Why GREENGUARD Certified Products Matter

Why GREENGUARD Certified Products Matter

We spend about 90 percent of our time indoors. Homes, offices, and schools sit at the top of that list. Indoor air pollution is known to be 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor air, driven in part by volatile organic compound emissions from furniture and construction materials. With the number of hours we spend in offices, raising indoor air quality matters for health. GREENGUARD certified products, tested against more than 10,000 chemical substances to confirm they are safe and healthy, help meet that requirement indoors. GREENGUARD is a worldwide-recognised certification, acknowledged by the major sustainable building programmes and by several legal frameworks, that targets the use of materials that emit chemicals indoors at levels that do not threaten human health. GREENGUARD aims to give building occupants indoor environments with high air quality that protect health and raise quality of life. By limiting the emission of environmental contaminants, it promotes the use of materials that emit chemicals indoors at levels that do not threaten human health.

Where GREENGUARD Certification Applies

Typical product categories in the GREENGUARD programme include furniture, office seating, flooring, wall finishes, paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants, cleaning products, and electronics. The certification is referenced under sustainable building programmes such as LEED, BREEAM, and WELL, which gives certified products a direct route into major green building projects. For manufacturers that supply into schools, healthcare buildings, and corporate offices, the certification is increasingly a tender requirement rather than a marketing extra.