The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute is the only organization licensed to use the Cradle to Cradle® certification marks. They are not owned by C2C PII, they are registered to MBDC, LLC and licensed exclusively to C2C PII.

The certification program license agreement does not include use of the service marks Cradle to Cradle® and C2CTM in business consulting, architectural and engineering. These marks are expressly reserved for business consulting services by MBDC and other licensees. MBDC’s service mark registrations also cover workshops, training and education.

Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM is a certification mark of the C2C PII. The Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM image mark and word mark only can be used in reference to products that have been certified at a specified level of achievement through the C2C PII's Cradle to Cradle® Certification program. The certification marks must include the level of achievement and refer to the specific product(s) that are certified. The marks cannot be used in reference to a person, company, building, or service. Visit the Copyright page to download the Certification Mark Style Guide for more information on how to use this mark appropriately.

The Cradle to Cradle principles are recognized and supported by people around the world. The trademarks for Cradle to Cradle® services and certification are registered in the United States, European Union, & Japan and are pending in several other countries.

Products and materials in all categories are eligible for Cradle to Cradle® Certification. The program is designed so that the same criteria apply across all product categories. At this time certification does NOT apply to people, processes, or buildings.

Yes. Certification lasts one year from the day the C2C PII issues the final report and certificate. In order to renew the certification, you will need to submit a renewal packet that ensures that there have been no changes to the product and process over the past year and to see what improvements have been made based on the recommendations in the report. If there are no changes to the product, the cost for renewal is a licensing fee of $1,000 or 5% of the original certification fee (whichever is higher). If there are changes to be reviewed, the C2C PII will charge an hourly fee to assess any new information.

The timeline for certification is based on the complexity of the product and its supply chain. Certification timeline can range from six weeks to six months. In order to get an estimate, visit the Certification Process page to download the renewal documents and send them to certification@c2ccertified.org.

• External verification of the product’s safety for human health and environmental health
• Differentiation from competing products and enhancement of brand value
• Expert assessment of the toxicity of all materials in the product to assist in risk avoidance and regulation compliance
• Eligibility for points in USGBC’s LEED Program as an Environmentally Preferable Material in the LEED for Homes Rating System or under the Innovation in Design category in other Rating Systems (http://www.usgbc.org/leed)
• Listing in GreenWizard software that streamlines the process of sourcing and purchasing sustainable building materials and manages the documentation required for LEED certification.
• Eligibility to sell to federal agencies under the U.S. EPA Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program (http://www.epa.gov/epp)
• Ability to sell on eBay’s site for socially & environmentally just products (http://www.worldofgood.ebay.com/)
• Use of the Cradle to Cradle® marks and promotion of certified products by the C2C PII and its affiliates

For more information on the value that Cradle to Cradle services can provide your company, visit the Value of
Certification and the Client List pages.

Cradle to Cradle® Certification is a multi-attribute certification program that assesses a product for safety to human and environmental health, design for future life cycles, and responsible manufacturing processes. A certified product will be assessed in five categories: Material Health,Material Reutilization, Energy use, Water stewardship, and Social Responsibility.Other certification programs are single-attribute and only measure one trait, such as VOC or carbon Emissions.

Cradle to Cradle® Certification is a multi-level program that awards different levels of success along a continuum. The C2C PII wants to engage companies at varying levels of environmental achievement and work with them to continue to improve their products and processes. Other certification programs have one benchmark by which you pass or fail and offer no support or recognition for achieving beyond that benchmark. Furthermore, at each level of certification products must meet the same minimum requirements in all five categories. Since all products certified at the Silver level have met all the same criteria, it is easier for a consumer to compare the overall impact on the planet of two different products. Other point-based certification programs allow the manufacturer to choose which categories of points they want to earn, which makes it more difficult for consumers to know what products certified at the same level have actually achieved.

Cradle to Cradle® Certification has universal criteria that apply to all products and materials in all categories and industries. With one set of rules for all products a consumer can more easily compare the eco-effectiveness of different products. For example, if you are picking flooring for your home you know that the carpets and hardwood flooring had to meet the same criteria. Other certification programs have different rules for different product categories, which makes it more difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison.

Cradle to Cradle® Certification is a multi-attribute certification program that assesses a product for safety to human and environmental health, design for future life cycles, and responsible manufacturing processes. A certified product will be assessed in five categories: Material Health,Material Reutilization, Energy use, Water stewardship, and Social Responsibility. Other certification programs are single-attribute and only measure one trait, such as VOC or carbon emissions.