With the rollout of LEED v4 and the focus on product transparency reporting, there is confusion and anxiety in the building products industry around product category rules and environmental product declarations (PCRs and EPDs).

SM Transparency Reports were introduced at Greenbuild 2013, to provide manufacturers a new way to communicate the environmental performance of their products in an understandable, credible and consistent way.

Since then, Sustainable Minds has been developing its methodology to complete the program’s offering – the SM Transparency Report™ Framework. Based on EN15804+A1 and is in compliance with ISO 14040-44 and 14025, it provides a comprehensive LCA-based, harmonized and user-friendly way to create product group definitions (PGD) up front to enhance consistency in product transparency reporting.

Sustainable Minds is now launching the complete solution. The SM Transparency Report Program is the first comprehensive solution for product manufacturers to Design and Market greener products. It is an alternative to the PCR/EPD process with equivalent credibility, verification – plus much more.

A complete solution for manufacturers to Design and Market greener products.

CAMBRIDGE, MA – June 12, 2014 – Sustainable Minds launches the SM Transparency Report™ Program, the alternative to the product category rule/environmental product declaration (PCR/EPD) process with equivalent credibility and verification – plus much more. Sustainable Minds will introduce the program to manufacturers and industry advocates on Tuesday, June 17, 2014, 2:00pm EST. 

The SM Transparency Report Program:
1. Provides options for easier adoption of transparency reporting
Re-engineers the PCR process providing a more efficient and cost-effective way to standardize reporting and create product group definitions.

2. Delivers a strategic marketing and lead generation tool – SM Transparency Reports
Drives greener purchase decisions by making life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental performance information understandable and meaningful; enables a manufacturer to describe how they are making products greener. A third-party certified SM Transparency Report exceeds the ISO 14025 requirements for type III environmental declarations.

3. Helps market greener, and promotes greener design
More than just a report, deliverables include the manufacturer’s product data in a private dataset in Sustainable Minds’ flagship Eco-concept & LCA Software, used in over 750 locations in industry and education world-wide.

Sustainable Minds Transparency Report™ Program offers an innovative market solution to the growing need for product transparency reporting and verification

ANN ARBOR, Mich. and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Sustainable Minds has partnered with NSF Sustainability, a division of global public health organization NSF International, to provide life cycle assessment (LCA) verification and report certification for Sustainable Minds Transparency Reports™.

Sustainable Minds (SM), a software and services provider founded to operationalize environmental performance into mainstream product development and manufacturing,will introduce the complete SM Transparency Report™ Program to manufacturers and industry advocates through a webinar on Tuesday, June 17, 2014, at 2:00 pm EST.  Sign up at sustainableminds.com/weekly-webinar.

SM Transparency Reports, third party verified by NSF Sustainability and based on ISO 14044 compliant LCAs, are an alternative transparency reporting tool to environmental product declarations (EPDs). NSF Sustainability’s extensive background in certifying environmental reports and sustainable products and services provides additional credibility for the contents of the transparency reports.

On February 11, we held the seventh in a series of webcasts featuring educators from leading colleges and universities demonstrating how Sustainable Minds is being used in education. Today's environmental challenges are driving transformation in design education. Learn from three educators from thought-leading institutions how they are using Sustainable Minds to design businesses and products that create value and catalyze positive change. 

In response to market demand and LEED v4, three companies with a common mission to bring credibly greener products to the marketplace -- Sustainable Minds, TOTO USA and NSF International -- have introduced a new product for manufacturers to transparently report the environmental performance of their products.

Company Innovates a Solution and Goes Beyond Compliance in Response to LEED v4's 'Building Product Disclosure and Optimization' Option

MORROW, Ga., Nov. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TOTO announced today that it is introducing an innovative, new way to report product transparency that enables customers to earn LEED v4 credit for select high-efficiency toilets. Committed to environmental leadership that exceeds compliance, TOTO discovered that it was unable to comply with LEED v4's disclosure option to provide Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for its high-efficiency toilets. The company could not do this because there is no Product Category Rule for toilets (PCRs define the requirements of EPDs for each product category). EPDs are required for its building industry customers to earn the highest number of LEED points for purchasing TOTO products. To solve this problem, TOTO, already using Sustainable Minds' LCA software to help it design sustainable products, turned to the company to help it solve this problem marketing.

via sustainablebrands.com

The first company to publish its product lifecycle information with SM Transparency Reports is leading plumbing manufacturer TOTO USA. The need for a new solution became evident when TOTO was not able to comply with the new LEED v4 disclosure option to provide EPDs, for customers to earn the maximum available product credits for purchasing selected TOTO products. The company discovered there is no Product Category Rule (which defines the requirements for EPDs of a certain product category) for toilets, just as there are no PCRs for hundreds of other types of products used in building and construction.

Sustainable Minds^®, TOTO USA and NSF International Demonstrate Thought Leadership In Standardizing Transparency Reporting

Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, Philadelphia, PA – November 20, 2013 – In response to market demand and LEED v4, three companies with a common mission to bring credibly greener products to the marketplace have introduced a new product for manufacturers to transparently report the environmental performance of their products. SM Transparency Reports^TM are a new alternative to Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) – with equivalent verification and credibility.

NSF International, a global public health organization that writes standards, and tests and certifies products for multiple industries to minimize adverse health effects and protect the environment, is providing the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) verification and report certification. Today, SM Transparency Reports can be used to meet LEED v4 MRc2 Option 1 for product-specific declarations by presenting the results of a publicly available, verified ISO 14044 LCA. Their designation as a USGBC approved program to earn EPD equivalency is in process.

On August 29th, we held the sixth in a series of webcasts featuring educators from leading colleges and universities demonstrating how Sustainable Minds is being used in education. From graduate to professional degree programs, educators at UC Berkeley are using Sustainable Minds to enrich and expand these programs, teaching lifecycle thinking through hands-on experience.

In this July 24th webcast, Sustainable Minds CEO Terry Swack and nonwoven material innovation expert Rich Chapas, Principal of Chapas, Chinai & Associates officially introduced the Sustainable Minds Branded Data Program and the special Premier Participating Brand offering to jump-start building the nonwovens lifecycle dataset by showcasing brands that are leading the way.

View the entire webcast: