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Cradle to Cradle certification

   Goal: Understand the basics of Cradle to Cradle certification

Cradle to Cradle certification attempts to measure the environmental and social sustainability of your invention in five categories: material health, material reutilization, renewable energy & carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness. It applies only to physical products, but also considers aspects of how your company does business, beyond the physical product. It is most applicable to products with only a few ingredients, such as furniture, food, clothing, or building materials. You can see a searchable list of C2C-certified products here.

Below is a 16-minute video summary of all the different points available in Cradle to Cradle certification version 3.
[NOTE: C2C certification v3 has been superseded by certification v4!  However, you can still get a decent idea of the new version by learning the old version.]

For more descriptions of Cradle to Cradle criteria, see this link, and you can read the PDF below, describing in detail all the points that can be earned and how to count them. You can also take a free online course (1 – 2 hours) with multiple videos per category, below. 

Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute online training (requires free registration).

PDF summary of Cradle to Cradle certification points

Below is a deep-dive video (30 minutes) taking you through the process of C2C certification v3 step-by-step, as on the Exercise page.  [Again, NOTE: C2C certification v3 has been superseded by certification v4.  However, you can still get a decent idea of the new version by learning the old version.]

To do the exercise, click on it below.

All VentureWell Tools for Design and Sustainability content is shareable and usable by CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.