Log in
LEED v4.1

Core and Shell

Materials and Resources
Material Ingredients

LEED CREDIT

CS-v4.1 MRc4: Material Ingredients 1-2 points

See all forum discussions about this credit »

SPECIAL REPORT

LEEDuser expert

Tommy Linstroth

Green Badger
CEO

SPECIAL REPORT

LEEDuser’s viewpoint

Frank advice from LEED experts

LEED is changing all the time, and every project is unique. Even seasoned professionals can miss a critical detail and lose a credit or even a prerequisite at the last minute. Our expert advice guides our LEEDuser Premium members and saves you valuable time.

Credit language

USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Intent

To encourage the use of products and materials for which life-cycle information is available and that have environmentally, economically, and socially preferable life-cycle impacts. To reward project teams for selecting products for which the chemical ingredients in the product are inventoried using an accepted methodology and for selecting products verified to minimize the use and generation of harmful substances. To reward raw material manufacturers who produce products verified to have improved life-cycle impacts.

Requirements

Option 1. Material Ingredient Reporting (1 point)
Use at least 20 different permanently installed products from at least five different manufacturers that use any of the following programs to demonstrate the chemical inventory of the product to at least 0.1% (1000 ppm). (10 different permanently installed products from at least three different manufacturers for CS and Warehouses & Distribution Centers)
  • ANSI/BIFMA e3 Furniture Sustainability Standard. The documentation from the assessor or scorecard from BIFMA must demonstrate the product earned 4, 5, 7, or 8 points under 7.5.1.1 Chemical Assessment in e3-2019 (Pathway 1), 3 points under 7.5.2.2 Advanced Level in e3-2019 (Pathway 2), or at least 3 points under 7.5.1.3 Advanced Level in e3-2014 or at least 3 points under 7.5.1.3 Advanced Level in e3-2014.
    • For e3-2019: If product achieved 3 points under 7.5.1.1 in e3-2019 using the GHS classification sub-path, then the product meets this requirement. Manufacturer to provide additional backup documentation to show which sub-path was used in Pathway 1 (7.5.1) in this instance.
  • Cradle to Cradle. Product has Material Health Certificate or is Cradle to Cradle Certified™ under standard version 3 or later with a Material Health achievement level at the Bronze level or higher.
  • Declare. The Declare product label must meet the following requirements:
    • Declare labels designated as Red List Free, LBC Red List Free, or Declared.
    • Declare labels designated as LBC Red List Approved or LBC Compliant that demonstrate content inventory to 0.1% (1000 ppm).
  • Facts – NSF/ANSI 336: Sustainability Assessment for Commercial Furnishings Fabric at any certification level.
  • Global Green TAG. Product Health Declaration (PHD) labels issued after January 1, 2020.
  • Health Product Declaration. The end use product has a published and complete Health Product Declaration with full disclosure of known hazards in compliance with the Health Product Declaration Open Standard.
  • Living Product Challenge. The included Declare product label must demonstrate content inventory to 0.1% (1000 ppm).
  • Manufacturer Inventory. The manufacturer has published complete content inventory for the product following these guidelines:
    • A publicly available inventory of all ingredients identified by name and Chemical Abstract Service Registration Number (CASRN) and/or European Community Number (EC Number).
    • Materials defined as trade secret or intellectual property may withhold the name and/or CASRN/EC Number but must disclose ingredient/chemical role, amount and hazard score/class using either:
      • Greenscreen List Translator (LT) score and/or Full GreenScreen Benchmark (BM)
      • The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals rev.6 (2015) (GHS)
        • The hazard screen must be applied to each trade secret ingredient and the inventory lists the hazard category for each of the health hazards included in Part 3 of GHS (e.g. “GHS Category 2 Carcinogen”).
  • Product Lens Certification

Any compliant reports above with third-party verification that includes the verification of content inventory are worth 1.5 products for credit achievement calculations.

AND/OR

Option 2: Material Ingredient Optimization (1 point)
Use products that have a compliant material ingredient optimization report or action plan. Use at least 5 permanently installed products sourced from at least three different manufacturers. Products are valued according to the table below.
Report Type & Criteria Product Documentation Report Verification Valuation
Material Ingredient Screening and Optimization Action Plan Action Plan based on publicly available material inventory to at least 1,000ppm. Prepared by the manufacturer and signed by company executive ½ product
Advanced Inventory & Assessment: Inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100 ppm) and no GreenScreen LT-1 hazards or GHS Category 1 hazards are present.

Or

Inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100ppm) and at least 75% by weight of product is assessed using GreenScreen. The remaining 25% by weight of product has been inventoried and the GreenScreen assessment is publicly available.
Cradle to Cradle Certified or Material Health Certificate at Bronze level or higher.
Declare labels designated as Red List Free or LBC Red List Free.
Green Seal. Products certified under the Standard for Paints, Coatings, Stains and Sealers (GS-11, Edition 4.0) that do not include GHS Reproductive toxins (categories 1 and 2).
Health Product Declaration that meet optimization and verification criteria.
Living Product Challenge certified products that include a Red List Free or LBC Red List Free Declare label.
Manufacturer Inventory that meet optimization and verification criteria.
Third-party verified 1 product
Material Ingredient Optimization: Inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100 ppm) and at least 95% by weight of product is assessed using GreenScreen. No BM-1 hazards are present. The remaining 5% not assessed has been inventoried and screened using GreenScreen List Translator and no GreenScreen LT-1 hazards are present. Cradle to Cradle Certified or Material Health Certificate at Silver level or higher.
Health Product Declaration that meet optimization and verification criteria.
Living Product Challenge certified products that achieve Imperative 09: Transparent Material Health.
Manufacturer Inventory that meet optimization and verification criteria.
1.5 products
International Alternative Compliance Path: Available to projects located outside of the US REACH Optimization:
Material Inventory to 100ppm with no substances found on the Authorization List – Annex XIV, the Restriction list – Annex XVII and the SVHC candidate list.
OR
Global Green TAG PHD report.
REACH report prepared by the manufacturer,
OR
PHD Report verified by Global Green TAG
1 product

For credit achievement calculation, products sourced (extracted, manufactured, purchased) within 100 miles (160 km) of the project site are valued at twice their base contributing number of products, up to a maximum of 2 products.

See all forum discussions about this credit »

What does it cost?

Cost estimates for this credit

On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.

Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.

This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.

Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »

Addenda

4/21/2023Updated: 5/9/2023
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Revise the first bullet under Option 1 and add a sub-bullet to read as follows:
ANSI/BIFMA e3 Furniture Sustainability Standard. The documentation from the assessor or scorecard from BIFMA must demonstrate the product earned 4, 5, 7, or 8 points under 7.5.1.1 Chemical Assessment in e3-2019 (Pathway 1), 3 points under 7.5.2.2 Advanced Level in e3-2019 (Pathway 2), or at least 3 points under 7.5.1.3 Advanced Level in e3-2014.
o For e3-2019: If product achieved 3 points under 7.5.1.1 in e3-2019 using the GHS classification sub-path, then the product meets this requirement. Manufacturer to provide additional backup documentation to show which sub-path was used in Pathway 1 (7.5.1) in this instance.

In the table under Option 2, in the second row and second column, add the following language:
"Green Seal. Products certified under the Standard for Paints, Coatings, Stains and Sealers (GS-11, Edition 4.0) that do not include GHS Reproductive toxins (categories 1 and 2)."
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
4/21/2023Updated: 5/9/2023
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Under Further Explanation, add a new section as follows:
"Green Seal
As a multi-attribute standard, Green Seal’s paints and coatings standard includes criteria for material health optimization in addition to criteria for efficacy, sustainable packaging, and labeling. It also includes stringent limits for VOC content and emissions that meet LEED v4.1 IEQ credit: Low-Emitting Materials requirements.
GreenSeal standard for Paints, Coating, Stains, and Sealers (GS-11, Edition 4.0) has been approved for Material Ingredients - Option 2. Certified products that meet LEEDv4.1 optimization criteria [i.e. they do not include GHS Reproductive toxins (categories 1 and 2)] are eligible to be counted as 1 product. The GS-11 standard establishes environmental, health, and performance requirements for certain architectural coatings that are intended to be applied on-site, and for stains, finishes, and sealers.
Find compliant products at: https://certified.greenseal.org/directory "

Under Additional Guidance - Advanced Inventory and Assessment Pathway (new for v4.1), add the following as a new third bullet and sub-bullet :
"Green Seal. Products certified under the Standard for Paints, Coatings, Stains and Sealers (GS-11, Edition 4.0) that meet LEEDv4.1 Material Ingredients Credit: Option 2 – Material Ingredient Optimization criteria [i.e. they do not include GHS Reproductive toxins (categories 1 and 2)]. Qualifying products will include the following language on their certificates and in their Green Seal-certified product directory listings to indicate compliance with LEED v4.1 criteria:
o “Eligible for LEEDv4.1 Material Ingredients Credit: Option 2 – Material Ingredient Optimization“

Under International Tips, revise the first bullet and add a second as follows:
"o End use products and materials have fully inventoried chemical ingredients and each substance has been screened against the Authorization List – Annex XIV, the Restriction list – Annex XVII and the SVHC candidate lists:
 Restriction List: https://echa.europa.eu/substances-restricted-under-reach
 Authorization list: https://echa.europa.eu/authorisation-list
 SVHC Candidate list: https://echa.europa.eu/candidate-list-table
o Products must not contain any intentionally added ingredients found on the REACH Restricted and Authorization lists. Any ingredients in the product found on the Candidate list are not included at concentrations above 100ppm.

Replace the language under Guidance for Manufacturers Providing Documentation for the International ACP with the following:
"REACH Optimization: Manufacturers shall provide documentation that confirms a product has had a full ingredient inventory of all intentionally added substances found in the end use product and that a REACH assessment has been conducted. The REACH compliance documentation shall state that no intentionally added ingredients are present in the product that are listed on the REACH Restriction and Authorization lists. Further, the manufacturer documentation shall verify that any ingredients found on the REACH Candidate list are not present in concentrations above 100ppm.
Acceptable documentation:
• Transparency report: Standalone transparency report that provides a complete inventory and shows compliance with the REACH International ACP credit requirements. Documentation must include a unique document ID number for the report, list the product type, product name(s) and/or product line(s) covered by the report, date of creation of the report, and expiration date for the report (a maximum of 5 years from the date of creation).
OR
• Manufacturer Attestation: Standalone letter from the product manufacturer declaring that the product meets the REACH International ACP credit requirements. No inventory is necessary. This letter must include a signature from someone at the company knowledgeable of product formulations and include their name, job title, and date of signature. The letter must also include the product type, product name(s) and/or product line(s) covered by the attestation letter. Manufacturer letters shall expire when product formulations change, or 3 years from the date of letter signature."

Revise the language under Connection to Ongoing Performance to read as follows:
"LEED O+M credit Purchasing: products meeting the above requirements can help achieve the MR credit Purchasing.

Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
4/9/2021Updated: 6/10/2021
Form Update
Description of change:
Option 2 has the following changes to the form:
- Change first sentence from "BPDO Calculator" to "Products Calculator"
- Delete the cost-based pathway completely
- Revise note to read "Number of products must be at least 5 representing three different manufacturers for 1 point and 10 representing 5 different manufacturers for Exemplary Performance."
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
4/9/2021Updated: 6/10/2021
Form Update
Description of change:
Updated to align with v4.1 April 2021 addenda
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
4/9/2021Updated: 4/19/2021
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Revise the second bullet under Beta Update to read as: "The cost-based threshold for Option 2 has been removed to simplify credit achievement.

Revise the first sentence in the second paragraph under Step by Step Guidance to read as "Option 2 Material ingredient optimization requires the selection of at least 5 products to meet at least one of the paths listed in the credit requirement."

Revise Step 3 to read as: "Calculate number of compliant products"
Revise second paragraph under Option 2. Material Ingredient Optimization to read as:
"Equation 2 (formerly for product supply chain optimization) is no longer applicable. Therefore, determine the total number of compliant products using the new Equation 2 below. LEED v4 Equation 3 for alternative structure and enclosure percentage limit is no longer applicable."

Under Calculations, delete Equation 1 and revise first sentence to read: "Use the new Equation 2 below for Option 2 Material Ingredient Optimization (also see Further Explanation, Material Ingredient Optimization)

Delete the first bullet under Equation 2 and revise the Note to read: "no single product may contribute more than 2X the product valuation.

Under "Additional GreenScreen related guidance for Option 2 with GreenScreen Benchmark 1 for manufacturers and suppliers" revise second paragraph to read as: "Option 2 in LEED v4.1 (Advanced Inventory and Assessment and Material Ingredient Optimization) place a more deliberate focus on the concept of ingredient assessment beyond screening, now explicitly reward GS Benchmark assessments for 75% by weight of product (valued at 1 product) or for 95% by weight of product (valued at 1.5 product) and require the remaining percentage by weight product in both cases to be screened using GS List Translator."

Throughout Guidance, remove all instances of "50% of cost or", "100% of cost or" and "150% of cost or"

Under Exemplary performance replace "20% by cost or 20" with "10"
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
4/9/2021Updated: 4/19/2021
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Revise Option 2 to read as follows:
"Use products that have a compliant material ingredient optimization report or action plan. Use at least 5 permanently installed products sourced from at least three different manufacturers. Products are valued according to the table below."

Revise each row the fourth column to delete "or 50% cost", "or 100% cost", "or 150% cost", and "or 100% cost" respectively.

Under the list of impact categories, revise paragraph to delete "cost (or" and "200% of cost or..."
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
11/9/2020Updated: 3/1/2021
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
1. Remove “Building Product Disclosure and Optimization” from credit title
2. Under Option 1, replace the program list with the following:
• ANSI/BIFMA e3 Furniture Sustainability Standard. The documentation from the assessor or scorecard from BIFMA must demonstrate the product earned at least 3 points under 7.5.1.3 Advanced Level in e3-2014 or 3 points under 7.4.1.3 Advanced Level in e3-2012.
• Cradle to Cradle. Product has Material Health Certificate or is Cradle to Cradle Certified™ under standard version 3 or later with a Material Health achievement level at the Bronze level or higher.
• Declare. The Declare product label must meet the following requirements:
o Declare labels designated as Red List Free, LBC Red List Free, or Declared.
o Declare labels designated as LBC Red List Approved or LBC Compliant that demonstrate content inventory to 0.1% (1000 ppm).
• Facts – NSF/ANSI 336: Sustainability Assessment for Commercial Furnishings Fabric at any certification level.
• Global Green TAG. Product Health Declaration (PHD) labels issued after January 1, 2020.
• Health Product Declaration. The end use product has a published and complete Health Product Declaration with full disclosure of known hazards in compliance with the Health Product Declaration Open Standard.
• Living Product Challenge. The included Declare product label must demonstrate content inventory to 0.1% (1000 ppm).
• Manufacturer Inventory. The manufacturer has published complete content inventory for the product following these guidelines:
o A publicly available inventory of all ingredients identified by name and Chemical Abstract Service Registration Number (CASRN) and/or European Community Number (EC Number).
o Materials defined as trade secret or intellectual property may withhold the name and/or CASRN/EC Number but must disclose ingredient/chemical role, amount and hazard score/class using either:
 Greenscreen List Translator (LT) score and/or Full GreenScreen Benchmark (BM)
 The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals rev.6 (2015) (GHS)
• The hazard screen must be applied to each trade secret ingredient and the inventory lists the hazard category for each of the health hazards included in Part 3 of GHS (e.g. “GHS Category 2 Carcinogen”).
• Product Lens Certification

3. Delete under Option 1: USGBC approved program:

4. Delete program tiers and descriptions under Option 2, Material Ingredient Optimization and replace with table (insert table)
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
11/9/2020Updated: 2/3/2021
Form Update
Description of change:
Alignments with v4.1 November 2020 addenda
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
11/9/2020Updated: 11/30/2020
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
1. Under Further Explanation, Calculations, Equation 2, move location valuation factor definition under product cost and add location valuation factor definition as  Location valuation factor = multiplier for the extraction, manufacture, and purchase location (see MR Overview, Location Valuation Factor). Note: no single product may contribute more than 200% of cost.

2. Delete description under program valuation factor through Notes on Calculations.

3. Replace header Material Ingredient Reporting with Option 1, Material Ingredient Reporting, Additional Guidance for Manufacturers, and replace Manufacturer's Inventory with "Manufacturers: Refer to LEED v4 reference guide for this section with the following modifications and additions:"

a. Under C2C program guidance, replace the second paragraph with the following standard update: The credit requirements for v4.1 are aligned with the latest version of the C2C standard v3 and v3.1 and C2C v2.1.1 is no longer applicable.

b. Under Declare and Living Product Challenge program guidance, revise bulleted list to read as:

There are three kinds of Declare labels:
• “Red List Free,” also known as “LBC Red List Free”
• “LBC Compliant,” also known as “LBC Red List Approved”
• “Declared”

Add "Red List Free" and" LBC Red List Approved" to paragraph under bulleted list.

c. Under Global GreenTAG program, remove International from the title and replace the first paragraph with the following:
Global GreenTAG provides a variety of product certifications in North America and over 70 countries worldwide. Global GreenTAG’s Product Health Declaration (PHD) label provides disclosure of contents, provides an evaluation of material ingredients, includes a list of banned ingredients, and provides evaluation of potential exposure and risks over the lifecycle stages of a product. PHD labels published after January 1, 2020 have a disclosure reporting format that is compliant with credit Option 1. Compliant PHD labels are worth 100% by cost, or 1 product, under Option 1.

d. Under Health Product Declaration Standard, replace the description as follows:
Health Product Declaration Open Standard
Follow LEED v4 reference guide for this section with the following modifications and additions:

HPDs can now be generated via the HPD online builder available on the HPDC website. While third-party verification of HPDs is not required in LEED, HPDs that are content verified by a valid third party process are valued at 1.5 products. The third party verification status of HPDs can be confirmed on the summary page of a published HPD.

Qualifying HPDs developed under the Open Standard version 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 or subsequent versions of the standard are eligible for documenting credit achievement if the HPD is still valid at the time that the product is purchased and used on a project. Version 1.0 HPDs are currently expired in the marketplace and will not contribute to this LEED v4.1 credit unless compliant products were purchased during the time the HPD was valid.

Manufacturer Inventory
Follow LEED v4 reference guide for this section with following modifications:

If the specific ingredient cannot be disclosed for proprietary reasons, the manufacturer may withhold the name and CASRN or EC number but still provide ingredient role/function in product, amount as a percent of total product content (or ppm), and hazard score/class using Green Screen (GS) List Translator, GS Benchmark, or Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for Classification and Labeling of Chemicals v2015. Report hazard levels and hazard endpoints that result in scoring the ingredient as Benchmark 1 using full Green Screen. It is not necessary to report hazards associated with higher Benchmark levels or LT-UNK (Unknown) using GS List Translator.

 For reporting of proprietary ingredients in a manufacturer inventory via GHS pathway (Global Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals Category rev. 6 or higher)
o The hazard screen must be applied to each trade secret ingredient and the inventory lists the hazard category for each of the health hazard included in Part 3 of GHS (e.g. “GHS Category 2 Carcinogen”).
o Identify in the inventory all hazard classes for which a classification cannot be made because there is insufficient data for a particular endpoint (data gaps):
 For a product manufacturer, this is like GS-LT UNK per the GreenScreen LT pathway.
 A GHS compliant manufacturer inventory will specify either a category hazard for the substance or state there is insufficient data for the particular endpoint in a statement “insufficient data” next to the chemical.

In addition to the requirements above, compliant manufacturer inventories must follow the most recent version of the HPDC Open Standard for reporting, ingredient categorization, disclosure thresholds, displaying content ranges, hazards, and other special conditions.

4. Replace Material Ingredient Optimization header with Option 2, Material Ingredient Optimization, Additional Guidance for Manufacturers,

add the following language as a thrid paragraph under "Additional GreenScreen related Guidance..."
"In general, GreenScreen Benchmarks are defined for single chemicals and well-defined mixtures of ingredients, such as metal alloys. However, complex materials and those with unknown or variable composition are less suitable for being assigned a single GreenScreen Benchmark. Examples of such materials include wood, stone, sand, aggregate, and mixed recycled content materials. Building products using significant amounts of these materials may face challenges in screening against GreenScreen Benchmarks for these ingredients while seeking to satisfy the LEED credit requirements. The product certifications and declaration programs recognized in LEED for this credit have requirements for accommodating complex or variable composition materials. Where no such guidance exists, such as for the Manufacturer Inventory pathway, manufacturers shall use the HPDC Open Standard guidelines for Special Conditions when inventorying, screening and assessing these materials and substances in product reports and declarations.

5. In header Additional Guidance for Action Plan, remove 'pathway for manufacturers and project teams'
Add the following language under aforementioned header:
Project Teams: Compliant Material Ingredient Screening and Optimization Action Plans are standalone documents provided by manufacturers and valued at 50% of cost or ½ product for credit calculation purposes. Action plans are created after a manufacturer has inventories their product to 1000 ppm and have provided a publicly available inventory and detailed action plan for how the product plans to mitigate hazard flagged ingredients.

Guidance for Manufacturers Creating Material Ingredient Screening & Optimization Action Plan Reports:
A compliant Action Plan is developed by a manufacturer and based upon analysis from conducting a product inventory of ingredients. The manufacturer has inventoried the product to at least 1,000 ppm and has conducted a screening or assessment to determine ingredient hazard scores/classes within each product via any of the material ingredient reporting formats in credit Option 1. For the Acton Plan, the manufacturer has identified specific opportunities for improvement and has provided a detailed action plan to mitigate or reduce known hazards following the principles of green chemistry. The action plan is a publicly available report and must be product-specific (not company, manufacturer or brand), and include the required information below.
A compliant Action Plan is a standalone document that includes these elements:
 Unique document ID number of the report
 Product type
 Product name(s) and/or product line(s) covered by the report
 Date of creation of the action plan
 Expiration date for the report (a maximum of 5 years from the date of creation)
 Description of the inventory conducted including the dataset, software, and screening or assessment platform used by the manufacturer to complete the ingredient screening and analysis.
 Provide a link to the underlying publicly available inventory meeting the requirements of Option 1, if not available in the action plan report.
 A description of specific green chemistry principles targeted for implementation in the action plan. Include proposed changes in formulation or manufacturing processes that are planned as part of green chemistry optimization strategy.
 A table or otherwise summary of the specific green chemistry principles targeted for implementation in the action plan, including specific dates and a timeline for completion of all the steps described in the action plan.
 Contact information of the organizational representative responsible for implementation and success of the proposed action plan.
 Include a written narrative describing the analysis of product ingredients and the action plan steps identified to address specific improvement areas. Specifically, the action plan narrative must include a descriptions of immediate and long-term actions that will be pursued to reduce hazards within the product and which principle(s) of green chemistry are being adopted by the organization (per ingredient) to make the changes within the 5 year timeframe.
o Examples of optimization strategies in an action plan include: identifying planned manufacturing or formulation changes; planned alternatives assessment; proposed changes in manufacturing processes; and describing how those changes are expected to achieve the end goal of safer chemistry for the product.
o The principles of green chemistry are those created by Paul Anastas and John Warner, www.warnerbabcock.com/green-chemistry/the-12-principles
 An action plan complete with all the requirements stated above earns 50% by cost or 0.5 product valuation.

A sample of a compliant Material Ingredient Action Plan is found in the Resources section of the online LEED credit library.

6. Under the header Additional Guidance- Material Ingredient Optimization Advanced Inventory and Assessment Pathway, delete 'for manufacturers and project teams' and replace the entire description under this new header as follows:

Project Team Members and Manufacturers: Compliant Advanced Inventory and Assessment reports are third-party verified standalone documents provided by manufacturers and valued at 100% of cost or 1 product for credit calculation purposes. The end use product has demonstrated a product inventory and assessment of ingredients using any of the following programs:
The following product certifications and reports are eligible:
 Cradle to Cradle: Product has Material Health Certificate or is Cradle to Cradle Certified™ under standard version 3 or later with a Material Health achievement level at the Bronze level or higher, value at 100% by Cost or 1 Product.
 Declare: Product has a Declare label that is third-party verified and “Red List Free” or “LBC Red List Free.”
 Health Product Declaration: The product has demonstrated a chemical inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100 ppm) with no GreenScreen LT-1 hazards or GHS Category 1 hazards. The HPD must be third party verified.
 Health Product Declaration: The product has demonstrated a chemical inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100ppm) and at least 75% by weight of product is assessed using GreenScreen Benchmark assessment and/or is inventoried using applicable HPDC Special Conditions reporting requirements. The remaining 25% by weight of product has been inventoried. The GreenScreen assessment must be publicly available. The HPD must be third-party verified.
 Living Product Challenge. Living Product Challenge certified products that include a “Red List Free” or “LBC Red List Free” Declare label.
 Manufacturer Inventory: The product has demonstrated a chemical inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100 ppm) with no GreenScreen LT-1 hazards or GHS Category 1 hazards. The manufacturer inventory must be third party verified.
 Manufacturer Inventory: The product has demonstrated a chemical inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100ppm) and at least 75% by weight of product is assessed using GreenScreen Benchmark assessment. The remaining 25% by weight of product has been inventoried. The GreenScreen assessment must be publicly available. The manufacturer inventory must be third-party verified.

Guidance for Manufacturers pursuing the Advanced Inventory and Assessment Pathway
To be eligible for showing an advanced inventory and assessment, a manufacturer has conducted a compliant inventory and/or assessment and published a document that satisfies the criteria below. All of the reports must be verified by an approved third-party verifier/assessor meeting the third-party verification requirements in section “Third-Party Verification Program Requirements for Material Ingredient Reporting and Optimization.”
 Cradle to Cradle Bronze Certification or Material Health Certificate at a Bronze level
o Product has Material Health Certificate or is Cradle to Cradle Certified™ under standard version 3 or later with a Material Health achievement level at the Bronze level. Cradle to Cradle product certificates meet the third-party verification criteria.
 Declare: Third-party verified “Red List Free” or “LBC Red List Free” Declare labels or Living Product Challenge labels.
o The Declare label must indicate third-party verification.

 Health Product Declaration or Manufacturer Inventory (with no GreenScreen List Translator-1 hazards):"

Add the following bullet to both of the Health Product Declaration headers:

o In addition to the requirements above, compliant manufacturer inventories must follow the most recent version of the HPDC Open Standard for reporting, ingredient categorization, disclosure thresholds, displaying content ranges, hazards, and other special conditions.

Add the following:
All compliant reports must also include:
 Product name(s) and/or product line(s) covered by the report
 Unique document ID number of the report
 Expiration date for the report

Project Team Members and Manufacturers: Compliant Material Ingredient Optimization reports are third-party verified standalone documents provided by manufacturers and valued at 150% of cost or 1.5 products for credit calculation purposes. The end use product has demonstrated a product inventory and assessment of ingredients using any of the following programs:
 Cradle to Cradle. Product is Cradle to Cradle v3 (or later) certified with Material Health category score of Silver or higher, or a Cradle to Cradle certified Material Health Certificate at Silver level or higher.
 Health Product Declaration: The product has demonstrated a chemical inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100ppm) and at least 95% by weight of product is assessed using GreenScreen Benchmark assessment and/or is inventoried using applicable HPDC Special Conditions reporting requirements. No Benchmark 1 hazards (BM-1) are present in the end use product. The remaining 5% by weight of product not assessed has been inventoried and screened using GreenScreen List Translator and no GreenScreen LT-1 hazards are present in the end use product. The documents must be third party verified.
 Living Product Challenge. Products certified to the Living Product Challenge which includes achievement of Imperative 09: Transparent Material Health.
 Manufacturer Inventory: The product has demonstrated a chemical inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100ppm) and at least 95% by weight of product is assessed using GreenScreen Benchmark assessment. No Benchmark 1 hazards (BM-1) are present in the end use product. The remaining 5% by weight of product not assessed has been inventoried and screened using GreenScreen List Translator and no GreenScreen LT-1 hazards are present in the end use product. The documents must be third party verified.

Guidance for Manufacturers pursuing the Material Ingredient Optimization Pathway

To be eligible for showing a Material Ingredient Optimization, a manufacturer has conducted a compliant inventory and/or assessment and published a document that satisfies the criteria below. All of the reports must be verified by an approved third-party verifier/assessor meeting the third-party verification requirements in section “Third-Party Verification Program Requirements for Material Ingredient Reporting and Optimization.”

 Cradle to Cradle Silver or higher Certification or Material Health Certificate at a Silver level
o Product has Material Health Certificate or is Cradle to Cradle Certified™ under standard version 3 or later with a Material Health achievement level at the Silver level.
 Health Product Declaration or Manufacturer Inventory (with 95% by weight of product assessed)
o At least 95% by weight of the product to the 100ppm level for constituents must be assessed using the GreenScreen Benchmark methodology.
o Since this pathway requires full optimization in the form of major substitution or elimination of most hazardous chemicals in the product, the document will display that at least 95% by weight of the chemistry within the overall product has been assessed against full GreenScreen Benchmark Assessment methodology (with no BM-1 hazards in end use products) as opposed to just List Translator score hazards (LT-1, LT-P1, LT-UNK). The remaining 5% by weight of product not assessed has been inventoried and screened using GreenScreen List Translator and no GreenScreen LT-1 hazards are present in the end use product.
o GreenScreen assessments must be conducted via an approved GreenScreen Profiler and the Health Product Declaration or Manufacturer Inventory must be third-party verified.
 In addition to the requirements above, compliant manufacturer inventories must follow the most recent version of the HPDC Open Standard for reporting, ingredient categorization, disclosure thresholds, displaying content ranges, hazards, and other special conditions. Living Product Challenge.
o Products certified to the Living Product Challenge which includes achievement of Imperative 09: Transparent Material Health.
All compliant reports must also include:
 Product name(s) and/or product line(s) covered by the report
 Unique document ID number of the report
 Expiration date for the report

8. Under header International Tips – Material Ingredient Optimization (Option 2), add the following description:
Project Team Members and Manufacturers: Follow the LEED v4 Reference Guide for projects using the REACH Optimization ACP with the following additional guidance.
The following programs and documents are eligible for the international ACP. Products are valued at 100% of cost or 1 product.
• REACH Optimization. End use products and materials have fully inventoried chemical ingredients to 100 ppm and assessed each substance against the Authorization List – Annex XIV, the Restriction list – Annex XVII and the SVHC candidate list, proving that no such substance is included in the product. If the product contains no ingredients listed on the REACH Authorization, Restriction, and Candidate list.
• Global GreenTAG. Product has a certified Product Health Declaration (PHD) report.

Guidance for Manufacturers Providing Documentation for the International ACP:
-REACH Optimization: Manufacturers shall provide a REACH compliance document validating full inventory of product to 100 ppm level and assessment of all substances in end use product with no ingredients listed on any of three REACH lists.

Product has standalone documentation from manufacturer or supplier in form of signed letter showing a full inventory of ingredients for the product down to 100 ppm and an assessment of these ingredients against Authorization List, Restriction List and SVHC List, showing that no ingredients in end use product from any of the three lists.

-Global GreenTAG: Manufacturers have a certified Global GreenTAG Product Health Declaration (PHD) and the document is available publicly.

All compliant reports must also include:
 Product name(s) and/or product line(s) covered by the report
 Product type and product description
 Unique document ID number of the report
 Expiration date for the report

9. Under Required Documentation section for this credit, replace the existing description with the following:
Follow LEED v4 reference guide documentation requirements with the following modifications:
 Option 1: use the LEED v4.1 MR building product calculator. For products that have been verified for LEED by GBCI, include “Verified for LEED Documentation” ID numbers, or submit copies of product inventory documents in LEED Online for products contributing toward credit.
 Option 2: use the LEED v4.1 MR building product calculator. For products that have been verified for LEED by GBCI, include “Verified for LEED Documentation” ID numbers for products selected in the calculator, or copies of action plans and optimization reports in LEED Online for products contributing toward credit.
 Option 3: Documentation requirements no longer applicable.
Note: All product reports must be valid at the time the product was purchased for the project.


Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
11/14/2019Updated: 11/14/2019
Form Update
Description of change:
BPDO calculator published 11/08/2019
updated 11/14/2019 to correct row lock issue
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
7/25/2019Updated: 7/30/2019
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Modify the title of the section to read as: "Declare and Living Product Challenge labels"

Edit the first sentence of the first paragraph to read as follows: "Declare and Living Product Challenge labels are issued by..."

Edit the sixth sentence in the second paragraph to read as follows: "For example, some products that utilize Temporary Exception I10-E4 may withhold some proprietary ingredient information of up to 1% of product ingredients (therefore not meeting the LEED disclosure threshold), while some other LBC..."

Add the following sentence at the end of the second paragraph: "The Declare website lists labels and has a filter for LEED v4 compliance. https://living-future.org/declare/."

Add the following as a third paragraph: "The Living Product Challenge, version 1.1 or version 2.0, includes a verified “Red List Free” or “LBC Compliant” Declare label as part of certification. Therefore, “LBC Compliant” labels may be able to withhold more than 1,000ppm due to temporary exceptions allowed in LBC Complaint labels, making their disclosure potential identical to those found in Option 1. However, any product meeting the Living Product Challenge must have 100% of the content inventory reviewed by an assessor to 100ppm and screened against the Red List and GreenScreen List Translator. For a product to achieve the Transparent Material Health Imperative within the Living Product Challenge, an assessor must assess a minimum of 95% of the product content. The remaining 5% must be screened against the Green Screen List Translator and the ILFI Red List. Therefore, any Living Product Challenge that achieves the Transparent Material Health imperative meets the Optimization thresholds for Option 2 of the credit."

Add the following as a new section under the third paragraph:

"Global GreenTag International

Global GreenTag International provides a variety of product certifications in North America and over 70 countries worldwide. Global Green Tag’s Product Health Declaration (PhD) label provides an evaluation of material ingredients, includes a list of banned ingredients, and provides evaluation of potential exposure and risks over the lifecycle stages of a product. Products that utilize ingredients found on the REACH Authorization, Restriction, and Candidate lists are not eligible for PhD certification, therefore PHDs are deemed to comply with the credit Option 2, International Alternative Compliance Path – REACH Optimization. PHDs are applicable for all projects outside the US where the REACH Optimization pathway is eligible on LEED projects. PhD reports are worth 100% by cost, or 1 product, under Option 2."


Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
7/25/2019Updated: 7/30/2019
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Under Additional Guidance - Advanced Inventory and Assessment Pathway for Manufacturers and Project Teams (new for v4.1), modify the third bullet to read as follows:
"Third-Party Verified Red List Free Declare Labels or Living Product Challenge labels."

Under the bullet that reads as International Compliance Path - REACH pathway, add a thurd bullet to read as follows: "Global GreenTag PHDs are applicable for all projects outside the US where the REACH Optimization pathway is eligible on LEED projects. PHD reports are worth 100% by cost, or 1 product, under Option 2."

Under Additional Guidance - Material Ingredient Optimization Pathway for Manufacturers and Project teams (new for v4.1), add a third bullet to read as follows:
- Living Product Challenge.
- Products certified to the Living Product Challenge which includes achievement of Imperative 09: Transparent Material Health.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
7/25/2019Updated: 7/29/2019
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Option 1 > Create a new bullet after the two Declare sub-bullets that reads as "Living Product Challenge. The included Declare product label must demonstrate content inventory to 0.1% (1000 ppm)."

Option 2 > Advanced Inventory & Assessment > Edit the 3rd bullet to read as "Declare labels designated as Red List Free that are third-party verified, or Living Product Challenge certified products that include a Red List Free Declare label."

Option 2 > Material Ingredient Optimization > Add a 3rd bullet to read as "Living Product Challenge. Products certified to the Living Product Challenge which includes achievement of Imperative 09: Transparent Material Health."

Option 2 > International Alternative Compliance Path - Reach Optimization > Add a 2nd bullet that reads as "Global Green Tag International: product has a certified Product Health Declaration (PhD) report. Value at 100% or 1 product."
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
4/9/2019Updated: 4/12/2019
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
In the last bullet, change the word Silver to Bronze.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
See all forum discussions about this credit »

Documentation toolkit

The motherlode of cheat sheets

LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.

LEEDuser expert

Tommy Linstroth

Green Badger
CEO

Get the inside scoop

Our editors have written a detailed analysis of nearly every LEED credit, and LEEDuser premium members get full access. We’ll tell you whether the credit is easy to accomplish or better left alone, and we provide insider tips on how to document it successfully.

USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Intent

To encourage the use of products and materials for which life-cycle information is available and that have environmentally, economically, and socially preferable life-cycle impacts. To reward project teams for selecting products for which the chemical ingredients in the product are inventoried using an accepted methodology and for selecting products verified to minimize the use and generation of harmful substances. To reward raw material manufacturers who produce products verified to have improved life-cycle impacts.

Requirements

Option 1. Material Ingredient Reporting (1 point)
Use at least 20 different permanently installed products from at least five different manufacturers that use any of the following programs to demonstrate the chemical inventory of the product to at least 0.1% (1000 ppm). (10 different permanently installed products from at least three different manufacturers for CS and Warehouses & Distribution Centers)
  • ANSI/BIFMA e3 Furniture Sustainability Standard. The documentation from the assessor or scorecard from BIFMA must demonstrate the product earned 4, 5, 7, or 8 points under 7.5.1.1 Chemical Assessment in e3-2019 (Pathway 1), 3 points under 7.5.2.2 Advanced Level in e3-2019 (Pathway 2), or at least 3 points under 7.5.1.3 Advanced Level in e3-2014 or at least 3 points under 7.5.1.3 Advanced Level in e3-2014.
    • For e3-2019: If product achieved 3 points under 7.5.1.1 in e3-2019 using the GHS classification sub-path, then the product meets this requirement. Manufacturer to provide additional backup documentation to show which sub-path was used in Pathway 1 (7.5.1) in this instance.
  • Cradle to Cradle. Product has Material Health Certificate or is Cradle to Cradle Certified™ under standard version 3 or later with a Material Health achievement level at the Bronze level or higher.
  • Declare. The Declare product label must meet the following requirements:
    • Declare labels designated as Red List Free, LBC Red List Free, or Declared.
    • Declare labels designated as LBC Red List Approved or LBC Compliant that demonstrate content inventory to 0.1% (1000 ppm).
  • Facts – NSF/ANSI 336: Sustainability Assessment for Commercial Furnishings Fabric at any certification level.
  • Global Green TAG. Product Health Declaration (PHD) labels issued after January 1, 2020.
  • Health Product Declaration. The end use product has a published and complete Health Product Declaration with full disclosure of known hazards in compliance with the Health Product Declaration Open Standard.
  • Living Product Challenge. The included Declare product label must demonstrate content inventory to 0.1% (1000 ppm).
  • Manufacturer Inventory. The manufacturer has published complete content inventory for the product following these guidelines:
    • A publicly available inventory of all ingredients identified by name and Chemical Abstract Service Registration Number (CASRN) and/or European Community Number (EC Number).
    • Materials defined as trade secret or intellectual property may withhold the name and/or CASRN/EC Number but must disclose ingredient/chemical role, amount and hazard score/class using either:
      • Greenscreen List Translator (LT) score and/or Full GreenScreen Benchmark (BM)
      • The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals rev.6 (2015) (GHS)
        • The hazard screen must be applied to each trade secret ingredient and the inventory lists the hazard category for each of the health hazards included in Part 3 of GHS (e.g. “GHS Category 2 Carcinogen”).
  • Product Lens Certification

Any compliant reports above with third-party verification that includes the verification of content inventory are worth 1.5 products for credit achievement calculations.

AND/OR

Option 2: Material Ingredient Optimization (1 point)
Use products that have a compliant material ingredient optimization report or action plan. Use at least 5 permanently installed products sourced from at least three different manufacturers. Products are valued according to the table below.
Report Type & Criteria Product Documentation Report Verification Valuation
Material Ingredient Screening and Optimization Action Plan Action Plan based on publicly available material inventory to at least 1,000ppm. Prepared by the manufacturer and signed by company executive ½ product
Advanced Inventory & Assessment: Inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100 ppm) and no GreenScreen LT-1 hazards or GHS Category 1 hazards are present.

Or

Inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100ppm) and at least 75% by weight of product is assessed using GreenScreen. The remaining 25% by weight of product has been inventoried and the GreenScreen assessment is publicly available.
Cradle to Cradle Certified or Material Health Certificate at Bronze level or higher.
Declare labels designated as Red List Free or LBC Red List Free.
Green Seal. Products certified under the Standard for Paints, Coatings, Stains and Sealers (GS-11, Edition 4.0) that do not include GHS Reproductive toxins (categories 1 and 2).
Health Product Declaration that meet optimization and verification criteria.
Living Product Challenge certified products that include a Red List Free or LBC Red List Free Declare label.
Manufacturer Inventory that meet optimization and verification criteria.
Third-party verified 1 product
Material Ingredient Optimization: Inventory to at least 0.01% by weight (100 ppm) and at least 95% by weight of product is assessed using GreenScreen. No BM-1 hazards are present. The remaining 5% not assessed has been inventoried and screened using GreenScreen List Translator and no GreenScreen LT-1 hazards are present. Cradle to Cradle Certified or Material Health Certificate at Silver level or higher.
Health Product Declaration that meet optimization and verification criteria.
Living Product Challenge certified products that achieve Imperative 09: Transparent Material Health.
Manufacturer Inventory that meet optimization and verification criteria.
1.5 products
International Alternative Compliance Path: Available to projects located outside of the US REACH Optimization:
Material Inventory to 100ppm with no substances found on the Authorization List – Annex XIV, the Restriction list – Annex XVII and the SVHC candidate list.
OR
Global Green TAG PHD report.
REACH report prepared by the manufacturer,
OR
PHD Report verified by Global Green TAG
1 product

For credit achievement calculation, products sourced (extracted, manufactured, purchased) within 100 miles (160 km) of the project site are valued at twice their base contributing number of products, up to a maximum of 2 products.

In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit, for premium members only, saves you time and helps you avoid mistakes with:

  • Calculators to help assess credit compliance.
  • Tracking spreadsheets for materials purchases.
  • Spreadsheets and forms to give to subs and other team members.
  • Guidance documents on arcane LEED issues.
  • Sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions.
  • Examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects.

LEEDuser expert

Tommy Linstroth

Green Badger
CEO

See all LEEDuser forum discussions about this credit » Unsubscribe from discussions about CS-v4.1 MRc4