The Foundation: CMF Prioritization v1.0
This prioritization transforms complexity into clarity—helping the industry focus, prioritize, and align around the most critical ecolabels, standards, and the verified data within them, all organized through the CMF’s structure of Impact Level, Sub-Impact Level, TACO, and Factor/Metric.
The Common Materials Framework (CMF) is intentionally comprehensive—spanning hundreds of ecolabels and standards, and thousands of data points aligned to five impact areas. To accelerate its usability today, mindful MATERIALS and Forum members convened to determine where to focus first.
The outcome: CMF Prioritization v1.0—a collective starting point shaped by the CMF Prioritization Task Force. This curated subset highlights the most relevant, widely used, and requested ecolabels and standards driving the market now and in the next three years.
Why Prioritization Matters
To drive consistent action, the industry first needed to define what matters most—together.
CMF Prioritization v1.0 helps everyone speak the same language. When the industry agrees on what to prioritize, manufacturers can focus investments, AEC teams can design and specify with confidence, and owners can measure progress with consistency.
What’s Included (and What’s Not)
If an ecolabel, standard, or data point (metric) is included in CMF Prioritization v1.0, it means it reflects one or more of the following:
-
Criteria that AEC/O teams are currently requesting or requiring during product selection—either to meet internal goals or to report to programs like LEED, WELL, or LBC.
-
Criteria that recognize and connect the progress manufacturers are already making toward optimization, efficiency, and responsible resource use—ensuring those efforts are visible, comparable, and scalable across the industry.
If something isn’t yet included, it may be too niche or not broadly adopted—but this prioritization will continue to evolve as the market does.
mM and CMF Working Groups will steward CMF Prioritization v1.0 forward through a formal governance process designed to ensure authenticity, clarity, and alignment with market needs.
See an ecolabel or standard you’d like to see considered for future inclusion? [Submit it here]
CMF Levels of Alignment
CMF Prioritization v1.0 is the foundation for all tools, resources, and guidance within the CMF Implementation Toolkit. It anchors the toolkit’s structure—helping teams align their work with a shared, focused set of ecolabels, standards, and data points that drive progress today.
Across the Toolkit, you’ll find insights that illustrate different levels of alignment to CMF Prioritization v1.0—showing how each stakeholder can connect strategy to action.
Now, take the next step:
Signaling Your Alignment With the CMF
Level 1: Impact Level Alignment
Level 2: Sub-Impact Level Alignment
Level 3: T.A.C.O. Level Alignment
Level 4: Metric/Data Level Alignment
CMF Levels of Alignment
CMF Prioritization and Toolkit Governance
Keeping the Framework Current and Credible
The CMF Prioritization v1.0 is the foundation for all resources and guidance within the toolkit. As this foundation evolves, all other resources will evolve alongside it to ensure continued alignment and usability.
This toolkit is a starting place, not perfection. We will continue to accelerate and grow the resources within it, and your feedback is a welcome mechanism to support us in prioritizing where to focus. RFP language, performance, and design specification templates are three tools we'll be adding to this toolkit in 2026 as examples.
In 2026, updates to the toolkit will focus primarily on refining the usability of its resources and guidance. The CMF Prioritization v1.0 updates will be focused on global applicability. We’ll be gathering user feedback throughout this period to understand where adjustments are needed based on how the tools and resources are being applied in practice.
In 2027 a formal update cycle for CMF Prioritization v1.0—including the review and potential addition of new ecolabel/standards will begin.
Between now and 2027:
-
Feedback will be collected through community calls, surveys, and the feedback forms within this toolkit.
-
Feedback collected will accelerate toolkit updates and will inform bi-annual or quarterly updates, shared transparently with the industry.
-
Recommendations for new and supporting resources, as well as expanded recognition of currently recognized standards, will be documented and reviewed starting in 2027.
These ongoing feedback loops ensure that the CMF and supporting resources remain both stable and responsive—grounded in collective learning and real-world application.
Coming Soon: mM Ambassador Program
Launching in 2026, the new mM Ambassador Program will equip industry champions with the tools and language to lead change—helping to advance alignment and amplify impact across the built environment. Ambassadors will also play a key role in delivering CEU 2.0, a refreshed, usable education experience designed to train internal teams and build shared understanding of the CMF. Delivered through a train-the-trainer model, CEU 2.0 empowers organizations to teach, share, and apply the CMF effectively—extending the reach and impact of the CMF Implementation Toolkit through scalable, aligned education.
Implementation Toolkits
