Sustainability & environmental impact: best practices for building envelopes
Adopt sustainable practices to minimize the environmental footprint in construction with continuous insulation and building enclosure systems.
Best Practices
Environmental Impact
Environmental impact concerns the effects of building practices on nature, making sustainable methods in continuous insulation and building enclosure systems essential for minimizing energy use, reducing waste, and lowering construction’s ecological footprint. As building codes increasingly prioritize sustainability and energy efficiency, transparency from manufacturers becomes crucial, with Advanced Architectural Products demonstrating this commitment by clearly disclosing materials and processes for their GreenGirt CMH™, GreenGirt Steel™, and SMARTci® systems, which are backed by verified documentation and contribute to recognized building certifications, supporting both performance credibility and environmental responsibility in architectural design.
Sustainability Documentation Downloads
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) transparently outlines the life-cycle environmental impact of systems, supporting environmentally-friendly decision-making for thermally efficient building practices, and quantifying environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy usage, water consumption, and waste generation. In 2019, A2P was the first manufacturer to publish an EPD for continuous insulation systems, and is now the first to publish consecutive EPDs in 2025.
Declare label
Products with a Declare label provide full transparency about their composition and origin, enabling architects and builders to make informed choices about materials that are safe for both people and the planet. The Declare Label document certifies that GreenGirt systems are Living Building Challenge Red List Free, fully disclosed at 100ppm, and compliant with the LBC criteria, ensuring they meet rigorous environmental and health standards through complete ingredient disclosure.
Red List free
Systems that are Red List free do not contain any harmful chemicals listed on the International Living Future Institute’s Red List, ensuring that building materials are environmentally friendly and non-toxic, thus contributing to healthier indoor and outdoor environments. To reinforce A2P’s commitment to environmental sustainability and safe manufacturing, A2P received a Red List Free verification letter confirming that their systems do not use any harmful materials.
Contributes to LEED points
LEED certification evaluates buildings based on sustainability criteria including energy efficiency and responsible material sourcing, with the recent LEED v5 update emphasizing three impact areas: decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation and restoration. GreenGirt and SMARTci systems can help buildings achieve these certifications by providing energy efficiency throughout the building’s lifetime, contributing toward environmental responsibility and resource efficiency points.
Passive House Certification
Passive House is an organization that promotes energy-efficient building principles and certifies global construction and retrofit projects that meet its five core standards: optimized continuous exterior insulation, airtight building envelopes, elimination of thermal bridging, high-performance windows, and heat recovery ventilation systems. GreenGirt and SMARTci systems support these certification goals by offering wall, roof, and window solutions that deliver high thermal efficiency through design aligned with Passive House principles.
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) transparently outlines the life-cycle environmental impact of systems, supporting environmentally-friendly decision-making for thermally efficient building practices, and quantifying environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy usage, water consumption, and waste generation. In 2019, A2P was the first manufacturer to publish an EPD for continuous insulation systems, and is now the first to publish consecutive EPDs in 2025.
Declare label
Products with a Declare label provide full transparency about their composition and origin, enabling architects and builders to make informed choices about materials that are safe for both people and the planet. The Declare Label document certifies that GreenGirt systems are LBC Red List Free, fully disclosed at 100ppm, and compliant with the Living Building Challenge criteria, ensuring they meet rigorous environmental and health standards through complete ingredient disclosure.
Red List free
Systems that are Red List free do not contain any harmful chemicals listed on the International Living Future Institute’s Red List, ensuring that building materials are environmentally friendly and non-toxic, thus contributing to healthier indoor and outdoor environments. To reinforce A2P’s commitment to environmental sustainability and safe manufacturing, A2P received a Red List Free verification letter confirming that their systems do not use any harmful materials.
Contributes to LEED points
LEED certification evaluates buildings based on sustainability criteria including energy efficiency and responsible material sourcing, with the recent LEED v5 update emphasizing three impact areas: decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation and restoration. GreenGirt and SMARTci systems can help buildings achieve these certifications by providing energy efficiency throughout the building’s lifetime, contributing toward environmental responsibility and resource efficiency points.
Passive House Certification
Passive House is an organization that promotes energy-efficient building principles and certifies global construction and retrofit projects that meet its five core standards: optimized continuous exterior insulation, airtight building envelopes, elimination of thermal bridging, high-performance windows, and heat recovery ventilation systems. GreenGirt and SMARTci systems support these certification goals by offering wall, roof, and window solutions that deliver high thermal efficiency through design aligned with Passive House principles.
How GreenGirt and SMARTci Systems Meet and Exceed Environmental Impact Standards
GreenGirt and SMARTci systems set the standard in sustainable construction, decisively exceeding environmental benchmarks. The Declare label certification guarantees complete transparency and zero Red List chemicals, safeguarding environmental and human health. Having EPDs on GreenGirt CMH systems establish transparency on A2P’s manufacturing processes, setting the standard for the continuous insulation market. These systems generate substantial LEED points, driving measurable improvements in energy efficiency and resource conservation. Additionally, they excel in meeting Passive House certification requirements through superior continuous insulation and thermal bridge elimination that dramatically reduce energy consumption. These industry-leading attributes establish GreenGirt and SMARTci as the definitive choice for environmentally responsible building practices.
Additional Sustainability Articles
Explore the variety of A2P’s articles on our sustainability documentation, support towards certifications, and positive environmental impact!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A2P’s systems’ EPDs can be downloaded on this page, as well as on the product pages for the following systems: GreenGirt CMH, GreenGirt CMH Delta Adjustable, and GreenGirt CMH XO.
Yes. GreenGirt systems are Red List Free, with documentation available for download.
GreenGirt and SMARTci systems can contribute to LEED by supporting sustainability criteria like energy efficiency, responsible material sourcing, and more.