GREENGUARD Certification Standards for Low-Emitting Products
The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) has established performance based standards to define goods with low chemical and particle emissions for use indoors, primarily building materials, interior furnishings, furniture, cleaning and maintenance products, electronic equipment, and personal care products. The standard establishes certification procedures including test methods, allowable emissions levels, product sample collection and handling, testing type and frequency, and program application processes and acceptance.
GEI certifies products across multiple industries. Please click on any of the following categories to review the specific emissions criteria.
GREENGUARD Allowable Emission Levels
All products are tested in dynamic environmental chambers following the GREENGUARD test method, “Method for Measuring Various Chemical Emissions using Dynamic Environmental Chambers,” as posted on this web site. The method follows the guidance of ASTM standards D-5116-06 and D-6670-01, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's testing protocol for furniture, the State of Washington's protocol for interior furnishings and construction materials, and California’s Department of Health Services (CDHS) standard practice for the Special Environmental Requirements, Specification Section 01350. Products are measured for emission levels, which must meet the following indoor air concentrations within seven (7) days of unpackaging.
Air concentrations are based on the product being in a room 32 m3 in volume with outdoor air ventilation based on ASHRAE 62.1-2007 or the USEPA’s recommended exposure factors. Maximum allowable emission levels are those required by the State of Washington's indoor air quality program for new construction, the US Environmental Protection Agency's procurements specifications, the recommendations from the World Health Organization, Germany's Blue Angel Program for electronic equipment, LEED for New Construction, and LEED for Commercial Interiors. Office furniture products meeting these allowable emission levels also meet the requirements of LEED 2009 - CI - credit 4.5 and the BIFMA X7.1 Conformance standard. When multiple emission values are recommended, the lesser, or more stringent, is used as the acceptable emission value for GREENGUARD Certification.
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