Ecolabels demonstrating products' environmental performance
IGM develops the framework adopted for identifying and assessing such products’ environmental criteria and for demonstrating their compliance. The Program is based on ISO standards and other internationally or nationally recognized standards to ensure transparency and credibility in line with international principles and procedures applicable to similar programs.
IGM Silver Label verifies an individual environmental attribute or claim associated with the product and its functional characteristics. Guided by ISO 14021 Standard, it provides recommendations and guidance on the requirements for the use of symbols and terms such as “recyclable” or “biodegradable” that can be associated with a specific stage of a product’s life cycle.
IGM Gold Label is a multi-attribute, life cycle-based environmental certification which declares the overall environmental performance of a product and its functional characteristics based on quantitative and qualitative evidence to prove compliance with strict and rigorous environmental standards.
This scheme of the IGM Program is designed to validate suppliers’ claims about the amount of VOC content in their products and materials for indoor applications. This verification is done through third-party testing following the guidelines set forth in this manual. The overall objective of this scheme is to ensure that the assessed materials and products result in the lowest possible emissions considering the technical and economic factors. As per Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have shortand long-term adverse health effects." Since VOCs are released when the chemicals vaporize, studying various compounds’ reaction to heat can help assess the harmful impact of products containing volatile compounds.
IGM EPD Label provides systematic assessment method for all relevant environmental aspects of the product throughout its whole life cycle. Guided by ISO 14025, ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 Standards, this label determines quantified environmental data of a product, under a pre-set category of parameters (Product Category Rules or PCRs) based on life cycle assessment (LCA) to enable comparisons between products fulfilling the same function.
IGM RS Label assesses systematically (for a product manufacturer) a range of environmental, economic and social considerations in addition to aspects associated with the manufacturer’s governance and quality systems, and supply chain management. This label is guided by BS 8902:2009 Standard.