The latest version of Cradle to Cradle certification protocol, Version 3.0, was made publicly available in late 2012. In this iteration, the bar has been raised across all attributes. In particular, the Material Health attribute features a banned list of chemicals for both biological and technical nutrients. The basic level is now a provisional level allowing a manufacturer to establish baseline/inventory for each category while allowing products to get on the path of continuous improvement. Certification levels progress from there.

New to Version 3 is the addition of a Bronze level. In Version 2, the bar to achieve Silver was so high and broad that it didn't allow for clear distinction between products that were in different stages along the optimization path.

Institute President Bridgett Luther adds, “The move from version 2.1 to the new version 3.0 was exciting and really brought together the teams at MBDC and EPEA to translate the best practices with their clients into something that others could teach and learn. Version 3.0 is more rigorous, but the whole program becomes a sustainability platform.”

The Parameters

Manufacturers seeking Cradle to Cradle certification must meet stringent criteria in five different areas, which are discussed in depth below.

Material Health
“Today, many architects and designers are concerned with avoiding chemicals of concern in their projects. The Material Health score of certified products can provide a quick reference for what a product contains,” says Stacy Glass, the Institute's executive in residence for the built environment.

A product often contains many materials and each material contains many chemicals. The Cradle to Cradle Material Health assessment looks at each of these levels to arrive at an overall assessment of the products material health impact. First, the manufacturer completes a Bill of Materials detailing each material used in the product. The Bill of Materials is provided to the accredited assessor who looks at all of the material components. Then they identify all the chemicals contained in those materials down to very minute levels (100 parts per million) by working directly with the manufacturer's supply chain, often under non-disclosure agreements to ensure all chemicals are examined. Assessors even conduct a site visit to verify inputs into the manufacturing process. Then, all of the chemicals are assessed against the program's rating system. If products contain substances that are on the program's banned list—such as PVC—these products will never receive certification at any level. Other chemicals are judged by establishing their potential risk to human health and the environment, across 24 different human and environmental “endpoints.” Materials are also judged on how well they can return to either technical or biological cycles. These criteria are combined to assign each material a final grade.

Materials get an A or B when it is determined that they largely support Cradle to Cradle design objectives. Materials are graded C if they are moderately problematic due to either their chemical risk or their inability to be composted or recycled. Or materials are assessed X, meaning they have highly problematic properties that should be phased out. Products with a Material Health rating of Gold or higher have achieved this ideal and contain no X-assessed materials.

For each material in a product, the chemicals are assessed for potential hazards, exposure, and cyclability. Chart courtesy of Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute