2022 Impact Report

Impact Report
2022

Welcome

Over the past year, the topic of indoor air quality has captured our conversations in a way few would have dreamed of before the pandemic. As the world tries to find a new equilibrium, the health and safety profiles of the schools, offices, and public spaces we are returning to has never been more important.

Photograph of Doug Gatlin, Green Seal CEO
Doug Gatlin, Green Seal CEO

This is a moment that was made for Green Seal, which has always applied science to help people navigate toward choices that promote healthy indoor environments. Over the past year, Green Seal launched standards, certifications, and resources to make it easier for everyone to find safer, healthier products and create spaces where people can thrive during the pandemic and beyond.

Among the most impactful of these initiatives is Green Seal’s Healthy Green Schools & Colleges, the first national healthy-air standard for school facilities. With an accessible learn-as-you-go structure and a focus on low- and no-cost measures, this standard fills a critical gap to provide schools with the information and support they need to ensure the quality of learning environment that every student in America deserves.

To support a heightened focus on workplace health and wellness, Green Seal announced an updated certification standard for paints and coatings that fully aligns with the latest version of the LEED® green building rating system and identifies the safest, greenest paint available on the market today.

And, with a growing body of evidence indicating that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are likely to have harmful health and environmental effects, Green Seal took a leadership position with an initiative to prohibit all approximately 12,000 PFAS chemicals in certified products.

Photograph of Christina Martin, Green Seal Board Chair
Christina Martin, Green Seal Board Chair

Demonstrating that there is power in partnerships, our collaborative efforts with Amazon Climate Pledge Friendly, the U.S. Green Building Council, the International WELL Building Institute, Healthy Schools Campaign, and Health Product Declaration Collaborative are amplifying Green Seal’s impact and accelerating the transition to safer, greener products and spaces.

As we cautiously and hopefully emerge from the worst of the pandemic, the twin pillars of health and environmental sustainability that Green Seal has stood for over the past 30-plus years are more in demand today than ever before. In this report, we are proud to highlight the impactful initiatives and partnerships that are making it simpler for consumers, parents, business owners and others to choose healthier, safer products and services with confidence.

green-seal-certified

Making Safer Simpler

As the world tries to get back to a new normal, we are forever more invested in the health and safety of the indoor spaces we occupy. To meet this moment, Green Seal dived into new standards, certifications, and resources that make it easier for you to make safer, healthier choices, and create spaces where people can thrive during the pandemic and beyond. 

 

  • Paints and Coatings

    Amid a rebound of demand for construction and renovation, we announced an updated certification standard for paints and coatings that fully aligns with the latest version of the LEED® green building rating system and identifies the safest, healthiest options for homes and workplaces. 

    Learn More
    paints-coatings
  • Microbial-Based Cleaning Products

    With higher cleaning frequency here to stay, we expanded certification options for microbial-based (aka probiotic) cleaning products, an exciting application of green chemistry that allows producers to eliminate the use of hazardous solvents and surfactants and formulate with biobased ingredients.  

    Learn More
    Making Healthy Choices Simpler - MBCP
  • Healthy Green Schools & Colleges

    As students headed back to school, we launched the first national healthy-air standard for school facilities, filling a critical gap by providing schools with the resources and network they need to ensure a quality of school facility that every student in America deserves. 

    Learn More
    hgs
  • Certified Directory

    As more people return to public spaces, we launched a modernized Certified Directory to make it easier for buyers and facility managers to find cleaning and facility care products and services that are proven safer and effective.  

    Learn More
    Directory

Impacts That Matter

Green Seal’s standards follow a compass toward four key targets that ensure certified products truly are safer for people and the planet. Here’s how Green Seal-certified products achieved impacts that matter in 2021.

Compass-infographic
  • Protecting Human Health

    Green Seal strictly limits chemicals that don’t belong in household or professional products, making it simple to make healthier, safer choices with confidence. Certified products are free of carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive toxins, and common toxic ingredients such as phthalates, methanol, and bisphenol A (BPA). 

    7.9 million
    schoolchildren protected fromtoxic chemicals/asthma triggers incleaning products in 2021
  • Preserving the Climate

    Green Seal standards address a product’s global warming potential through criteria for smog formation, stratospheric ozone depletion, and energy use. Green Seal-certified products limit VOCs, prohibit ozone depleting compounds, incorporate recycled materials, and reduce fuel consumption to make a measurable difference in protecting climate.  

    3.2 million

    metric tons of CO2 emissions
    saved each year by

    Green Seal-certified sanitary paper
    – the equivalent of taking
    800,000 cars off the road.*

  • Ensuring Clean Water

    Green Seal’s standards require aquatic biodegradability and prohibit chemicals that can harm or kill aquatic wildlife. Our strict criteria for bioaccumulating compounds prevent the build-up of contaminants in fish and other organisms, which, in turn, helps protect humans from ingesting unsafe levels of chemicals from lower in the food chain. 

    500,000 lbs

    of organochlorine contamination
    avoided each year by
    Green Seal-certified sanitary paper.*

  • Minimizing Waste

    Green Seal-certified products use environmentally preferable packaging materials, include recycling instructions, and provide detailed directions for proper use to minimize product waste. Our functional performance criteria ensure that certified products perform as well as or better than conventional alternatives, avoiding waste from discarded products that fail to meet consumer expectations. 

    1.5 billion
    industry-grade 1-liter plastic bottles saved by Green Seal-certified professional cleaning products each year.**
*Based on 2018 data
**Based on 2020 and 2021 data

Power in Partnership

Green Seal doubled down on key partnerships to foster the supply of and demand for services, products, and spaces that are healthier for people and the planet.  

  • International WELL Building Institute

    Green Seal collaborated with the International WELL Building Institute to confirm the alignment of our cleaning services standard with WELL requirements. Using a Green Seal-certified cleaning service provider now contributes toward earning certification to both the WELL Building Standard and the WELL Health-Safety Rating.  

  • Health Product Declaration Collaborative

    Green Seal and HPD Collaborative announced a joint initiative to advance transparency standards and data harmonization in material health reporting through a one-stop shop that allows paint manufacturers to create a Health Product Declaration and earn Green Seal certification using the same set of data.  

  • The U.S. Green Building Council

    We partnered with USGBC to ensure our updated certification standard for paints and coatings fully aligns with the latest version of the LEED® green building rating system, ensuring that purchasers, facility managers, and consumers can confidently choose paints that qualify for LEED credit requirements and are verified to the highest standard of health, safety, and functional performance. 

  • Amazon/Climate Pledge Friendly

    Green Seal’s partnership with Amazon means that more than 900 Green Seal-certified products now display Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly badge, signifying to Amazon shoppers that the products meet meaningful sustainability standards.  

  • Google Travel

    Google Travel’s new sustainability feature highlights Green Seal-certified hotels with an “eco-certified” badge, signifying to travelers and travel bookers that the hotels meet meaningful sustainability standards. 

  • Whole Foods Market

    Green Seal helped Whole Foods Market execute its cleaning products standards program, independently evaluating household cleaners against the supermarket chain’s criteria for environmental impact, safety, ingredient labeling, and efficacy testing. 

A Seal Buyers Trust

More than 30 years ago, Green Seal pioneered ecolabeling in the United States with a consumer-friendly seal that helps buyers make safer, greener choices with confidence. Today, our seal is a universal symbol that a product, service, or space is independently verified to meet the highest standard of health and environmental leadership.

100+
federal, state, and local
purchasing policies
specify Green Seal
1 billion+
square feet
of commercial space cleaned
daily by Green Seal-certified
cleaning service providers
38,288
certified products
(by SKU)

Where Green Seal-Certified Products and Services are Produced

Customer Spotlight

Only the safest, most sustainable, and most effective products and services achieve the Green Seal. Companies undergo a comprehensive review, covering everything from their formulas to manufacturing practices to ensure they meet our science-based standard criteria. Here’s how our partners are making an impact.

Newly Certified

We welcomed the following brands to the Green Seal community.

Newly Participating

The following brands and organizations have begun the process to certify their first product or service with Green Seal, demonstrating their commitment to meeting the highest standards.

Thanks

Thank you to Green Seal’s Board of Directors for their support, guidance, and expertise. Learn about the members of our Board of Directors and our staff here.

Special thanks to 3M, Buckeye, Diversey, Ecolab, Essential Industries, Hillyard, and PortionPac for contributing data and expertise to the development of Green Seal’s plastics saving metric.