{"id":3989,"date":"2026-11-12T14:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T14:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/?post_type=docs&#038;p=3989"},"modified":"2026-11-12T14:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T14:37:15","password":"","slug":"what-is-the-cradle-to-cradle-label-and-is-it-still-relevant-today","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/docs\/circularity-en\/what-is-the-cradle-to-cradle-label-and-is-it-still-relevant-today\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Cradle to Cradle label and is it still relevant today?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) became the industry standard, several suppliers used the<strong> Cradle to Cradle (C2C)<\/strong> label to demonstrate the circular and environmental qualities of their products. At that time, there was limited availability of harmonized environmental assessment methods, and the Cradle to Cradle certification offered one of the first structured approaches to communicate sustainability and circularity ambitions within the construction sector.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Cradle to Cradle label focuses on aspects such as material health, product circularity, renewable energy use,&#8230;. For many years, it played an important role in raising awareness around circular building materials and sustainable product design.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the regulatory landscape changed significantly after the introduction of the <strong>European Green Deal in 2019<\/strong>. Since then, <strong>Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)<\/strong> have become the recognized and standardized method for evaluating and communicating the environmental impact of construction products across Europe.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike a Cradle to Cradle label, EPDs are based on:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>European standards and harmonized methodologies (such as EN 15804)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>independently verified Life Cycle Assessments (LCA)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>transparent and comparable environmental data<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a result, EPDs are now considered the most reliable and accepted reference for assessing the ecological performance of products in the construction industry.&#13;\n<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At <strong>IKO,<\/strong> we started our circularity journey in <strong>2023<\/strong> and made the strategic decision to invest directly in EPD development and verification. This approach aligns with current European regulations, market expectations, and the growing demand for transparent environmental data in sustainable building projects.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, some suppliers still actively promote the Cradle to Cradle label, particularly in specification-driven projects where the label may help differentiate products or support circularity claims. Nevertheless, when it comes to officially demonstrating and comparing the environmental impact of construction products, the EPD remains the primary and widely accepted reference document within the European market.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>In summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cradle to Cradle helped initiate the conversation around circularity in the construction industry.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">EPDs have become the industry standard due to their standardized, independently verified, and regulation-aligned methodology.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have any further questions about circularity and EPDs, please contact your IKO advisor for more information<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) became the industry standard, several suppliers used the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) label to demonstrate the circular and environmental qualities of their products. At that time, there was limited availability of harmonized environmental assessment methods, and the Cradle to Cradle certification offered one of the first structured approaches to communicate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"doc_category":[335],"doc_tag":[856,336,957,65,332,848],"glossaries":[],"class_list":["post-3989","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-circularity-en","doc_tag-certification-en","doc_tag-circularity","doc_tag-documentation-en","doc_tag-flat-roof","doc_tag-insulation","doc_tag-waterproofing"],"year_month":"2026-11","word_count":338,"total_views":"1","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"Luna Degraeve","author_nicename":"luna","author_url":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/author\/luna\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Circularity","term_url":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/docs-category\/circularity-en\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[{"term_name":"certification","term_url":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/docs-tag\/certification-en\/"},{"term_name":"circularity","term_url":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/docs-tag\/circularity\/"},{"term_name":"documentation","term_url":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/docs-tag\/documentation-en\/"},{"term_name":"Flat roof","term_url":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/docs-tag\/flat-roof\/"},{"term_name":"Insulation","term_url":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/docs-tag\/insulation\/"},{"term_name":"waterproofing","term_url":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/docs-tag\/waterproofing\/"}],"knowledge_base_info":[],"knowledge_base_slug":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/3989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/3989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3990,"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/3989\/revisions\/3990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=3989"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=3989"},{"taxonomy":"glossaries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ikoknowledgecenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossaries?post=3989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}