Specifying for Green Mark v7: Materials, EPDs & Certifications

Under BCA Green Mark Version 7, a material is only as good as the evidence behind it. The framework’s emphasis on whole-life carbon and indoor-air quality turns interior specification into a documentation exercise: the flooring, wallcoverings, ceilings and fabrics you schedule need verifiable green credentials, not just green intentions. For interior designers and architects, knowing which certifications matter — and building them into the schedule from the start — is what makes a v7 submission run smoothly.

This guide is the practical companion to the rest of our v7 cluster: which documents carry weight, what each one proves, and how to assemble a submission-ready specification.

The short version: Green Mark v7 rewards products backed by third-party verification. For carbon, that means an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). For emissions and indoor air, it means labels such as GREENGUARD Gold, FloorScore and the Singapore Green Building Product (SGBP) mark. Specify these deliberately, keep the documentation with the schedule, and the sustainability consultant’s job — and your project’s score — both get easier.

The Two Questions Every v7 Material Must Answer

Behind the paperwork, Green Mark v7 asks two things of an interior material: how much carbon is embodied in it, and what does it emit into the air of the finished space. Different certifications answer different questions, and confusing them is a common specification error. A product can have a strong EPD (low carbon) and still emit VOCs, or be low-emission but carbon-heavy. Robust specification checks both.

Environmental Product Declarations: The Carbon Currency

An EPD is a standardised, third-party-verified report of a product’s environmental impact across its life cycle. Under v7’s whole-life carbon assessment, an EPD supplies the real embodied-carbon figure a project’s carbon calculator needs — without one, a product is typically assigned a conservative default that rarely helps the score. Requesting EPDs as a default specification requirement is one of the highest-value habits a practice can adopt. Our Environmental Product Declaration guide for interiors explains how to read one and what to check.

Emission Certifications: What Reaches the Air

Where EPDs speak to carbon, emission certifications speak to the indoor environment the Health and Wellbeing section assesses:

• GREENGUARD / GREENGUARD Gold: low chemical emissions, with the Gold tier judged against criteria for sensitive settings such as schools and healthcare.
• FloorScore: the flooring and adhesive standard for indoor air-quality emissions — the one to look for on resilient floors.
• Singapore Green Label: a recognised local eco mark useful in Green Mark documentation.

Remember that installation products count too: a low-emission floor fixed with a high-VOC adhesive undoes the benefit. Our health and wellbeing guide covers the indoor-air side in full.

The Singapore Green Building Product Scheme and the SGBC Ladder

The Singapore Green Building Product (SGBP) certification, administered by SGBC, rates products across tiers based on their environmental attributes, and is widely recognised in Green Mark submissions. Understanding how a product’s SGBP rating maps to project credits helps you specify at the right level rather than over- or under-reaching. Our SGBC certification ladder guide for specifiers walks through the tiers and how to read them.

Avoiding Greenwashing on the Schedule

Not every green claim is equal. The line that matters is third-party certification versus self-declaration: an independently verified label carries weight in a submission; a manufacturer’s unbacked “eco” claim does not. When reviewing product data, check who verified the claim, against which standard, and whether the certificate covers the exact product and finish specified — not a related line. The eco-label guide for interior products sets out how to tell a credible mark from a hollow one, and our green procurement guide covers embedding these checks into the buying process.

Building a Submission-Ready Specification

A v7-ready interior specification does not need to be complicated — it needs to be complete. A practical approach:

• Add a documentation column to the finishes schedule, recording the EPD and emission/eco certifications held for each product.
• Request EPDs and certificates at selection, not at submission — chasing them late is where schedules slip.
• Match certification to zone. Sensitive areas (healthcare, education, childcare) justify GREENGUARD Gold; general commercial areas may need less.
• Keep durability in view. A long-life, low-emission, EPD-backed product often serves whole-life carbon and health at once — the sweet spot v7 rewards.

For the fit-out workflow around this, our office fit-out materials checklist and Green Mark certified materials guide give a product-level starting point.

Final Thoughts

Specifying for Green Mark v7 is less about finding exotic new materials than about proving the ones you choose. EPDs answer the carbon question, emission certifications answer the air question, and local schemes such as SGBP tie both to recognised credits. Interior designers and architects who make documentation a standard part of selection — a column on every schedule, a certificate for every finish — will find v7 submissions predictable rather than painful, and will be giving clients materials that genuinely stand up to scrutiny.

Goodrich Global supplies wallcoverings, flooring, fabrics and surface solutions with the EPDs and certifications green-building projects require, and can help match products to the credits a v7 submission targets. Explore our whole-life carbon guide for the carbon side and the v7 timeline guide for the deadlines that shape when this all applies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What documentation do materials need for a Green Mark v7 submission?

Materials need third-party evidence for two things: their embodied carbon, proven by an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), and their indoor-air emissions, proven by certifications such as GREENGUARD Gold or FloorScore. Locally recognised marks like the Singapore Green Building Product (SGBP) certification and Singapore Green Label also support the submission. Self-declared claims without third-party verification carry little weight.

What is the difference between an EPD and an emission certification?

An EPD reports a product’s life-cycle environmental impact, including embodied carbon, and feeds the whole-life carbon assessment. An emission certification such as GREENGUARD Gold or FloorScore verifies how little the product off-gasses into indoor air, feeding the health and wellbeing assessment. A product can score well on one and poorly on the other, so specifiers should check both.

How do specifiers avoid greenwashing under Green Mark v7?

Rely on third-party certifications rather than self-declared claims, and confirm that each certificate covers the exact product and finish specified, against a named standard. A finishes schedule with a documentation column — recording the EPD and certifications held for each product — makes credible claims easy to evidence and hollow ones easy to spot.

What is the Singapore Green Building Product (SGBP) scheme?

SGBP is a certification administered by the Singapore Green Building Council that rates products across tiers based on their environmental attributes. It is widely recognised in Green Mark submissions, and understanding how a product’s tier maps to project credits helps specifiers choose products at the right level for the certification they are targeting.

Book an appointment with our consultants to build a Green Mark v7-ready specification for your next project.