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Global GreenTag International NaturePositive+ Standard™ & NaturePositive+ Declaration™

NaturePositive+ DeclarationNaturePositive+ Declaration

Giving Back to Nature - Introducing the NaturePositive+ Standard and Declaration for Products

Watch the in depth version of this video: 'Giving Back to Nature'

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The NaturePositive+ Standard closes the nature gap to certify products for the Circular Economy

A first for product certification, the Global GreenTag International NaturePositive+ Standard™ and NaturePositive+ Declaration™ takes product certification beyond current thinking on circular economy, climate repair, life cycle analysis, ingredient hazard, supply chain transparency and modern slavery risk assessment.

Helping you make all your sustainability efforts count!

The Standard incorporates and refocuses many of Global GreenTag's existing services but with some important additions and concepts. These are delivered in an integrated package that simultaneously delivers an overall rating, key metrics and detailed transparency report. An NP+D incorporates reporting already recognised or compliant with leading rating tools like Green Star®, the International WELL™ Building Standard, the IS Tool, and LEED®, but also a recognised circular economy metric, and other essential elements required to truly measure and achieve circularity in people and planet healthy outcomes.

The NaturePositive+ Standard for products sets high benchmarks to repair nature and extends to the health and wellbeing of all living systems, including human life itself. It is a Standard for manufacturing that leaders in the market have been waiting for.

"Super excited to see this standard and can't agree more with the direction you've taken it ... I really want this to be successful – the planet needs it."

~ Dr Angela Loder, Vice President Research of the International WELL™ Building Institute

The NaturePositive+ Declaration for products, underpinned by Global GreenTag's NaturePositive+ Standard, enables product manufacturers to lead by example to improve their means of production and to support the repair of nature. It provides a rational pathway for manufacturers to progress with; first to identify their current level of commitment in their processes to the protection of nature and climate – and a roadmap to move toward a NaturePositive+ profile for their products.

Overall, the system:

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Defined through a multi-metric assessment and declaration process, products that are NaturePositive+ can eventually lay the groundwork for a Nature Regenerative future.
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Defined through a multi-metric assessment and declaration process, products that are NaturePositive+ can eventually lay the groundwork for a Nature Regenerative future.

The NP+ Standard and NaturePositive+ Declaration™ (NP+D) were developed to deliver restorative and indeed hopefully regenerative (subject to scale) climate and biodiversity co-outcomes that also conserve and protect resource flows, whether they be within 'Natural or Technical Nutrient Cycles. No other product certification system has done this before.

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Your product pathway to Nature Repair

What can a NaturePositive+ product look like?

A NaturePositive+ product can be one of two types:

The first delivers net-nature positive benefits in its own right, and the second is a more conventional product but uses nature positive offsets to create Nature Positive outcomes.

An example of that first category, is the first NaturePositive+ certified product - Thermal Haven Nest Box by Bird Habitats.

It not only uses more than 90% waste materials from an existing manufacturing process but uses world leading thermal design concepts to deliver a constructed bird and mammal habitat box that mimics the thermal performance of natural log hollows. It has achieved 100% nesting success even with multiple occupancies.

Forest restoration processes take 80 - 100 plus years to naturally create enough hollows to accommodate the necessary number and type of suitable bird and mammal nest hollows. Now, once planted trees are big enough to support a habitat structure (8-10 years or sooner if posts are used), the equivalent of those natural hollows can be brought back into the forest 80 to 90 years ahead of the natural processes.

Bird Habitats are not only using 100% circular economy processes but delivering essential, thermal comfort outcomes that the animals and birds need to not just survive, but thrive, and they are bringing creation of that biodiversity potential forward multiple generations.

Thermal haven Nest Boxes will be used by project partners like Greenfleet to bring holistic biodiversity repair back into the forest ecosystem restoration processes that the NaturePositive+ Standard engages within the trusted 'Offsetting with Nature' programs that are recognised within the Global GreenTag NP+D program.

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What people are saying...

Global GreenTag International CEO and Program Director David Baggs, who led the development of the NaturePositive+ Standard™ and its resultant NaturePositive+ Declaration™ (NP+D), explains:

"The NaturePositive+ Standard provides concepts that enable both natural and technical cycles' full scope and benefits to be measured as no product certification system has before. It brings together everything that we have worked on over the years to develop in the certification field into one overarching framework and metric that is calibrated against planetary boundaries."

Managing Director of Global GreenTag International, Mary-Lou Kelly, who has worked closely with David Baggs and other members of the Global GreenTag product research team to develop the NaturePositive+ Standard, says:

"This is where Global GreenTag has wanted to go with product certification to really help accelerate the changes that are needed now for a healthier tomorrow. It is a Standard that directly supports the Rights of Nature head on, so that we can provide the Australian and international markets with a solution that is focused on changing real world outcomes towards Nature Positive."

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How a NP+D is assessed

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Summary of the NP+D Assessment Process
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Summary of the NP+D Assessment Process

A NP+D follows a detailed submission of information by manufacturers and verification of the accuracy of that information by GreenTag Assessors.

2 Stage Process

It is initially in the form of a Product Assessment Report issued privately to the Applicant for review and not for publication. It provides a 'Distance to Target' assessment and embodies a rung-by-rung stepping up process for now-to-certification services.
This is followed by a review of the 'Nature based Solutions' credits purchased to offset any unavoidable manufacturing impacts and gains.
Once it is determined that the product is making a net-positive or 'Nature Positive' contribution to the planetary system, then the full NP+D Transparency Report and its inherent Certification and TAG is issued.

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What is a NP+D?

NaturePositive+ Declarations deliver a single metric-based product rating, calculated from, and backed by detailed individual metrics, together with detailed category specific transparency reporting. After product efficiency gains, residual product impacts are offset with nature such that the product becomes a net-positive, restorative influence on both climate and nature.

NP+Ds deliver such a range of individual metrics and such broad transparency that it will hopefully be the last product transparency report any procurement or green building professional will ever need.

An NP+D comprises:

  • A front Summary Performance page with the awarded NP+D Certification Mark reflecting the tier awarded as the result of an overall weighted performance score;
  • A 3-5 page High Level Indicator Reports with selected individual Performance Metrics; and,
  • Up to 10 Detailed Category-specific Transparency Reports in discrete sections as represented by the Categories shown in the figures below (and tabled on page 21 of the NaturePositive+ Declaration Standard). A typical NP+D is over 40 pages in length and is the most definitive product transparency report available.

NP+Ds offer a comprehensive array of indicators, delivering precise metrics that enable manufacturers to showcase their Nature Positive performance and progress toward NaturePositive+ by earning biodiversity and carbon co-benefit credits in ways that go beyond current Circular Economy (CE) metrics and frameworks.

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Example of the cover page of a NaturePositive+ Declaration Summary Report.
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Example of the cover page of a NaturePositive+ Declaration Summary Report.

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How is the NP+D Process Unique?

Benefit Measures: Life cycle analysis (LCA) and circular economy metrics typically measure only impacts and resources respectively. Natural and upcycling Technical system benefits are not conventionally included or able to be measured. As the oft-repeated truism states 'to monitor something you need to measure it'. So, benefit analysis is required to accurately reflect both natural and technical cyclic systems.

The Evah Institute has developed and Global GreenTag has collaborated in the peer-reviewed publication and practice of unique 'Life Cycle Benefit Analysis' (LCBA) based on conventional LCA methodology.

EPD:BA: The manifestation of LCBA within the GreenTag program has resulted in Benefit Analysis being published in relevant EPDs for some years and will continue. All NP+Ds include EN 15804 +A2 compliant EPDs and EPD:BA Benefit Addendums.

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Assessment of natural ‘machines’, ecosystems and circular economy initiatives require Life Cycle Benefit Analysis (LCBA).
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Assessment of natural 'machines', ecosystems and circular economy initiatives require Life Cycle Benefit Analysis (LCBA).

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Overview of the midpoint impact categories covered in the ReCiPe 2016 method and their relation to the LCIA endpoint areas of protection
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Overview of the midpoint impact categories covered in the ReCiPe 2016 method and their relation to the LCIA endpoint areas of protection

PHDs with HealthRATE™ & Asthma and Allergen Sensitive™ Claims: GreenTag's unique Product Health Declarations take the guesswork out of Chemical Hazard Risk Analysis for building and procurement professionals. Chemical and safety risks, mitigation strategies, worker health impacts and in-use healthiness for end-users, are all assessed and explained graphically and in simple language.

Products are screened for banned compounds and over 1000 further asthma and allergen trigger chemicals from a Professional list provided by an Association of Environmental Health Professionals that is updated regularly.

MSDs- GreenTag's Modern Slavery Declarations: are also a unique, product level modern slavery risk assessment across full supply chains. They score not just modern slavery risk, but also data quality risk based on the sources of the information to provide individual scores for both risks and an overall level of potential Modern Slavery Risk in 7 tiers from Very Low to Very High.

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Which metrics are used?

A set of eight major metrics are assessed and scored and weighted, then averaged using a weighting system benchmarked against planetary boundaries.

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Main Assessment Categories in a NP+D
On mobile, zoom to view
Main Assessment Categories in a NP+D

NP+D s provide a broader scope of indicators than typically used within CE, delivering a more refined and precise set of metrics that are capable and intended to be used to engage Nature Positive biodiversity and carbon co-benefit credits to enable manufacturers to demonstrate Nature Positive performance or achievement towards NaturePositive+. Importantly, NP+D s measure detailed toxicity and other impacts, as well as ecosystem and Material Circularity benefits, i.e., beyond the industry-typical, impact-only assessment outcomes.

A NP+D's metrics also enable manufacturers 'step-by-step' and 'distance-to-target' measures and approaches to incrementally build product certification portfolios that enable the assessment of products against robust, meaningful, and trusted standards that ensure products redress damages already done and help move global society toward a position where we might still have a hope to avoid the worst impacts of climate changes and biodiversity losses.

NP+Ds use many existing processes already in use by Global GreenTag and indeed some, by others in the industry. The figure below illustrates the source of the indicators in relation to existing and novel GreenTag services. Even EPDs from other providers can be used to calculate the EPD: Benefits Addendum (EPD:BA) needed to generate the 'Benefit/Impact Ratio' overall nature indicator.

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Main Assessment Categories of a NP+D and how they relate to existing Global GreenTag services and other metrics
On mobile, zoom to view
Main Assessment Categories of a NP+D and how they relate to existing Global GreenTag services and other metrics

The indicators specified in the NaturePositive+ Standard include all metrics needed to determine a product's true circularity. That is, they need to encompass all aspects required to ensure that a product's human and environmental outcomes deliver positive outcomes or, progress towards those goals assessed and reported to identify where progress needs to be made. They include:

  • Material Circularity;
  • Toxicity
  • Human Toxicity
  • Environmental Toxicity
  • Biodiversity
  • Climate
  • Water Circularity & Scarcity
  • Life Cycle Impact / Life Cycle Benefit Ratio
  • Ethical Supply Chains
  • ILO Compliance - factory
  • Modern Slavery – supply chain
  • Social Benefit Leadership
  • Social disadvantage benefit
  • Indigenous benefit
  • Innovation Leadership

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The Application & Assessment Process

The NP+D process is a 2 Step, and 10 Stage process:

STEP 1: Manufacturers applying for NP+D Certification are supplied with information requests that are assessed and results communicated, and hence, enabled through the process to understand and act to minimise their impacts first.

Although not all manufacturers are ready for their products to be NaturePositive+, the confidential NaturePositive+ Assessment stage of the Declaration process is structured also to support the evolution and pathway for products to become Nature Positive.

STEP 2: Based on the 'Distance to Target' results from Step 1, Applicants then engage specific 'Nature based Solutions' to deliver carbon and biodiversity co-benefits to reach a Nature Positive status, achieving 'Net Positive' environmental outcomes, according to the NaturePositive+ Standard.

After this stage is achieved and results published, product researchers and customers will be able to measure and aggregate Nature Positive benefits for each certified product they procure for a project.

This is particularly beneficial to any industry harnessing a Circular Economy outcome. All the indicators will be visible in the reporting for the public to read, in both summary graphics with individual indicators, including BRONZE NP+, SILVER NP+, GOLD NP+ or PLATINUM NP+ ratings, as well as a detailed, full report.

Examples of NaturePositive+ rating tags that manufacturers can use to promote NaturePositive+ certified products.

  • BRONZE NP+ tier indicates that a product is a minimum of 105% Nature Positive
  • SILVER NP+ tier indicates that a product is a minimum of 110% Nature Positive
  • GOLD NP+ tier indicates that a product is a minimum of 120% Nature Positive
  • PLATINUM NP+ tier indicates that a product is a minimum of 150% Nature Positive

If you are a manufacturer or supplier who would like to submit your products to the Global GreenTag International NaturePositive+ Declaration program, please note the following prerequisites. Applicants are required:

Prerequisite 1: to ensure that their product marketing communications are factual and 'Greenwash' free according to best practice local and international standards as audited by GGTI Assessors in accordance with ISO 14021;

Prerequisite 2: to demonstrate that their products are fit for purpose; and

Prerequisite 3: to demonstrate that their products are banned ingredient free under the NP+D and its Supplementary Standards.

For further information download the standard

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How is it recognised?

Each of the major core services within the NP+D Standard is already a standalone service recognised by or compliant with various rating tools as follows:

  • Product Health Declaration [PHD]: Green Star®, International WELL™ Building Standard, & LEED®
  • Environmental Product Declaration [EPD]: Green Star®, Infrastructure Sustainability rating tool, & LEED®
  • Modern Slavery Declaration [MSD]: Green Star®

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How long does it take?

Because each of the major core services within the NP+D Standard is a standalone service they can be selected individually and progress towards a complete NP+ Assessment achieved one Category at a time.

The time for the individual services varies by the complexity. Successfully obtaining full information from Applicants and their Suppliers is typically the longest part of the process. The times below exclude Applicants' own time to provide acceptable information:

  • PHD 6-8 weeks
  • EPD & EPD: BA 6-12 months (including external peer reviewing)
  • MSD 6-8 weeks
  • Entire NP+A & NP+D 6-12 months

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More about Global GreenTag International

Global GreenTag™ International Pty Ltd assesses products for all aspects of impacts on human health, ethical labour supply and the environment. The company was established in 2010 as a third party verified Conformance Conformity Assessment Body that conducts the award winning Global GreenTag Cert™ certification program, and a third party, multi-criteria, consensus based and externally verified Type 1 Ecolabelling Program that complies and operates under strict International Standards. Global GreenTag is legally approved as a Certification Mark operator by the ACCC in Australia and by equivalent government agencies in NZ, USA, Canada, and South Africa.

Global GreenTag websites and all marketing collateral for every product certified by Global GreenTag is verified as 'fit for purpose' and compliant with ISO 14021. What's more, Global GreenTag's governance and its own external verification and certification against standards such as ISO 14024 (Ecolabelling), ISO 17065 (Conformance Assessment) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management) among others, is unparalleled.

Global GreenTag also operates an EPD Program recognised as an ECO EPD Platform Program Operator Member.

Voted one of the Top 100 Most Trusted Brands in Australia for 3 years running, Global GreenTag currently has more than 16,000 products in certification by over 230 manufacturers with factories in more than 20 countries. Global GreenTag™ certified products are determined as healthy for use using the best science available, with the results being internally and externally peer reviewed by highly qualified, external consultants, including Consulting Toxicologists and LCA Auditors.

NP+D Standard Download/Sales Enquiry

To understand the full opportunity delivered by the NaturePositive+ Declaration process, we advise you to take the time to complete the License Agreement in the link below and read through the Standard.

By submitting the form you agree to the following:
I agree to using the NaturePositive+ Standard for educational purposes or Global GreenTag NP+ Assessment, Certification & Declaration processes only. No other use or reproduction is permitted unless prior written agreement is obtained from Global GreenTag.

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GGTI Pty Ltd and Global GreenTag International Pty Ltd will never sell or share your contact details. By downloading this Standard, you agree to receiving our 'Certification Matters' Newsletter & EDMs. You can opt out at any time via the 'unsubscribe' link in every email.

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