• FAQs - Certified Environmental Profiles

    FAQs - Certified Environmental Profiles




    1. I am interested in further information on the requirements and process for obtaining an environmental profile for our products to help us with Mat1 and Mat2 sections of the Eco homes/ Code for Sustainable Homes.

    The BRE Environmental Profiles scheme measures the environmental performance of materials and products over their entire lifecycle through their extraction, processing, construction, use and maintenance, and their eventual demolition and disposal.

    The Environmental Profiles provides information on key issues of environmental sustainability such as climate change, acidification, consumption of minerals and water, emissions and pollutants to water and air.

    Benefits of Environmental Certification

    • Tells clients what the environmental impacts of their product(s) are.
    • Indicates where improvements can be made and facilitates target and objective setting by the client.
    • Permits the client to present his environmental credentials to his customers supported by scientifically grounded work.

    We also work with manufacturers to ensure that they maximise the benefit they get from completing a profile project. This includes a project report providing detailed environmental information on production process and upstream activities. We also provide support to launch, market and promote the profile.  

    2. How much does an Environmental Profile cost?

    A typical project cost is £8k -12k.

    3. How long will it take for me to obtain an Environmental Profile?

    The duration of the projects vary depending on a number of factors including the number of products to be certificated within each project and the number of sites and amount of data involved. However, once the data has been verified following the visit, we allow up to a maximum of 10 weeks to project completion. 

    4. I am still interested, what do I do now?

    If you are interested in commissioning BRE Global to provide an Environmental Profile for your product(s), please fill in an Application Form, which can be downloaded from Green Book Live, and return it to us at BRE Global.  This will allow us to issue a formal proposal and quote. 

    On acceptance of the proposal and payment of the quoted cost you will then be asked to submit a more detailed Data Collection form that will allow us to complete the profile. 

    During the profiling process we will carry out a verification visit to your manufacturing site(s).  On successful completion of the project you will be issued with a certificate for the product(s) and a profile report. At that point you will then be permitted to use the BRE Environmental Profile Certification Mark in your promotional material, although we would need to approve its use as appropriate. The certificate will then be listed in BRE Global's Red Book, and Green Book.

    5. What about confidentiality of the data I provide to you?

    The Environmental Profile process is covered by confidentiality terms and the information you provide us in relation to the project will be treated as confidential at all times. 

    6. Useful Links

    The Green Book Live
    Provides detail on Environmental Certification and the list of companies that use the scheme in the "Green Book".

    BRE Global Environmental Profiles
    Provides further information on the Environmental Profiles certification scheme.

    Envest2 website
    Provides detail on the whole building embodied impact software tool "Envest2". Developed by BRE this also can incorporate data from Environmental Certification.

    BRE Global and BREEAM
    Provides explanatory words on the environmental assessment methods for buildings and developments (BREEAM and Ecohomes) within which the embodied impacts covered by Environmental Certification forms an integral part. 

    Code for Sustainable Homes
    Provides important information on the Government's Code for Sustainable Homes, in which the Green Guide is also used.

    7. I would like to develop a method of assessing the supply chain at a national strategic perspective, and would like to know if you could help.

    BRE Global is in the process of developing a responsible sourcing standard to assess the supply chain for a number of construction products. For more information please contact: responsiblesourcing@bre.co.uk

    8. Does BRE Global have Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data available to complement the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data? 

    BRE Global is unable to provide figures for these materials as the data is not publicly available. The data that is (and has been generated by BRE Global) can be found on our website - www.bre.co.uk/envprofiles. Follow the links to the Environmental Profiles Database.  For other data, you can try approaching the relevant trade associations directly to see whether they have data that they will release.

    BRE Global is actively pursuing a programme which we hope will see the release of specific material impact category information. Although this is not LCI data it will provide more clarity on the environmental impacts of construction materials and provide increased flexibility for the market in using LCA information. BRE Global is working with the Construction Products Association on this initiative and hopes to be able to provide the relevant information on the Green Guide online in due course.

    For more information

    Call us on 0333 321 88 11 if you would like to know more, or email enquiries@bregroup.com.