Green Star Rating Tools

What is Green Star?

Green Star is an internationally recognised, voluntary sustainability rating system for buildings, fitouts and communities.

Founded by Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) in 2003, and adapted for Aotearoa New Zealand, Green Star sets the standard for healthy, resilient, positive buildings and places.

Developed for the Australian and New Zealand environment, Green Star has certified thousands of sustainable fitouts, buildings, homes and communities. Green Star can be applied to any project whether it be a new or existing building, a mixed-use precinct, a residential community, or a fitout.

The Green Star rating tools available

• Green Star Buildings – covering all building types, Green Star Buildings meets current and future demands on the built environment with aspirational benchmarks to address the key issues of the next decade: climate action, resource efficiency, and health and wellbeing.
• Green Star Fitouts – is a clear, practical framework built around six priority areas that matter most. It gives project teams a ready-made pathway to deliver lower-carbon, lower-waste, healthier and more adaptable fitouts — interiors designed to perform today and evolve for tomorrow.
• Green Star Homes – launched in August 2021, Green Star Homes is a standard assessing the health, resilience and energy efficiency of the places where we live.
• Green Star Performance – GBCA’s most popular tool boosts the operational efficiency of existing buildings.
• Green Star Communities – improves the sustainability of projects at the neighbourhood, precinct or community scale.

Relevant tools for contract furnishings

The GBCA rating tools relevant to the contract furnishings industry and Materialised products are currently Green Star Buildings and Green Star Interiors. For these, we first need to understand Responsible Product Values (RPV’s).

The ‘Responsible Products’ program

• The Responsible Products Guidelines set out the criteria for all product certification initiatives to be assessed against if they wish to be recognised by GBCA. New tools going forward (such as Green Star Fitouts) will incorporate the Responsible Products Guidelines.
• A Responsible Product Value (RPV) is the ‘score’ given to an initiative after assessment against the Responsible Products Guidelines.
• A ‘Responsible Product’ is defined as a product or material that has an RPV issued by an initiative recognised by the Green Building Council of Australia.  

Here is everything you need to know about the Responsible Products Program (source: GBCA)

Which Materialised products can be specified for Green Star?

First, we need to determine which Green Star tool you are seeking recognition for:

1. Green Star Buildings

MATERIALISED PRODUCTS ARE ONLY RELEVANT IF THEY ARE FIXED TO THE BUILDING.

1. Wall covering – YES.
2. Acoustic art – NO.
3. Upholstery fabric – NO (it will be the furniture manufacturer that has their product certified)
4. Curtain fabric – NO (it will be the curtain manufacturer that has their product certified)

An RPV is used for Green Star Buildings, so for wall covering we need to look at the sustainability attributes that carry weight in the Responsible Products Program. Here are all the initiatives that have been recognised by GBCA, and their Responsible Product Value.

Currently, we have wall covering product that has the following recognised initiatives:

• Our Greenguard and Greenguard Gold certified wall covering products.
• Those with a product or industry EPD verified to EN15804.
• Our AcoustiCalm acoustic panels have Global GreenTag GreenRate Level A certification.

As an example, a wall covering with an industry EPD and Greenguard certification will currently accrue 4 points (as at October 15, 2025. Subject to changes with future versions.) You will need to check the sustainability attributes and certifications against the responsible products score checker.

2. Green Star Fitouts

Green Star Fitouts is the most relevant tool for our products.

1. Wall covering – YES.
2. Acoustic art – YES.
3. Upholstery fabric – YES*
4. Curtain fabric – YES

From offices to retail, education and more, Green Star Fitouts adapts across diverse fitout types and supports every stakeholder involved — from building owners and tenants to architects and contractors. It offers three rating levels, providing flexibility depending on the ambition and scale of the project.

Currently, we have product that has the following recognised initiatives:

• Our Greenguard and Greenguard Gold certified products.
• Those with an EPD verified to EN15804.
• Our AcoustiCalm acoustic panels have Global GreenTag GreenRate Level A certification.

As an example, a product EPD and Greenguard certification will currently accrue 8 points = Level B (as at October 15, 2025. Subject to changes with future versions.) You will need to check the sustainability attributes and certifications against the responsible products score checker.

*Fabric, Furniture and the <10% Rule

Under the Green Star Materials Calculator, where ≥90% of an item’s total mass is certified to a GBCA-recognised product certification scheme, the item can be entered as a certified product.

Upholstery textiles typically represent less than 10% of the mass of a furniture item, meaning certified “white furniture” (freestanding furniture items that can be moved, replaced, or reconfigured without altering the building) can generally be upholstered in any fabric while still meeting the certified product criteria.

The Responsible Products Score Checker

The Responsible Products Calculator is an online tool to determine compliance with the Responsible Products credits in the Green Star ratings tools. It is specifically for Green Star project teams / those submitting evidence for Green Star, rather than the builder or developer themselves.

Create a new GBCA account to access the Responsible Products Score Checker.

Tips for Project Teams during procurement

1. Use the score checker to check for product scores.
2. Focus on procuring more products with an RPV, rather than one product with a high RPV.
3. Start conversations early.
4. ‘Good practice’ and ‘best practice’ RPV’s are dependent on the building layer (Structure, Envelope, Systems, Finishes.)

There is a really handy Responsible Products Calculator Guide that explains this in more details.

How to find Materialised products for Green Star

• Use the sustainable product filters that show in the product sidebar online (desktop only) to filter by recognised initiatives.
• Note that EPDs aren’t currently searchable on our website but we are working on that and will launch a filter for this soon.
• Talk with your Project Sales Manager.
• Contact our Customer Service team with your questions.

We also have core sustainable products listed on Product Aware, which is aligned with GBCA’s responsible products framework. Many of these are suitable for Green Star schemes.