Perspectives on greener product development and manufacturing from Sustainable Minds, our partners, customers and contributors.

Sustainable Minds Transparency Report Program™ Earns Top Product of the Year Award from Environmental Leader

By Sustainable Minds on April 24, 2015

CAMBRIDGE, MA, APRIL 2: Sustainable Minds®, a B2B cloud provider of environmental product transparency applications, data and services, today announced that the Sustainable Minds Transparency Report™ Program received a Top Product of the Year Award in the Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards. Judges considered it to be an exemplary product.

The Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards is a program recognizing excellence in products and services that provide companies with energy and environmental benefits, or in projects implemented by companies that improved environmental or energy management and increased the bottom line.

“We had more entries than ever this year, and competition was tough. The winners showed innovation and the ability to help transform the fields of energy and sustainability management,” says Paul Nastu, publisher of Environmental Leader. “Entries that were awarded Top Product or Project of the Year are those that should be carefully considered by companies seeking to improve operations and boost the bottom line.”

One judge said: “Good focus on sustainable design for product stewardship and great alignment with ISO 14025 for environmental declarations. Ease of use, scalability and cloud-based are plusses. Good focus on reliable, actionable intelligence to make decisions as opposed to just box checking.”

Another added, “Life cycle assessment has not been successfully adopted by many companies because of the complexity and resources needed to undertake the LCA. Product category rules and environmental product declarations (EPDs) have also been slow to develop in the US. A software solution like this will be very helpful to utilize the competent expert input. It’s a great idea that could prove very useful for companies who want to produce lots of EPDs and have the LCA expertise.”

The SM Transparency Report Program is a step-change innovation of a global standards process to create the first comprehensive and user-friendly solution for product manufacturers to market and design greener products. It delivers an SM Transparency Report™, an EPD++ that presents both functional and environmental performance/material health information in a branded, three-page, cloud-based report. The data is presented in an understandable format and made meaningful by enabling manufacturers to describe what they are doing to improve. Credible and effective marketing tools, they bring consistency and standardization to environmental product transparency reporting to inform greener purchase decisions.

“We are extremely honored to receive Environmental Leader’s Product of the Year Award. It’s time for environmental transparency reporting to achieve real scale. For that to happen, the value proposition for manufacturers must become more obvious, the process more flexible and the deliverables more useful. We’re getting tremendous market response and this is another proof-point,” said Terry Swack, SM CEO.

Scores were determined by a panel of independent judges headed by Paul Leavoy of LNS Research and also including judges from AECOM Technology Corp.; Anheuser-Busch InBev; Bayer MaterialScience; ConAgra Foods; ConEdison Solutions; Environmental & Operational Risk Management (EORM); GlaxoSmithKline; Owens Corning; RegScan; Salazar Packaging; TruPoint Advisors; University of California, Berkeley; Verdantix, Williams Creek Consulting; and YES Bank.

For a complete list of winners, visit http://www.environmentalleader.com/environmental-leader-product-project-awards/

About Sustainable Minds®
Sustainable Minds is a B2B cloud provider of environmental product transparency applications, data and services to help product manufacturers across the value chain, design and market greener products. The company is dedicated to operationalizing environmental performance in mainstream product development and manufacturing in an understandable, empowering and credible way. Used in industry and education in more than 850 locations in 80 countries since 2010, Sustainable Minds’ easy-to-use, standardized solutions make it possible for manufacturers to drive revenue and growth through greener product innovation. Follow Sustainable Minds on Twitter @sustainablemnds

About Environmental Leader
Since 2006, Environmental Leader's website and daily email newsletter have provided the definitive and objective voice in reporting on business-related energy, environmental, and sustainability issues, while Energy Manager Today is the leading daily trade publication keeping corporate executives informed about energy management news. For more information visit www.environmentalleader.com or www.energymanagertoday.com.

About the Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards
In its second year, the Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards recognize excellence in products and services that provide companies with energy and environmental benefits, or in corporate projects that improved environmental or energy management and increased the bottom line. It is a five-point rating system designed to offer companies feedback and recognition. Third-party judges came from the following companies: AECOM Technology Corp., Anheuser Busch InBev, Bayer MaterialScience, ConAgra Foods, ConEd Solutions, Environmental & Operational Risk Management, GlaxoSmithKline, LNS Research, Owens Corning, RegScan, Salazar Packaging, Trupoint Advisers, the University of California Berkeley, Verdantix, Williams Creek Consulting, and YES Bank.