The Common Materials Framework, Made Actionable
Start here to understand the “why,” “what,” and “how” of implementing the Common Materials Framework (CMF)—and discover how aligned data and shared language drive measurable progress across our industry. Together, we can connect better material decisions to business value for everyone in the value chain.
Achieving a Shared Vision
In 2024, mM in collaboration with our Forum Members and Partners, established a shared vision for the future of real estate to see this world become a reality as well as the milestones needed to be accomplished along the way.
Our Collective Opportunity report outlines this vision, plan and next steps that were the genesis of this toolkit. Start here, keep going.
Setting the Stage
Making Product Sustainability Work at Scale
Our industry’s biggest challenge isn’t effort—it’s alignment.
Fragmented data, overlapping requirements, and disconnected tools make progress hard to measure—and even harder to scale.
-
Owners and developers need streamlined, trustworthy reporting that connects impact to investor expectations, and mitigates risk.
-
AEC orgs need faster ways to identify sustainable products and simplify reporting across pledges and rating systems.
-
Manufacturers need to cut redundant requests, increase clarity, and see ROI on sustainability investments.
Everyone’s aiming for the same goals. But without shared systems, we waste time, energy, and opportunity.
In order for any stakeholder to achieve their ultimate goals, collaboration, and leveraging shared resources must happen at scale—otherwise, no one achieves what they want.
That’s why the CMF and the connected Data Ecosystem were created: to simplify, align, and scale impact across the value chain—so we can all move forward, together.
Impact Reduction. Business Value. For All. Together.
Building Your Foundation for Action
Before joining the movement, get grounded in the key concepts that make sustainable materials progress possible.
Before you dive in, there are a few key concepts that will help you get the most out of this toolkit and align your understanding with the broader industry movement toward sustainable materials.
Understand the Background
Explore the history, momentum, and insights driving this work. Start with the Pre-Reads:
Learn the Common Language—the CMF
The CMF is the industry’s shared language for sustainable building products—creating clarity, consistency, and connection across programs and partners.
Across the industry, the intent to make better material choices is clear—but everyone asks for and reports data differently. The result? Duplication, confusion, and wasted effort that slow progress.
The CMF changes that. It’s the industry’s shared language for sustainable materials, developed by and for the community to bring clarity, consistency, and connection to a fragmented landscape.
By organizing hundreds of ecolabels and standards into five impact areas—Human Health, Ecosystem Health, Social Health & Equity, Circularity, and Climate Health—the CMF helps everyone speak the same language about what matters most.
The current version, CMF Prioritization v1.0, bridges ambition and action, making sustainability communication more consistent, measurable, and scalable across the value chain.
Reduce duplication: One response can fulfill multiple requests.
Save time: Standardized workflows minimize back-and-forth.
Enable automation: Structured data integrates seamlessly into digital tools.
Build trust: Transparent communication strengthens collaboration.
The Connected Data Ecosystem
The Data Ecosystem is the industry’s shared structure for scaling sustainable materials action—linking data, systems, and stakeholders to drive collective progress.
These foundational insights will help you use the toolkit to its fullest.
The Common Materials Framework (CMF) becomes most powerful when it’s digital—integrated directly into the systems where product data is created, shared, and used.
A connected Data Ecosystem links every part of the value chain, ensuring that accurate, aligned information flows seamlessly from manufacturer to architect, contractor to owner. When sustainability data moves this way—consistently and automatically—transparency and efficiency follow.
The CMF Implementation Toolkit helps each stakeholder understand their role in a connected data ecosystem and offers practical guidance for integrating a digitization strategy into existing programs and workflows. Because when our data is connected, our impact is too.
Together, It’s Time to Act
The CMF Implementation Toolkit turns shared language into shared progress—with practical guidance for every part of the value chain.
Every role in the built environment has a part to play in building a connected materials ecosystem. The CMF Implementation Toolkits turn alignment into action, meeting you where you are and guiding you toward scalable, practical application of the CMF with your workflows.
The CMF Implementation Toolkit turns alignment into action.
Inside, you’ll find practical guidance, templates, and resources tailored to your role in the value chain, helping you integrate CMF-aligned practices into everyday workflows.
Whether you’re a manufacturer, architect, designer, tech partner, ecolabel, or NGO, you’ll find clear, actionable pathways to implement, measure, and scale progress.
