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Sustainability and Environment

We help businesses bring sustainability into alignment with their strategies and make it easier to track, measure and share the results of sustainable performance and initiatives with stakeholders.

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Our global presence brings you a world of expertise combined with diverse local knowledge. We can help you harmonize the needs of regulatory, industry and social demands across your markets. We’ll assist you in driving sustainability practices across all business operations and activities. Our testing, certification, inspection and business intelligence solutions help you expand knowledge, anticipate and respond to risk, and increase transparency across your value chain.

Environmental Claim Validation

UL's environmental claim validations help manufacturers communicate their products' environmentally preferable attributes clearly and credibly, equipping them with a powerful tool for differentiation in an increasingly cluttered marketplace.

Environmental claim validations from UL include:

Recycled content

Validates the post-consumer, pre-consumer (post-industrial) or total recycled content of a product by means of auditing.

Byproduct synergy

Validates supply chain localization, material optimization, waste minimization and virgin material substitution achievements through active dialogue and working across facilities from diverse industries.

Rapidly renewable content

Validates that a product contains material that has a harvest cycle of less than 10 years. Examples of raw materials with a short harvest cycle include bamboo, corn and cork.

Recyclability

Evaluates a product’s recyclability through testing or auditing.

Paper-based products recyclability

Validates the recyclability of paper-based products through conducting repulpability tests and calculating recyclability rates based on the fiber content in sample products.

Volatile organic compound (VOC) content

Tests the VOC content of products in accordance with standard test methods and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) rules. Note these tests are only conducted on liquid or aqueous solutions, such as paints, adhesives, sealants, coatings and other similar products.

Reclamation program/facility

Validates claims associated with reclamation programs or centers that a manufacturer might have to reclaim used products/materials by means of auditing.

Mold resistance

Tests certain products/materials for resistance to microbial growth in accordance with standard test methods, such as ASTM D3273, ASTM C1338 and ASTM G-21.

Landfill waste diversion

The UL waste diversion validation program focuses on monitoring and measuring material flows that are not part of an organization’s final product. UL offers four landfill waste diversion claim validations to recognize companies that handle waste in environmentally responsible and innovative ways — from energy production via incineration to reuse, recycling and composting. Materials that are not diverted are considered disposed and go to the landfill or incineration without energy recovery.

Energy-saving power strips

Evaluates the energy savings of a power strip through testing.

Biobased content

Validates that a product contains biobased content through testing. Examples of biobased content include polylactic acid (PLA), crop residues and wood residues, among others.

Formaldehyde-free

UL Environment validates claims that a product does not contain formaldehyde, or formaldehyde precursors, using a combination of auditing raw material inputs and testing chemical emissions from the product. Qualifying products must also maintain UL GREENGUARD Gold certification to ensure no other harmful chemicals are emitted into indoor air.

Particulate, VOCs or mold and bacteria filtration efficacy for air filters

Evaluates and ultimately validates the performance claims regarding the percentage reduction of particulate, VOC, mold and bacteria levels for air filters.

Innovative claims

UL Environment sometimes provides validation of environmental claims that are new to market or do not have an existing UL protocol. Please contact 888.485.4733 for questions about claims not found on this page.

Environmental Product Declaration (EPDs)

An EPD is a comprehensive, internationally harmonized report created by a product manufacturer that documents the ways in which a product, throughout its lifecycle, affects the environment. UL certifies that all information in a manufacturer’s finished EPD is accurate.

UL certified EPDs demonstrate a manufacturer's commitment to sustainability while showcasing that manufacturer's willingness to go above and beyond — all in the name of transparency and clarity. They also help purchasers better understand a product's sustainable qualities and environmental repercussions. As such, certified EPDs equip manufacturers with a valuable tool for differentiation and empower customers to make more informed purchasing decisions.

Demonstrating Product Health and Wellness

We offer a complete portfolio of services for manufacturers that wish to clearly communicate the health and wellness attributes of their products to meet green purchasing or sustainable building requirements, provide transparency, and mitigate risk from complaints regarding product off-gassing and odors.

GREENGUARD Certification

UL GREENGUARD Certification provides a competitive advantage in an increasingly muddled green marketplace by serving as a health-based differentiator. Products that earn GREENGUARD Certification have been scientifically proven to meet some of the world’s most rigorous, third-party chemical emissions standards, helping to reduce indoor air pollution and the potential health risks of chemical exposure.

UL Wellness Certification

UL’s Wellness Certification is the first program that helps demonstrate a product’s contribution to wellness building concepts, such as Fitwel, a certification program that optimizes buildings to support health. It requires each product meets the applicable requirements listed in the Fitwel Standard and can evaluate additional criteria as requested. UL uses metrics-based assessments to evaluate products. Manufacturers receive a report, certificate and permission to use the UL Wellness Certified Mark on their products that includes a QR code linking to the manufacturer’s product page. The product is also featured in SPOT®, UL’s online guide for comprehensive certified product information, including detailed information about the certification.

Chemical Emissions Product Testing

Product chemical emissions testing uses dynamic environmental chamber technology to detect and measure the chemicals that a product emits. It is critical to address product emissions because these emissions can pose a serious health threat.

Our state-of-the-art technology allows us to measure chemicals from a wide range of products, including furniture, construction materials, consumer products, electronics and appliances, with the utmost precision.

We play a key role in developing global chemical emissions testing standards, enabling us to assist manufacturers in choosing the best test method to meet their market demands. We can work with you from the earliest stages of the product design process to help you avoid costly errors and can test products including furniture, flooring, paints, building materials, 3D printers, electronics, cleaners, medical devices, scented products and more.

Methods and standards

Evaluate products against existing test methods and standards criteria, such as CA Section 01350, GREENGUARD test methods, ASTM D 5116, ASTM D 6670, ISO 16000-9, EN 16516, Blue Angel, DIBt’s Ü mark, AgBB, Natureplus, EN 16738 Candle Emissions Testing, the EU Eco Flower, GEV-Emicode, AFSSET, French A+ label and BIFMA.

Exposure risk

Assess products for their contributions to chemical exposure, develop comprehensive evaluations and testing data for regulatory compliance needs.

Odor assessment

Identify product odors and sources, as well as their thresholds and descriptions, against an extensive database of odorants and irritants.

Ultrafine particle studies

Provide manufacturers with ultrafine particle emissions data to fulfill requirements for ECMA 328, ISO 28360 and Blue Angel RAL UZ-205 for print devices.

Air sampling analysis

Helps you resolve indoor air quality concerns of building owners, facility managers and third-party consultants in a variety of environments with general analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), microbial VOCs, aldehydes and other air pollutants.

EPEAT Assessment and Registration

A program of the Green Electronics Council, the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is a comprehensive global environmental rating system that helps purchasers identify greener computers, mobile phones and other electronics. UL can assist manufactures of green electronics with a full scope of services, including readiness assessment, testing and certification to the IEEE suite of standards and can also provide opportunities for manufacturers to achieve additional points within the standard.

Greenhouse Gas Verification to ISO 14064-3

UL can help companies keep on top of the changing regulatory landscape and provide solutions to help companies credibly report their GHG emissions. That’s why UL offers GHG Verification reports to ISO 14064-3. Our third-party review of GHG statements meets requirements of multiple global GHG programs such as the CDP Climate Change Survey and U.K. SECR. We provide a report with the findings and evaluation summary that may be submitted for regulatory compliance.

Whether you are beginning your carbon reporting journey, need to comply with local regulations or want to verify data, UL can help.

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