Green building materials: building doors, windows and accessories

Core Content of Certification

The Green Building Materials Certification for building doors, windows, and accessories focuses on the green performance throughout the product's entire lifecycle, with core evaluation across the following four attribute dimensions:

• Resource Attributes: Includes indicators such as comprehensive utilization rate of solid waste during production, degree of raw material localization, water resource consumption, and aluminum profile recycling rate. It encourages enterprises to adopt green and environmentally friendly processes for recycling external scrap aluminum, reduce environmental impact in transportation through localized procurement, and also pay attention to the environmental friendliness of raw materials.
• Energy Attributes: Primarily focuses on the energy consumption per unit of product produced. The comprehensive energy consumption during the production process of door and window products should comply with relevant energy consumption limit standards, including energy consumption control in processes like profile processing, glass synthesis, and assembly. The Three-Star certification requires production energy consumption to reach the industry's advanced level, encouraging enterprises to adopt energy-saving production processes and clean energy technologies.
• Environmental Attributes: Covers indicators such as air pollutant emissions, dust concentration in workplaces, wastewater discharge, and noise control. Production enterprises must obtain a pollutant discharge permit in accordance with the law and discharge pollutants as stipulated by the permit. The emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) from sealant materials is tested according to relevant standard regulations to ensure the product does not pollute indoor air quality during use.
• Quality Attributes: Based on relevant product standards, key performance indicators of building doors, windows, and accessories are tested. These include airtightness performance, watertightness performance, thermal transmittance coefficient, solar heat gain coefficient, airborne sound insulation performance, and repeated opening/closing performance. This ensures the products possess excellent functional performance while meeting green requirements. The standard differentiates the indicator requirements for external doors/windows and internal doors/windows.

Certification Levels and Evaluation System

The Green Building Materials Product Grading Certification is based on the T/CECS 10026-2019 standard. Products are divided into three levels from low to high according to the level of evaluation indicators achieved:

• One-Star: Meets basic green evaluation requirements and complies with national fundamental standards for green building materials. Enterprises must satisfy all requirements of the control items, with each evaluation indicator reaching the One-Star baseline value.
• Two-Star: Demonstrates good performance in resource conservation, energy consumption, environmental protection, etc., reaching an advanced industry level. The requirements for each evaluation indicator are stricter than those for One-Star.
• Three-Star: Possesses excellent green performance with minimal environmental impact throughout the entire lifecycle, representing the highest level of green building material products. The Three-Star level requires the energy consumption per unit of product produced to meet the advanced value standard, with the strictest requirements for each evaluation indicator. Building material products certified under China's Green Product Certification are equivalent to Three-Star green building materials.

The evaluation method also considers the application of bonus points, including: actively focusing on the environmental impact throughout the lifecycle (conducting environmental declarations through scientific methods like LCA), using clean energy such as green electricity, completing energy management system certification, and establishing green factories.

Basic Certification Requirements

Enterprises and products applying for the Green Building Materials Certification for building doors, windows, and accessories must meet the following basic conditions:

• Compliance in Production and Operation: The production enterprise should have no major environmental pollution incidents or major safety accidents in the past three years. The collection, storage, and disposal of general solid waste should comply with the relevant provisions of GB 18599; the storage of hazardous waste should comply with the relevant provisions of GB 18597 and should subsequently be handed over to units holding a hazardous waste business license for disposal.
• Compliance of Production Equipment and Technology: Production enterprises should adopt advanced technologies and processes encouraged by the state and should not use technologies, processes, equipment, or related substances that have been eliminated or prohibited by the state or relevant departments.
• Management System Requirements: Production enterprises should establish and operate a quality management system, an environmental management system, and an occupational health and safety management system in accordance with GB/T 19001, GB/T 24001, and GB/T 28001, respectively.
• Product Qualification Requirements: Product performance should meet the mandatory performance requirements in GB/T 31433. Products need to provide a valid type test report issued within one year.
• Recycling Requirements: Aluminum profile production enterprises are encouraged to adopt green and environmentally friendly processes to recycle external scrap aluminum, with a recycling ratio of 3% or above.

Certification Process

The Green Building Materials Product Grading Certification implements a model of initial inspection + product sampling inspection + post-certification supervision:

• Certification Application: Submit application documents including the application form (specifying the applied green building material level), business license, product process flow chart, factory organization chart, key raw material filing list, valid product type test report within one year, list of management system-related documents, etc. The applying enterprise must pass the audit by the certification body.
• Document Technical Review: The certification body reviews the completeness, suitability, and effectiveness of the application documents. Review conclusions fall into three categories: meeting requirements allowing for on-site inspection, basically meeting requirements needing supplementation/improvement, or not meeting requirements preventing on-site inspection.
• Initial Factory Inspection: Includes inspection of factory assurance capability, product conformity inspection, and verification of compliance with green assessment requirements. The on-site inspection focuses on the operation of the enterprise's energy management system, production energy consumption control measures, operation status of wastewater recycling systems, pollutant emission control measures, solid waste disposal situation, etc.
• Product Sampling Inspection: The certification body designates a laboratory with CMA accreditation to conduct sampling inspection. Inspection items, technical requirements, sampling methods, etc., should comply with the certification implementation rules and green building material assessment standards. Conforming inspection reports issued by CMA-accredited laboratories within the past 12 months may be accepted.
• Certification Result Evaluation and Approval: After the document technical review, on-site inspection, and product sampling inspection are all passed, the certification body conducts a comprehensive evaluation, approves the certification decision, and issues the certificate. The certification certificate is valid for five years.
• Post-Certification Supervision: Supervision is arranged after certification, with intervals not exceeding 1 year for each supervision. Supervision content includes inspection of factory assurance capability, inspection of product consistency, verification of ongoing compliance with green assessment requirements, and product supervision inspection. For non-conformities found during supervision audits, the enterprise must complete corrections within the specified timeframe.
• Re-certification Audit: Conducted before the certificate expires to renew the certification qualification, typically on a five-year cycle.

Value of Certification

• Enhance Product Market Competitiveness: The Green Building Materials Product Certification is a nationally promoted voluntary product certification. Certified products can gain priority in procurement and application in projects such as government procurement, key projects, and municipal public utilities. The green building material procurement support policy jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology explicitly requires government procurement projects to prioritize purchasing green building materials. Starting from 2025, the mandatory procurement proportion of green building materials for government projects (e.g., hospitals, schools) is continuously increasing. Non-certified products will lose significant market opportunities.
• Enjoy Policy Support and Financial Subsidies: Many provinces and cities provide financial rewards or fiscal support to enterprises that obtain Green Building Materials Product Certification. They can also enjoy preferential financial services and tax policy support. The government procurement policy supporting green building materials has been implemented in 101 cities (municipal districts) including Chaoyang District, Beijing.
• Meet the Needs of Green Building Development: With the implementation of the "Assessment Standard for Green Building" (GB/T 50378-2019) and the advancement of the Green Building Creation Action, the required application proportion of green building materials in new urban buildings is continuously increasing. As an essential part of the building envelope, certified building doors and windows products can more easily enter the green building market.
• Enhance Competitiveness in Bidding: The Green Building Materials Certification certificate can serve as a bonus point in engineering bidding and procurement, helping to strengthen the enterprise's differentiated bidding capability and establish its technology and quality brand. Obtaining the green building materials label is a necessary condition and a bidding advantage for enterprises to participate in major projects, government-funded project tenders, and enter the qualified supplier lists of large clients.
• Address Dual Carbon Strategy Requirements: Under the background of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, energy and construction have become main forces in achieving the dual carbon goals. The Green Building Materials Product Certification requires enterprises to conduct carbon footprint accounting, helping them address carbon emission control requirements and plan for low-carbon development in advance.
• Promote International Trade: The certification results can serve as a "green pass" for exports. Some standards have mutual recognition internationally, helping to reduce green trade barriers for exports. The green building materials labeling assessment work is actively participating in international mutual recognition mechanisms, providing authoritative and credible basis for Chinese building materials entering the Belt and Road initiative and the global market.
• Establish Corporate Social Responsibility Image: Obtaining certification demonstrates the enterprise's commitment and actions in resource conservation and environmental protection, enhancing customer trust, improving brand reputation, and meeting consumers' demand for upgrading to green building materials.

Applicable Product Scope

The Green Building Materials Certification for building doors, windows, and accessories applies to various types of doors, windows, and accessory products for buildings, including:

• Door and Window Products: Aluminum alloy doors/windows, plastic doors/windows, wooden doors/windows, steel doors/windows, composite material doors/windows, and other building windows and pedestrian doors.
• Accessory Products: Accessory materials for building doors and windows such as hinges, pulleys, handles, friction stays, floor springs, door closers, polyamide profiles (thermal break strips), etc.