Event Description

With hundreds of green product certifications on the market and persistent greenwashing, it can be difficult for designers to know what kind of impacts the materials they select for a project are having on the health of our climate, ecosystems, communities, and on individuals. But with the introduction of an industry-aligned framework for evaluating sustainable materials, more informed decision-making is finally within reach. This course will present the current challenges to measuring holistic product impacts and introduce the Common Materials Framework: a groundbreaking common language for product sustainability, and how to apply it in your practice today.

This is the second session of the Materials Matter: Embodied Carbon & The Path to Healthier Buildings training series. Join the series to explore the connections between climate, human health, and the circular economy—transforming the way we design and build for a better future.

Learning Objectives -

1. Analyze diverse criteria in building material product certifications, advocate for holistic impact consideration, and integrate strategies to address fragmentation in reporting.
2. Evaluate the multi-attribute impacts of building materials using the AIA Materials Pledge and the Common Materials Framework, considering factors like reporting threshold and third-party verification, to make informed decisions beyond certifications.
3. Consider the importance of a connected data ecosystem to scale adoption of healthy materials by addressing a subset of priority data points, and advocating for a consistent market signal to drive digitization of key information about product impacts.
4. Employ simple and sophisticated tools today and anticipate future integrated workflow tools based on the collaborations being facilitated by mindful Materials’ cross-stakeholder Forums.