Getting environmental certification

How GEN members certify green products and services

Full and Associate GEN members

• Set and publish environmental criteria
• Certify products and services with lower environmental impact than comparable products/services
• Provide information, advice and technical assistance to organisations contemplating or developing ecolabelling programmes
• Disseminate information to the public
• Represent the interests of ecolabelling in various international meetings and events

All full and associate members of GEN develop environmental leadership standards. They operate Type 1 ecolabelling programmes, and develop standards in an open, public, transparent process, usually audited by an independent third party.

Criteria and product categories differ among the membership, reflecting local and regional variables, but all standards address multiple environmental attributes and most have requirements for items such as toxicity, air quality, energy use, recyclability, VOCs, carcinogens and other issues of concern. Life cycle thinking is used by our ecolabel members in developing standards which minimise environmental impacts across the entire life cycle of a product or service, from raw material extraction through to use and eventual disposal or breakdown.