Beyond the Headlines: The Real Story from Greenbuild 2025

Inside the sessions where rating systems, firms, nonprofits, and manufacturers showed alignment in action.

Greenbuild always brings big conversations, but this year felt different. Not because of one headlines (although the Global Alignment announcement was huge), but because everywhere you turned, people were talking about the same thing: alignment that’s finally showing up in actual workflows, tools, and decisions.

And in the Expo Hall’s Networking Lounge—where mindful MATERIALS hosted five education sessions—that momentum was unmistakable. These weren’t theoretical conversations. They were real examples of what happens when rating systems, design firms, manufacturers, nonprofits, and tech partners actually start working from the same map.

Here’s what happened, and what it signals for where the industry is heading.

1. One Framework. Many Rating Systems. Real Results. Wednesday | 9:15–10 AM

Rating systems on one stage is already a big deal. Rating systems coming together and saying, “Yes, we’re aligning to a shared approach,” is something else entirely.

AIA, BREEAM, IWBI, Living Future, and USGBC all shared how the CMF is becoming the connective tissue across their programs, reducing duplicated requirements and making it easier for projects to earn materials credits across multiple systems.

mM President Annie Bevan framed it perfectly: this isn’t just collaboration; it’s the start of true global integration, and it’s moving faster than most people realize.

What it means: The day of piecing together materials criteria from five different playbooks? It’s ending.

2. Speaking with One Voice: The Power of a Common Ask Wednesday | 3:30–4:15 PM

If Session #1 showed top-level alignment, this one showed what it looks like on the ground.

Design teams from Boulder Associates, Gensler, HOK, LPA, and MSR Design shared how piloting the Common Ask, a unified request for sustainability data from the CMF Implementation Toolkit, has made conversations with manufacturers clearer and faster.

A single, shared ask means:

• No more hunting through five different templates

• No more conflicting requirements

• Manufacturers finally know what’s expected

• And everyone saves time

These case studies were honest, practical, and exactly the kind of “yes, this is working” evidence teams have been waiting for.

What it means: When the industry sends one clear signal, manufacturers respond. Quickly.

3. From Data to Decisions: How the CMF Powers Real Projects Thursday | 9:15–10 AM

This session showed something we’ve been talking about for years—the Data Ecosystem 1.0 actually functioning in the wild.

Speakers walked through a live workflow:

Kingspan and Shaw → BuildingEase → Brightworks + Perkins&Will → owners like Harvard and Kaiser.

The through-line? Connected data that actually moves between systems and teams, instead of dying in a PDF somewhere.

Seeing this end-to-end workflow—manufacturer to platform to design team to owner—made the Data Ecosystem feel real in a way it hasn’t before. It’s still early, but the foundation is there.

What it means: Connected data is no longer a future-state slide. It’s happening on actual projects.

4. Introducing the Data Ecosystem 1.0 Thursday | 10:30–11:15 AM

This was the technical heart of the week—and one of the most important conversations for long-term scale.

Speakers from C.Scale, Building Transparency, Rockfon, and Materially Better broke down how a shared data schema is enabling product information to move across tools without losing meaning.

Inspired by the ECHO work, this schema isn’t limited to carbon or ingredients. It supports multiple impact areas, including circularity and equity, which is a major shift in how the industry evaluates materials.

The takeaway was simple but transformative: A shared schema means we can finally build connected, interoperable tools instead of a patchwork of one-offs.

What it means: This is the backbone of a scalable, industry-wide data ecosystem—and it’s already in motion.

5. Solidifying the Foundation: Nonprofits and Industry in Deep Collaboration Thursday | 1:15–2PM

This session didn’t have the flashiest title, but it was honestly the quiet star of the week.

Leaders from HPDC, ILFI, Building Transparency, and mindful MATERIALS sat down for a candid conversation about what deep collaboration actually looks like—not the “we all like each other” kind, but the structural, foundational kind that changes how the industry operates.

They talked about:

• Aligning programs like Declare within the CMF

• Reducing duplication across nonprofit guidance

• Building shared systems instead of parallel ones

• And what it will take to scale all of this globally

It was the kind of discussion that made people stop scrolling and start listening. Because if the nonprofits are aligned, truly aligned, everything else moves faster.

What it means: This is the alignment that will quietly (and quickly) reshape the materials space.

The Shift You Could Feel Across the Conference

Across all five sessions, the theme was clear:

Alignment isn’t something we’re waiting on. It’s something we’re building—together—and it’s finally showing up where it matters: in workflows, rating systems, tech platforms, and everyday project decisions.

Rating systems are connecting their requirements.

Design firms are using one shared ask.

Manufacturers are responding with clearer data.

Tech platforms are building to a shared schema.

Nonprofits are coordinating at a foundational level.

And for the first time, those pieces are working together in one direction.

This is exactly the work mindful MATERIALS exists to accelerate—and Greenbuild showed just how quickly that acceleration is happening.

Join the Movement That’s Building What Comes Next

This kind of alignment doesn’t happen by accident—and it doesn’t happen alone.

If you’re ready to plug into a community of collaborators, co-builders, and changemakers, we’d love to have you with us.

Start by exploring the CMF Implementation Toolkit. Bring the Common Ask into your practice. Share your feedback as we refine for 2026. And if you want to go further, join mindful MATERIALS as a member and help shape the next phase of global alignment.

The work is moving. Come be part of it.