New Structure of the Criteria Commission

At its meeting on 8 September in Berlin, the natureplus Board dealt with the Criteria Commission, where some changes were pending. The Criteria Commission (CC) is a statutory body of natureplus e.V., which determines the criteria and requirements according to which the natureplus ecolabel for building products is awarded, on an honorary and independent basis. The members of the Criteria Commission are appointed by the Board and work on the basis of rules of procedure (functional specifications) issued by the Board. Since there have recently been some considerations regarding personnel and organisational restructuring, it was time to have these formally sealed by the board; to this end, the existing specifications have been supplemented with some new provisions.

New Organisational Form

The most important point is the division of the Criteria Commission into individual Competence Teams along the most important natureplus claims of climate protection, healthy living and resource conservation/sustainability. In order to be able to meet the needs of the growing tasks of setting criteria in a dynamic development of scientific findings and political requirements at all levels, these teams are to work on drafts in parallel, but the decisions will be made by the CC as a whole. To this end, the eight-member CC has been supplemented by numerous associated members who are distinguished by special competences in specific specialist areas and also represent the international orientation of natureplus Association. The heads of the competence teams, together with the CC leadership, form a new body, the so-called Taskforce, which is primarily responsible for short-term decisions between the regular meetings. Finally, an external body consisting of independent scientific personalities was formed, the Advisory Board, which supports the CC management and the Competence Teams in an advisory role.

New Chair of the Criteria Commission

The Board was particularly pleased that a new chair of the CC was found in the person of Daniel Tigges from the Cologne-based eco-INSTITUT. Thus, the long interim period under the former Executive Director Thomas Schmitz could be ended, who was thanked for his work. Schmitz had taken over the provisional leadership at the end of 2020 after the long-time CC Chair Hildegund Figl from IBO Austria had to resign from the honorary office due to her numerous other commitments. With Daniel Tigges, the Board unanimously elected a personality who, on the one hand, as Managing Director of the renowned eco-INSTITUT, has a wealth of experience in ecological product testing and in national and international standards and committee work and, on the other hand, excels in strategic thinking. According to Rolf Buschmann, chairman of the natureplus Board, he is trusted to "set up the natureplus label in such a way that it can continue to serve as an orientation for building professionals and consumers towards sustainable products and at the same time as an instrument for the urgently needed turnaround in building in politics and society".

New composition of the Criteria Commission (CC)

CC Chair
Daniel Tigges (eco-INSTITUT Cologne/DE)
CC full members
Philipp Boogman (IBO/AT/new), Rolf Buschmann (BUND/DE), Michael Köhler (BRUMI/DE), Vanessa Laumann (eco/DE), Astrid Scharnhorst (IBO/AT), Andreas Stache (VDB/DE), Holger Struve (TÜV/DE), Sonja Toaspern (ÖkoPlus/DE/new).
Associated CC members 
Felix Konrad (np INSTITUTE/DE), Els v.d. Moortel (KU Leuven/BE/new), Andrew Norton (Renuables Ltd/UK/new), Maria Renner (natureplus HQ/DE/new), Sarah Richter (Bau EPD/AT/new), Julius Schäufele (Concular/DE/new), Thomas Schmitz (ecoCasa/DE).
CC Task Force
Daniel Tigges, Astrid Scharnhorst, Michael Köhler, Rolf Buschmann.
CC Advisory Board
Prof. Alexander Rudolphi, Prof. Mario Schmidt, NN.