Library

Challenge: Increasing sustainability requirements from international buyers meet lack of understanding and awareness at supplier level

Objective: Improved local capacities and awareness on new requirements for export readiness and competitiveness

Approach: Establish RBH with suitable partner institutions for a long-term anchoring of servies on the ground

Impacts: Since end of 2022 over 2500 suppliers in 8 countries have made use of the support services of the RBH

This guidance is primarily aimed at public procurers involved in a range of contracting agreements related to building materials and products. This includes the purchase of building materials for construction works, but may also extend to material extraction, manufacturing, building, retrofit, refurbishment, design, interior fit out, and end-of-life demolition or deconstruction processes. There are a variety of roles within the procurement cycle that the guidance can support, from commissioning, category management, tender preparation and evaluation, to contract management.

Este documento aborda la gestión de sustancias químicas de preocupación y algunos

aspectos de sostenibilidad, incluyendo la circularidad en la compra pública sostenible

(CPS) de los AEE, específicamente de computadores, impresoras y acondicionadores de

aire, proporcionando además una orientación clara a las entidades públicas sobre cómo

incluir criterios técnicos para la adquisición de dichos equipos.

Healthy Building Network's report on post-consumer carpet feedstocks calls for eliminating over 40 highly toxic chemicals in carpets that threaten public health and impede recycling. These toxics are known to cause respiratory disease, heart attacks, cancer, and asthma, and impair children's developmental health. The report outlines strategies to protect public health and the environment by improving product transparency, eliminating dangerous chemicals from carpets, and increasing carpet recycling rates. It also reveals surprising efforts in the industry to remove many of these toxic substances from carpet design.

HBN tested 94 commercially available paint products for the presence of harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), called “forever chemicals”. Approximately 50% of ‌paints tested positive for fluorine, a marker of PFAS. Review the details of our findings and the recommended actions you can take.

Repository of products having obtained a Health Product Declaration according to the HPD Open Standard (industry standard).

Repository of products having obtained a Environmental Profile by the certification company BRE.

Global registry of construction products and materials with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Also contains information from country specifc, regional and worldwide digital EPD databases.