With its April 2017 LEED Addenda USGBC continues to add to the list of certifications and declarations that qualify for Option 1—Material Ingredient Reporting of the Material Ingredients credit. This time they’ve added UL’s Product Lens and Facts certification, which is based on NSF/ANSI 336: Sustainability Assessment for Commercial Furnishings Fabric.

UL’s Product Lens is supported by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), the same firm that established (and still works with) Cradle to Cradle (C2C). It has a lower disclosure bar than C2C, however—it was developed explicitly to meet the LEED credit requirement of 1,000 parts per million. One thing that makes Lens unique in the industry, however, is that it explicitly assesses both hazard AND exposure at every life-cycle stage. Most systems that focus on exposure in addition to hazard do that only for building occupants. BuildingGreen’s assessment of the program here has more useful details. 

Facts is the Association for Contract Textiles certification program based on the NSF/ANSI 336 standard. Several entities, including SCS Global Services, UL, and NSF International offer certification services under the Facts program. Textiles can be certified in Facts at one of four levels (like LEED); any level of certification meets the disclosure requirement of this credit. 

The most recent addenda also clarified the requirements for projects outside the U.S. seeking to use the European Union’s REACH pathway under Option 2—Material Ingredient Optimization. To contribute, products have to have their ingredients inventoried to 100 ppm and document that none of those ingredients are on the “Restriction” list nor the “Candidate” list.  

These changes apply to all LEED nonresidential Building Design and Construction and Interior Design and Construction rating systems. They are reflected in the credit language on LEEDuser and listed in USGBC's addenda database.