Global Green Tag certification GreenTag International (Building, Interiors, Infrastructure & Other) v4

1. Review the GreenTag International Standard v4: Download and familiarize yourself with the certification criteria covering toxicity, lifecycle impact, and social responsibility from the Global GreenTag website (globalgreentag.com).

1. Conduct a product readiness assessment: Evaluate your product(s) against GreenTag's requirements for ingredient disclosure, LCA data, and ethical sourcing. Identify any gaps in documentation or compliance.

1. Gather required documentation: Compile full ingredient and material disclosure, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data compliant with ISO 14040/14044, greenhouse gas calculations per ISO 14067, and any Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) documentation.

1. Submit an application: Contact Global GreenTag's team to initiate the application process. You will be assigned an expert assessor and receive guidance on the submission portal and fee structure.

1. Undergo independent assessment: Expert assessors review your submitted data against the Standard v4 criteria. This may include peer review of LCA data and, for some product categories, site or manufacturing process verification.

1. Receive your certification tier and rating: Products that pass are awarded a tiered GreenTag rating (e.g., GreenRate, GreenHealth, or GreenTag PHD). You will receive a Product Passport summarizing your environmental credentials.

1. Publish and leverage your certification: Your certified product is listed on the Global GreenTag online registry. Use the provided marketing toolkit, digital badge, and Product Passport to support specification by architects, designers, and procurement teams.

1. Renew annually: Submit updated product data and pay the annual renewal fee each year to maintain certification. Notify GreenTag of any changes to formulation or manufacturing processes.

Global GreenTag's assessment under the GreenTag International Standard v4 evaluates products across several interconnected domains:

Toxicity & Human Health: Products are assessed for hazardous chemical content, including carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Full ingredient disclosure is mandatory, and substances are screened against international hazard lists. The GreenHealth PHD (Product Health Declaration) tier provides the most rigorous health-focused assessment.

Life Cycle Impact (LCA): Environmental performance is evaluated across the full product lifecycle — from raw material extraction through manufacturing, use, and end-of-life — using ISO 14040/14044-compliant LCA methodology. Greenhouse gas emissions are calculated per ISO 14067. This data underpins Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) aligned with ISO 14025.

Social Responsibility & Ethical Sourcing: Products are assessed for compliance with modern slavery standards, ethical supply chain practices, and fair labor conditions. This dimension is increasingly important for government procurement and ESG-aligned specification.

Manufacturing Processes: Applicants must disclose manufacturing inputs, emissions, and waste streams. For certain product categories, site verification or process audits may be conducted to confirm that declared data matches actual production conditions.

Certification Tiers: GreenTag operates a multi-tier rating system. The primary tiers include GreenRate (environmental performance), GreenHealth (health and toxicity), and the combined GreenTag PHD (Product Health Declaration), which integrates all domains. Each tier earns specific credits within recognized green building rating schemes such as Green Star, LEED, WELL, and Infrastructure Sustainability.

Global GreenTag is one of the most widely adopted product eco-certification programs in the Asia-Pacific region, with particular strength in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Africa, and Southeast Asia. With over 30,000 products certified for more than 350 manufacturers across 22+ countries, it has achieved meaningful scale for a relatively specialized certification body. Its formal recognition within Green Star, LEED, WELL, Infrastructure Sustainability, and EarthCheck rating systems gives it strong pull-through demand — specifiers and developers pursuing these ratings actively seek GreenTag-certified products.

In the Australian and New Zealand markets, GreenTag is arguably the dominant product-level eco-certification for building and interior products, competing most directly with GECA (Good Environmental Choice Australia) domestically and with global programs like Cradle to Cradle Certified and DECLARE internationally. Its ISO 17065 accreditation and alignment with ISO 14024 (Type 1 Ecolabels) give it credibility with government procurement bodies, which increasingly require third-party verified environmental claims. The program's multi-tier structure (GreenRate, GreenHealth, PHD) allows manufacturers to certify at the level most relevant to their market positioning.

Globally, GreenTag faces competition from well-established programs like Cradle to Cradle, DECLARE, and EPD programs, which have stronger brand recognition in North America and Europe. However, GreenTag's "single contact, multiple certification" model — where one submission can generate credits across multiple rating schemes — is a genuine differentiator for manufacturers targeting multi-regional markets. Demand for credible, science-based product certification is growing as green building mandates expand and anti-greenwashing regulations tighten in the EU and elsewhere, positioning GreenTag well for continued growth.

Global GreenTag was founded in Australia in approximately 2009 by a team of scientists and sustainability professionals who identified a critical gap in the building products market: the absence of a rigorous, science-based, independent certification that could simultaneously address environmental performance, human health, and social responsibility. Existing eco-labels were seen as either too narrow in scope or insufficiently rigorous in their assessment methodology, leaving specifiers and procurement teams without reliable tools to distinguish genuinely sustainable products from greenwashed claims.

The program was built from the outset on ISO-aligned methodologies — particularly ISO 14024 (Type 1 Ecolabels) and ISO 17065 (Conformance Assessment Bodies) — to ensure international credibility and recognition. Over the following decade, GreenTag expanded its geographic reach from its Australian base into New Zealand, Southeast Asia, South Africa, China, Korea, and Vietnam, establishing relationships with green building councils in each region. The development of the GreenTag International Standard v4 represented a significant evolution, incorporating more stringent toxicity screening, full ingredient disclosure requirements, and a formal social responsibility dimension. The program's formal recognition within Green Star, LEED, WELL, and Infrastructure Sustainability rating systems cemented its role as a key enabler for manufacturers seeking to access sustainability-driven specification markets globally.