Green Building Consortium expands upon its first anniversary.
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Press Release Summary:
At Greenbuild, Program Operator Consortium – green building industry's first and leading consortium of program operators – announced 2 new members and enhanced technical advisory board. CSA Group is now a member, while software, data, and environmental-consulting services company thinkstep is the group's first affiliate member. CSA Group's director of sustainability Michael Leering expressed pleasure in joining and working together "to showcase a product's true environmental impact."
Original Press Release:
Leading Green Building Consortium Expands on First Anniversary
Program Operator Consortium welcomes Canadian standards developer CSA Group and global software and LCA services provider thinkstep
Los Angeles — The green building industry’s first and leading consortium of program operators announced today at Greenbuild the addition of two new members and an enhanced technical advisory board. CSA Group is now a member, while thinkstep is the group’s first affiliate member.
This marks the first anniversary of the Program Operator Consortium, which launched last year to provide simpler, standardized, and more useful environmental-product transparency solutions and to reduce complexity in the marketplace. The consortium serves as an expert resource and advocate for creating product category rules (PCRs), reviewing life cycle assessment reports (LCA), and verifying and publishing environmental product declarations (EPDs).
CSA Group, a Canadian standards development organization, joins existing members of the consortium: ASTM International, ICC-Evaluation Service, NSF Sustainability, SCS Global Services and Sustainable Minds. “CSA Group is pleased to be joining the Program Operator Consortium and working together to ensure EPDs and PCRs are developed in a consistent fashion, following ISO standards and industry best practice, in order to showcase a product's true environmental impact,” said Michael Leering, the organization’s director of sustainability.
The first affiliate member of the consortium is thinkstep, a software, data, and environmental-consulting services company that works with 40 percent of the Fortune 500. “Standardizing the PCR and EPD creation process is essential to lowering costs and scaling up the use of products that reduce environmental impact,” said Nuno da Silva, thinkstep’s director of product sustainability. “We’re delighted to contribute our expertise to this effort.”
The Affiliate Member Program was recently created for industry associations, government agencies, standards developers, consultants, and data providers to have access to expertise from a like-minded community. The free program also provides education, discounted rates, and a seat the table to contribute to creating uniformity across environmental reporting formats, data requirements, and communication.
Each consortium member is represented in the group’s Technical Advisory Board:
• Jim Mellentine, Senior Manager, Sustainability, Ramboll Environ (chair);
• Birdie Carpenter, Life Cycle Engineer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory;
• Nuno da Silva, Director, Product Sustainability, thinkstep;
• Jack Geibig, President, Ecoform (representative for NSF Sustainability);
• Keith Killpack, Manager, LCA Services, SCS Global Services;
• Kimberly Lewis, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Minds Transparency Reports;
• Douglas Mazeffa, Environmental Project Manager, The Sherwin-Williams Company;
• Joep Meijer, Principal, theRightenvironment;
• Alex Mlsna, Senior R&D Engineer, Kimball International;
• Carrie Pearson, LCA Supervisor, 3M; and,
• Wayne Trusty, President, Wayne B. Trusty & Associates (representative for ASTM International).
These LCA experts oversee the harmonized implementation of the consortium’s North American two-part PCR framework, which consortium members have aligned to use and maintain over the past year. Today, PCRs created by any member will produce standardized environmental declarations, helping both manufacturers as well as decision-makers who specify green building materials and products. The first comprehensive catalog of North American PCRs and an aggregated catalog of EPDs from members’ programs are available at www.programoperators.org.
The consortium holds both in-person meetings and webinars with global manufacturers, LCA providers, and industry trade associations. Those interested in joining or learning more about the consortium are encouraged to contact info@programoperators.org.
About CSA Group
CSA Group is an independent, not-for-profit member-based association dedicated to advancing safety, sustainability and social good. We are an internationally accredited standards development and testing & certification organization. We also provide consumer product evaluation and education & training services. Our broad range of knowledge and expertise includes: industrial equipment, plumbing & construction, electro-medical & healthcare, appliances & gas, alternative energy, lighting and sustainability. The CSA mark appears on billions of products around the world. As a Program Operator, CSA Group brings its expertise as the international secretariat for ISO Technical Committee 207, which is responsible for the development of internationally-adopted environmental standards. This includes ISO 14025, the standard that forms the foundation for the development of PCRs and EPDs. Visit CSA Group’s EPD program website for more information: www.csaregistries.ca/epd
About thinkstep
thinkstep enables organizations worldwide to succeed sustainably. Our industry-leading software, data and consulting services help businesses drive operational excellence, product innovation, brand value and regulatory compliance. With a global presence in 19 countries we serve more than 4,000 companies, including 40 percent of the Fortune 500, such as BASF, Interface, Johnson Controls, Gensler, ThyssenKrupp, Herman Miller and many more. www.thinkstep.com
About the Program Operator Consortium
We are five standards developers and certifiers and one technology, design and innovation company – and growing. With the proliferation of program operators, complex reporting requirements and an increased demand for these services, our members recognized the value of pooling resources, jointly conducting outreach, education, and communications and promoting the overall use of PCRs, LCAs, and EPDs in the marketplace. This unprecedented relationship brings increased uniformity, greater recognition and visibility for product transparency work and greater value to decision-makers when specifying your materials or products. www.programoperators.org
