Green Seal, a nonprofit organization with 20 years’ experience in developing eco-labels, has expanded its scope with its a new pilot standard that seeks to certify the sustainability of an entire company.
The group’s new GS-C1 certification is aimed at consumer product manufacturing firms, and aims to speed the greening of the consumer market — which makes up about 70 percent of the U.S. economy, Green Seal said in an announcement of the standard.
As the public comment period winds down for GS-C1 — comments from the public will be accepted through September 30th at GreenSeal.org/Standards — Green Seal is hosting a free webcast walking through the certification on Wednesday, Sept. 15.
The webcast, which runs from 1pm to 4pm, Eastern Time, will guide companies through the certification’s requirements for environmental and social sustainability. Among the criteria included in the standard are:
- Transparency and accountability on environmental and social policies at the corporate level;
- Aggressive goals, commitments and achievements on environmental and social issues, including greenhouse gas reductions, water and waste, indigenous peoples’ rights and biological diversity;
- Supply-chain management and accountability practices;
- Life-cycle analysis of product lines and commitments to reduce environmental and health impacts from manufacturing, packaging, transport and end of life; and
- Third-party certification requirements to verify environmental and social responsibility of products.
For more details on the GS-C1 standard, visit Green Seal’s website; registration for the webcast on September 15 is available at greenseal.org/certification/gs-c1_webinar.cfm.