How Green Seal Sets Environmental Standards
Fair, unbiased, and credible
The goal of Green Seal's standards is to identify sustainability leadership performance levels and practices for products and services. The process used to achieve this goal is based on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards for environmental labeling programs, ISO 14020 and 14024 - international standards for ecolabelling. Product or service categories are evaluated using a life-cycle approach to ensure that all significant environmental impacts are considered in the development of a standard, from raw materials extraction through manufacturing to use and disposal. Such an evaluation involves thorough, state-of-the-art scientific evaluations using internationally accepted methodologies.
The procedures used for developing these life-cycle based standards include the key characteristics of being independent, open, transparent, and having due process. For example, all interested parties are able to register for a standard development project and review and comment on draft documents. Further, there is an appeals process for unresolved issues. The main steps for each standard development project are public scoping, public review of the proposed standard, final stakeholder review, and issuance of the final standard. Information about each project can be found on the project's web site.
Green Seal's procedures have been reviewed by third parties and found to meet the ISO 14020/14024 standards; Green Seal has also been accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - see Green Seal's ANSI-accredited policies for development of American National Standards (ANS). Green Seal develops all of its standards following the ISO guidelines, with some standards designated as American National Standards. Not all Green Seal standards are American National Standards, since leadership standards developed according to ISO may not be able to reach consensus (required for ANSI). Leadership standards by definition may exclude the majority of products in a market and potentially many manufacturers. To achieve the goal of a more sustainable marketplace, ISO, or environmental leadership standards, must take precedence. Green Seal, through this work, has been helping to blaze the trail towards sustainability for 20 years.
Learn more about Green Seal's environmental standards or contact standards@greenseal.org
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