Certified Green
Certified Green
Big business knows that “Green” sells and thus try to paint their products with a large green brush. See our article on Green Washing. To combat their little white lies, you need to understand the certifications that are available and what they stand for.
Here’s a short list of some of the more important “green” certifications.
Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C)
Cradle-to-cradle certification sets a high standard for “environmentally intelligent” design, by examining the entire life cycle of environmentally safe and healthy materials. See www.c2ccertifies.com.
Energy Star
Energy Star, used in North America, Europe, Australia and elsewhere identifies products that use substantially less energy than comparable products. See www.energystar.gov www.energystar.gc.ca www.eu-energystar.org and www.energystar.gov.au .
Environmental Choice
Canada’s Environmental Choice logo certifies a product or service as environmentally responsible based on life cycle analysis of harmful emissions, recycled content, water use, energy efficiency and other factors. This certification has generally been replaced by the EcoLogo certification. See www.environmentalchoice.ca . 
European Eco-Label
The Eco-label flower is used throughout the European Union to identify goods and services that meet strict scientific criteria for minimizing environmental impacts. See ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/index_en.htm .
Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Counsel (FSC) sets standards for responsible forest management and certifies wood and paper products. See www.fsc.org .
Good Environmental Choice
Australia’s independent Environmental Choice label identifies products and services that have a smaller ecological footprint than their competitors. See www.aela.org.au .
Green Guard
The Green Guard Environmental Institute certifies low-emission building materials and indoor products. See www.greenguard.org .
Green Seal
The Green Seal certifies low-emission paints, adhesives and cleaning products. See www.greenseal.org .
GreenSpec
GreenSpec certifies a wide range of building, renovation and home furnishing products. See www.buildinggreen.com . 
Scientific Certification Systems (SCS)
SCS certifies food, flowers, fish, electricity, wood products and manufactured goods, for various levels of environmental performance. Their Indoor Advantage certification program guarantees that products used indoors have minimal or no volatile organic carbon emissions (VOC). See www.scscertified.com .
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