DMA1: Materials Selection Requirement – Above Green

Intent

This indicator examines the entity’s strategy to understand and manage health and environmental risks associated with building material supply chains. Including environmental and health requirements in the selection of construction materials assists entities with conserving resources, reducing waste and limiting the impact (including embodied carbon) of new buildings. It also mitigates health risks associated with the use of harmful materials.

Requirements

Select yes or no. If yes, select all applicable sub-options.

Does the entity have a policy requiring that the environmental and health attributes of building materials be considered for development projects?

Yes
- Select all issues addressed (multiple answers possible) - Provide applicable evidence | UPLOAD or URL____________
  - Requirement for disclosure about the environmental and/or health attributes of building materials (multiple answers possible)
    - Environmental Product Declarations
    - Health Product Declarations
    - Other types of required health and environmental disclosure: ____________
  - Material characteristics specification preferences, including (multiple answers possible)
    - Locally extracted or recovered materials
    - Low embodied carbon materials
    - Low-emitting VOC materials
    - Materials and packaging that can easily be recycled
    - Materials that disclose environmental impacts
    - Materials that disclose potential health hazards
    - Rapidly renewable materials and recycled content materials
    - "Red list" of prohibited materials or ingredients that should not be used on the basis of their human and/or environmental impacts
    - Third-party certified wood-based materials and products
      - Types of third-party certification used: ____________
    - Other: ____________
No

Validation

Evidence: Document upload or hyperlink. The evidence must sufficiently support all the items selected for this question. If a hyperlink is provided, ensure that it is not outdated and the relevant page can be accessed within two steps.

Depending on the selected answer options, the document upload can represent a:

Copy of the entity’s formal policy with respect to environmental and health attributes and performance of building materials, including specific information about individual requirements (e.g., red list) AND/OR
Copy of specific requirements for disclosure of health and environmental attributes from suppliers (e.g., embodied carbon, etc.) AND/OR
Copy of specific building product specifications or certificates AND/OR
Information about compliance procedures (e.g., reporting, audit, job site accountability).

Note that a checklist from a green building rating system that includes criteria for materials is not sufficient evidence. Evidence must support the implementation of a policy with clear requirements surrounding these issues.

Other:

State the type of health and environmental information.
State the material characteristics specification.

It is possible to add multiple other answers

See Appendix 2a for additional information about GRESB Validation.

Types of third-party certification used: Specify the third-party certification required for wood-based products.

Scoring

6 points, E

Scoring is based on the number of selected options. It is not necessary to select all options to achieve the maximum score.

Evidence: The evidence is manually validated and points are contingent on the validation decision.

Other: The 'Other' answer is manually validated and points are contingent on the validation decision.

See the Scoring Document for additional information on scoring.

Terminology

Environmental Product Declarations: Products and materials for which life-cycle information is publicly available and which have positive, sustainable, life-cycle impacts. An Environmental Product Declaration should conform to ISO 14025, 14040, 14044, EN 15804 or ISO 21931, or have publicly available, critically reviewed life-cycle assessment, confirming to ISO 14044.

Health and environmental information: Fully disclosed and publicly available information about the human health and environmental impacts or characteristics of the products or materials used. (e.g., MSD sheets)

Health Product Declarations: Products and materials for which the inventory of all ingredients used is publicly available, with a full disclosure of all known hazards and associated effects.

Locally extracted or recovered: Materials that are extracted, harvested or recovered within a specified distance from the construction site.

Low-emitting VOC materials: Materials that have reduced concentrations of chemical contaminants (volatile organic compounds or VOC) that can damage air quality, human health, productivity, and the environment.

Low embodied carbon materials: Embodied carbon is the sum of all the carbon required to produce materials, considered as if that carbon was incorporated or embodied in the product itself. Also known as “low embodied energy materials.”

Materials and packaging that can be easily recycled: Materials and packaging that make are composed of elements that can be easily recycled in waste management systems.

Rapidly renewable materials: Materials made from agricultural products that are typically harvested within a 10-year or shorter cycle, such as bamboo, wool, cotton insulation, agrifiber, linoleum, wheatboard, strawboard and cork.

Red list of prohibited materials: Contains the worst in class materials prevalent in the building industry as published by the International Living Future Institute

Recycled content materials: Products made from pre-consumer and/or post-consumer material diverted from the waste stream.

Third-party certified wood-based materials and products: Certification that encourages responsible and sustainable forest management. Certification bodies include, but are not limited to:

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC);
Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC);
Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).

References

LEED BD+C: New Construction, v4, Materials & Resources

BREEAM, International New Construction, 2016: 10 Materials

International Living Future Institute, Living Building Challenge 4.0

SCS Ecolabels, Recycled Content, V6-0 Standard

ISO 14021, Environmental labels and declarations

GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards, 2016: GRI 301; 301-1; 301-2; 301-3