The way a company or business operates tells you a lot about how sustainable their products actually are.

Choosing from businesses with real and reliable sustainability missions is a way to cut through the greenwashing, and make sure your project spend is going somewhere that matches your values.

In this episode, I share what to look for in the companies behind the products you’re choosing for your renovation or new build.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 430. This is Way #30 of the 44 Ways to Create Your Sustainable Home series, and we’re continuing through Section Six: Choosing Materials, Fixtures and Finishes.

In this section, I’m covering one specific criteria for choosing materials and products per episode, providing you with six different criteria overall. This episode covers the fifth criteria you can use to choose materials, fixtures and finishes with sustainability in mind.

Way #30 is: Choose from Companies with Sustainability Missions.

Increasingly in other sectors, we’re seeing people make choices to spend money with businesses that are aligned with their own personal values. They’re keen to see their spending decisions support businesses they believe in, and find companies that have missions that help create the kind of world they also envisage for their future.

This is also possible when you build or renovate, because the culture, values and mission of the companies you purchase from for your project can be aligned with your sustainable values.

And finding companies that operate like this can be a great selection criteria for the products, materials, fixtures and finishes you’re choosing for your future home.

When you’re comparing two cladding systems, two flooring products, or two ranges of tapware, most of the attention goes on the product itself: the material, the specs, the price, the look.

However, the company that is producing that material or product can be worth investigating to help clarify and simplify your decision.

How a company sources its raw materials, how it treats the people who make its products, what it discloses about its operational environmental impact, and what it does at the end of a product’s life, can all form part of any product review. 

It’s also a deeper way you can cut through any greenwashing to determine just how sustainable a company really is.

This is also a criteria that can work as an early selection filter when you’re pulling together your Design Brief. 

Communicating to your design team that you want to prioritise suppliers and manufacturers with genuine sustainability commitments gives them a lens to use when they’re specifying on your behalf, before any individual product decisions are even made.

There are some formal certifications you can look out for to assist with this…

B Corp certification is one of the most credible company-level sustainability certifications available. B Corps companies are certified by a US-based nonprofit called B Lab. To achieve certification, a company completes the B Impact Assessment, which evaluates performance across five areas: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. There’s a score for a passing threshold, and most companies go through multiple assessment cycles before they reach it.

1% for the Planet is another label you can look for. This is where member companies pledge 1% of their annual revenue to then be donated to approved environmental organisations. It’s obviously a lower bar than B Corp, because it’s focused on financial contribution rather than operational practice. But it is verified, and it puts a company in a different category from one that simply uses green language on its website. And note that it’s 1% of revenue, not 1% of profit.

In Australia, there’s also Climate Active, the federal government’s carbon neutral certification. However, it’s currently under investigation with concerns about the integrity of the carbon offsets it relies on. The scheme is still running, but it’s under pressure to reform, and at the time of recording this episode, it’s up in the air as to whether it will continue in its current format, be closed down or reincarnate as a different type of program.

It’s also worth pointing out that, if you’re looking for materials and products that are from sustainable companies, you can start with the designers, architects and builders in the industry who are committed to sustainable practice, and see what they’re specifying in the projects they’re doing.

Sustainable Builders Alliance, which is an Australian organisation that I’ve discussed on the podcast before, has a series of badges that help people identify the standard to which member companies are operating, and what that means for their project.

The Declare movement globally aggregates building and design professionals who are publicly committed to urgent action on the climate and biodiversity emergency, and is another place you can look for member companies to work with. 

Many of these types of schemes require quite an investment to apply to, and to stay a member of. 

So, the absence of a certification badge may not tell you much on its own. 

Some of the most seriously committed companies in the building materials space are small, working with unconventional materials, and haven’t yet been able to fund the certification process.

Beyond certifications, see what the company publishes regarding its sustainability mission and the way it demonstrates this in its day-to-day operations. 

A company that releases an annual report with actual numbers, setting out what it’s measuring, what it’s reduced, and where it’s still working, is making itself accountable and providing data you can review and assess.

Supply chain transparency is also important. A company that can tell you where its raw materials come from, and name its suppliers, understands its supply chain and is ensuring it’s in alignment with the way they position their company.

End-of-life programs are increasingly available, particularly for carpet, lighting, and some cladding and flooring systems. A manufacturer that takes its own product back at the end of life is taking responsibility for what it makes beyond the point of sale.

This is about understanding that the money you spend on your project has the opportunity to shape the world you want to live in.

You can do this through the products you purchase and the businesses you support, and seeing where they’re in alignment with your values and world view.

‘Sustainable,’ ‘eco-friendly,’ ‘green,’ ‘natural,’ ‘environmentally responsible’, none of these terms are regulated in most locations. 

In Australia, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, or ACCC, has been pursuing greenwashing cases more actively in recent years, and there’s increasing legal risk for companies making unsubstantiated environmental claims. The building products market is still full of vague language, however.

In this Episode, I cover:

• Why looking at the company behind the product is a deeper way to cut through greenwashing than the product label alone
• Certification programs that work at a company level and how they assess the businesses that register with them
• Why some of the most committed small manufacturers may not carry a certification badge, and why the absence of one isn’t automatically a red flag
• What to look for beyond certifications: annual sustainability reports, supply chain transparency, end-of-life programs, business structure and track record
• The greenwashing signals to watch for: vague language with no named certifications, offsets used as the primary credential, and ‘natural’ claims that don’t hold up
• The questions to ask your designer, architect and product suppliers about the companies behind what they specify

Plus a whole lot more.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

RESOURCES:

Episode 429, on choosing for recyclability and low waste >>> 44 Ways #29

Episode 256, on choosing building materials >>> Choosing Building Materials

Search for certified companies >>> B Corp certification

Businesses giving 1% of annual sales to environmental causes >>> 1% for the Planet

Science-based emissions reduction targets for companies >>> Science Based Targets initiative

Australian Government carbon neutral certification >>> Climate Active

A free guide to simplifying sustainability across research, planning, design, materials, and building, from Amelia Lee’s 30+ years in residential design and construction >>> 44 Ways to Create a Sustainable Home

Access the support and guidance you need to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my signature online program >>> HOME Method