One Framework. Five Impact Areas. Infinite Potential.
Between the endless acronyms, the avalanche of ecolabels and standards, and the unrealistic expectation that building product manufacturers, A&D professionals, and contractors moonlight as chemists and climate scientists—sustainable materials shouldn’t be this confusing.
Over the past 20+ years, the building industry has made tremendous progress toward better product choices and lower supply chain impacts. But designers, manufacturers, and project teams are still stuck navigating a fragmented maze of standards, certifications, and data — wasting time and money reinventing the wheel, duplicating efforts, and creating one-off solutions just to make sense of it all.
The CMF changes this. Built by and for the industry, the CMF serves as a shared language for sustainable building products—mapping information from the most widely used certifications across five core impact areas:
It’s not another rating system or certification. It’s a connective framework that translates technical certifications, ecolabels, standards, and data into clear, actionable impact—so you can streamline communication and make better material decisions with confidence.
By using the CMF, we move beyond scattered efforts and piecemeal solutions. It aligns manufacturers, designers, and project teams around a common playbook—cutting through confusion, reducing redundancy, and unlocking meaningful progress across the value chain.
The CMF creates a common foundation for impact-driven decisions.
Less Confusion. More Progress.
Right now, sustainability is more complicated than it should be. Every firm, certifier, platform, and database speaks a slightly different language when it comes to sustainable building materials. The result? Disparate requests, disconnected data, market confusion, and missed opportunities to drive real impact reduction at scale.
It’s not just frustrating—it’s slowing us down.
The CMF changes that. It’s more than just a shared language; it’s the connective tissue that aligns how we talk about, track, and act on sustainability. With the CMF, we can move faster together—shifting focus from interpreting data to delivering impact.
When the industry works from the same playbook:
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Comparative product data is available in workflow tools
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Duplicative requests and endless spreadsheets are reduced
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Data moves consistently across platforms and standards
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Decisions are more holistic and aligned
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Manufacturers get a clear market signal and confidence to invest in better products
The result? Less confusion. Fewer wasted hours. More time, money, and energy to focus where it matters most—making progress.
Built for Clarity, Designed for Action
The CMF is structured to make complex information usable:
It takes complex, technical information and distills it into clear, high-level insights—along with granular data—so certifications and product info can be easily searched, compared, and put into action with confidence.
Adopted by Leaders, Designed for Everyone
The CMF is already shaping how the industry works. It’s used by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), and Living Future (formerly the International Living Future Institute, or ILFI) to guide updates to programs like LEED, the WELL Building Standard, the Living Building Challenge, and to streamline reporting for the AIA Materials Pledge. It also supports firm-driven standards like Gensler’s Product Sustainability Standards (GPS), among others.
Since 2023, a portion of the CMF has been digitized in the mindful MATERIALS’ Product Portal. This free tool enabled users to search for products by CMF impact areas, with filters down to sub-bucket levels—and in some cases, even the TACO level. By pulling data from trusted sources like 3E Exchange, HPDC, and EC3, the Portal demonstrated how granular, impact-driven product evaluation could work in practice.
While the Portal served as an important proof of concept, it was never meant to be the final destination. On August 4, 2025, the Portal will sunset as we move into a new chapter—the CMF everywhere.
Our goal is to embed the CMF directly into the tools and workflows where material decisions happen every day. Not just in one place, but integrated across many. As more platforms align with the CMF, we unlock new capabilities: clearer comparisons, deeper insights, and more meaningful impact at scale.
You can already see this in action through our growing network of mindful MATERIALS (mM) Technology Partners, each applying the framework in ways that match their platform’s unique capabilities—including Acelab, BuildingEase, Ecomedes, Material Bank, Materially Better, Sustainable Minds, among others.
Whether you’re specifying materials, pursuing certifications, or building new tools, the CMF creates a common foundation for impact-driven decisions—wherever you work.
CMF, Everywhere
mindful MATERIALS Portal is sunsetting Aug. 4, 2025—here’s what you need to know.
The Common Materials Framework (CMF) was built to live beyond a single platform. Once housed in the mindful MATERIALS Portal, it’s now a flexible, scalable resource embedded across the tools the industry already relies on. This evolution is the crucial next step to deliver consistent, reliable sustainability data, cut down on duplicate requests, and empower more stakeholders to act on material impact.
You can now access the CMF on Acelab, BuildingEase, Ecomedes, Material Bank, Materially Better, and Sustainable Minds—with more integrations coming soon.
This shift reflects mindful MATERIALS’ true role: not a certification or tech provider, but a convener, standard-setter, and ecosystem builder—amplifying the CMF’s reach and impact.
Meet Our Tech Partners
Our Technology Partners are bringing the CMF to life by embedding it into their platforms—streamlining data management for manufacturers and speeding up daily material decisions for AEC teams, owners, and beyond. These partnerships show a shared vision and commitment, but integration is still evolving. Being a Technology Partner doesn’t mean a platform has fully implemented every aspect of the CMF or carries mM’s official endorsement of its technical functionality. Instead, it signals a collective commitment to building a more connected, transparent materials data ecosystem. From product search and impact analysis to automated vetting against firm-specific material requirements, these leading tools are helping translate the CMF into real-world action—step by step.
We’re always looking to grow our network of Technology Partners and connected collaborators. If you’re building solutions that support better material decisions—whether through design workflows, risk assessment, or beyond—and want to integrate the CMF, let’s talk. Third-party ecolabels and standards are also a huge part of the connected digital data ecosystem we’re working to create. If you’re not yet part of this work, we’d love to connect. Email us at outreach@mindfulmaterials.com.
Common Materials Framework FAQs
Have questions about the CMF? You’re not alone. We get it, it’s a lot. Here’s what you need to know about how it works, why it matters, and how to get involved.
A: The CMF is an industry-developed structure that brings order to commonly referenced building product certifications, disclosures, and standards and connects them to holistic life cycle impacts: Human Health, Climate Health, Ecosystem Health, Social Health & Equity, and Circular Economy. Originally informed by the AIA Materials Pledge, the CMF creates a shared structure for communicating, comparing, and improving material sustainability.
A: Right now, definitions of a sustainable building product vary from person to person and platform to platform. That inconsistency slows progress and confuses the market. The CMF brings alignment to the industry by creating a common language and structure for evaluating sustainability attributes of building products. It reduces the need to memorize version differences or manually compare certifications. As the CMF becomes integrated into workflow tools and product databases, it enables more efficient product filtering and better alignment with pledges, policies, and project goals.
A: No. The CMF is not a certification. It’s a framework that organizes existing certifications, disclosures, and standards to make them easier to understand, compare, and use. It does not rank or score products but instead provides the structure for interpreting sustainability data in a consistent, actionable way. The CMF organizes product sustainability certifications, ecolabels and the data verified within them, to impact.
A: The CMF is for anyone manufacturing and/or making decisions about building materials. That includes architects, designers, manufacturers, contractors, owners, engineers, certifiers, educators, and technology providers.
A: The CMF is already partially digitized on our Technology Partner’s platforms. We’re continuing to expand this connected data ecosystem through the work of our Technology & Data Working Group within the mM Forums. To learn more about the Forums, click here. To explore these platforms, click here.
A: Each Technology Partner represents the CMF a bit differently because they’re at various stages of implementation. While all partners share a common goal—to enable better, more transparent material decisions—how they integrate the CMF depends on their platform’s structure, focus, and technical capabilities.
Being a Technology Partner doesn’t mean every aspect of the CMF is fully built out or that all data is complete and seamlessly interoperable. It’s not an endorsement or a finished seal of approval—it’s a clear signal of intent and alignment. Each partner is putting the CMF into practice in ways that best serve their users as we work together to expand a connected data ecosystem.
This variability is natural—and necessary for building a truly connected materials data landscape. As more platforms adopt and align with the CMF, consistency, connectivity, and industry impact will continue to grow.
A: The CMF was developed through a collaborative, cross-industry effort led by mM and originally released in 2022. To build a structure that captures the full picture of a product’s life cycle impacts, mM convened key stakeholders and strategic partners to review the industry’s most commonly referenced standards and certifications.
Development was driven by two core volunteer groups:
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The Content Advisory Board (CAB) ensured broad industry alignment by gathering diverse stakeholders to provide strategic input on the framework’s structure and content.
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The Content Working Group (CWG) conducted detailed reviews of specific certifications, ecolabels, and data points, approving their inclusion and organization within the CMF.
This work was supported by an extensive ecosystem review process involving standards organizations, certification bodies, data managers, and technology platforms—all helping to ensure accuracy, transparency, and meaningful industry adoption. Their collective input shaped the CMF into today’s most comprehensive and harmonized framework for evaluating sustainable materials in the built environment.
Looking ahead, mM’s Forums continue to guide the CMF’s evolution, developing a governance structure and methodology to keep the framework continually relevant and up-to-date.
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A: The CMF is designed to evolve with the industry as new standards—and new baselines—are developed and established. mM gathers feedback from its Forum members and partners (Owners, AEC professionals, Manufacturers, Certification Bodies, and Tech/Data Partners) to identify new or updated ecolabels, standards, and data points that should be added. Currently, the ongoing evolution of the CMF is guided by the Forums, which will be developing a governance structure and methodology for routine updates into the future. If you’d like to be a part of shaping the future of the CMF, consider joining one of our Forums. If you have a certification you would like to submit for consideration to be included in a future update, please let us know.
A: Start by becoming a mindful MATERIALS member and joining one of our Engagement Groups—whether you’re part of the A+D community or a Building Product Manufacturer. From there, explore opportunities to contribute through our Forums, which are driving the alignment, tools, and systems behind the Common Materials Framework.
Become a Member: https://www.mindfulmaterials.com/membership
Explore the Forums: https://www.mindfulmaterials.com/the-forums