Vet the Verifiers

In my quest to understand greenwashing, I came upon this article. This is talking about how to evaluate if a certification is for real or biassx/compromises/greenwashing.

http://tinyurl.com/r24vgd

Third-Party Rules

If you or your pro customers are confused about the authenticity of independent, third-party green product certification programs, you're not alone. There are more of them popping up all the time, begging you and others to cite or list them as legitimate standards for what's green. Short of opening an accredited testing lab of your own to verify their results, consider the following tactics to vet their validity:

• Ask building science and environmental building groups or trained individuals for their opinions of the verifier/certification program.
• Similarly, ask building product suppliers, especially those not certified by the program you're investigating, for their opinions on and experiences with the program.
• Research editorial articles and other resources about the program.
• See if the program is cited in green building certification programs, such as LEED or the NGBS, among other local and regional standards.
• Find out how the organization generates revenue; be suspicious of those requiring on-going licensing fees to carry their certification label, which may cause a conflict of interest or compromise their objectivity.
• Look for independent accreditation of the organization's testing facility, capacity, and processes, such as the ISO-65 standard and groups such as Accreditation Services International.

–Rich Binsacca