in the coming months.”

David Baggs, Ecospecifier Global’s GreenTag Program Director, said that “Ecospecifier is pleased to continue its long association with the GBCA in facilitating the relationship between the green building industry, product manufacturers and the Green Star environmental rating system.”

The GBCA does not test, review or certify products or materials being used in buildings registered for Green Star. Instead, third party certification bodies are relied upon for testing and environmental assessments of products and materials.

The Assessment Framework for Product Certification Schemes was developed as part of the GBCA’s ongoing review of the Green Star environmental rating system for buildings.

For further information about the GBCA’s Assessment Framework for Product Certification Schemes, visit: http://www.gbca.org.au/green-star/materialscategory/product-certification-schemes/2933.htm

About the Green Building Council of Australia

The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) is Australia’s leading authority on green building. The GBCA was established in 2002 to develop a sustainable property industry in Australia and drive the adoption of green building practices.

The GBCA has more than 830 member companies who work together to support the Council and its activities. The GBCA promotes green building programs, technologies, design practices and processes, and operates Australia’s only national voluntary comprehensive environmental rating system for buildings – Green Star.

About Ecospecifier’s Green Tag

GreenTag™ is an exceptionally advanced third party certification system, underpinned by two key processes:

1. LCARate Certification puts products through a rigorous life cycle assessment (LCA) process, making it instantly easy for purchasers and specifiers to see how the product compares to business as usual solutions, plus offers a PLATINUM, GOLD, SILVER or BRONZE rating on every label and a GreenTag™ EcoPOINT score to accurately define a product’s position within the top end of the green market.
2. GreenRate Certifcation will be Australia’s green manufacturers’ leading assessment for product relevance to the Materials Calculators framework and other Green Star™ credits – and will provide assessment of LEVEL A, B or C rating against the Credit point allocations for the various Green Star™ Materials Calculators as well as a Technical Opinion of product relevance to all other credits.

Source: www.gbcasu.org and www.ecospecifier.org