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Assessing the Ability of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program to Reliably Determine the Environmental Performance of Products

Author

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  • Vanessa Bach

    (Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany)

  • Nikolay Minkov

    (Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany)

  • Matthias Finkbeiner

    (Chair of Sustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

Concepts and tools supporting the design of environmentally friendly products (including materials, goods or services) have increased over the last years. The Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program (C2CP) is one of these approaches. In this work, the ability of C2CP to reliably determine the environmental performance of products was analyzed through the application of a criteria-based assessment scheme. Additionally, to compare C2CP with three other already established tools (life cycle assessment, product environmental footprint and material flow analysis), the same criteria-based scheme was applied. Results show that C2CP is not scientifically reliable enough to assure that certified products actually have a good environmental performance. The most relevant shortcoming of C2CP relates to its limited assessment scope, due to the fact that neither the entire life cycle of the product nor all relevant environmental impacts are covered. Based on already established tools and their practical implementation recommendations for increasing the reliability of C2CP are provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Vanessa Bach & Nikolay Minkov & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2018. "Assessing the Ability of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program to Reliably Determine the Environmental Performance of Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:5:p:1562-:d:146296
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Xiaochen Zhang & Xinyu Liu & Yang Zhang & Xing Xu & Jiaxin Xiao & Ding-Bang Luh, 2023. "Assessing the Feasibility of Practical Cradle to Cradle in Sustainable Conceptual Product Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-32, April.
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