Sustainability Committee Update

Sustainability

Background

 

ACA’s Sustainability Committee aims to build a comprehensive industry approach to sustainability both domestically and globally. The Committee considered social, economic, and environmental components of sustainability and focused on ways to improve performance in these areas for member companies.

One key activity area for the Committee has been the development of the Product Category Rules (PCR) that allow coatings manufacturers to complete a Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). With a growing focus on sustainability and decarbonization, green building programs, such as LEED and EPA’s Green Purchasing Program, are favoring products that have completed Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). ACA has been diligently creating and updating our PCRs to ensure the industry is able to complete product specific life cycle assessments and publish EPDs to showcase the sustainable attributes of its product lines. ACA has developed PCRs for architectural coatings, resinous floor coatings, and powder coatings and is in the process of finalizing the coil coating PCR. The committee, along with NSF, has started work on updating the PCR for Architectural Coatings.

ACA is continuing its work on finalizing the Sustainability Program for Architectural Coatings (NSF/ANSI 489). The Sustainability Program for Architectural Coatings is a third-party certified multi-attribute sustainability product standard that provides industry with consistent and broadly accepted metrics for sustainability performance requirements regarding public health and the environment throughout the supply chain. The program enables organizations throughout the architectural coating supply chain to apply product performance requirements to achieve sustainable attributes and demonstrate compliance with levels of achievement through quantifiable metrics. The standard provides benchmarks for continuous improvement and innovation to encourage progress towards sustainability. ACA has worked with NSF to expand the Joint Committee in order to encourage wide participation from our industry and other interested stakeholders. Once released, ACA plans to work with the U.S. Green Building Council to incorporate NSF 498 into LEEDv4.1 to allow our members a pathway to gain credits under their international green building program. In addition, ACA would advocate for the program to be included in EPA’s Green Purchasing Program.

ACA has nearly finalized the fourth sustainability report. The 2024 Sustainability Report will continue to focus on the paint and coatings industry’s contributions to sustainability through seven of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The report will provide a comprehensive look at the progress the industry has made in the realm of sustainability by highlighting industry innovation, climate action, and worker safety. ACA highlights its member companies through member initiative stories which provide our members an opportunity to share their accomplishments in the report. ACA received 22 member sustainability initiatives submissions to highlight in the report. The 2024 Sustainability Report will be released in June and mainly used as an advocacy tool to highlight industry progress and commitments to sustainability.

In addition, ACA’s Sustainability Committee has been monitoring the evolution of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program and other green building standards to ensure their compatibility and feasibility for the paint and coatings industry. In April, USGBC announced LEEDv5, which is the latest version of the LEED green building certification program and restructures the LEED rating system to address sustainability issues related to decarbonization, health and quality of life, climate action, ecological conservation, restoration, and resilience. The update indicates a increase in the trend towards the decarbonization of buildings through the use and consideration for the types of materials being chosen for its construction and maintenance. ACA plans to review LEEDv5, communicate these updates with the Sustainability Committee and possible provide comments during the open public comment period. ACA continues to advocate for the interests of coatings manufacturers and ensure that the standards are practical, achievable, and beneficial for both environmental sustainability and industry growth.

Recently, there has been an increasing amount of legislative and regulatory action concerning climate change, emissions reporting, and sustainability. Notably, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently published a final rule to require registrants to provide certain climate-related information in their registration statements and Exchange Act annual reports. Disclosure of material climate-related risks; impacts of such risks on strategy, business model, and outlook; financial statement metrics; information about oversight of climate-related risks by the board of directors and the role of management; information on any climate-related targets or goals that are material to the registrant’s business, results of operations, or financial condition; and material GHG emissions data will be required under the final rules. ACA has been monitoring this rule-making for the last two years, and provided comments on the initial draft.

Additionally, California has recently adopted two climate disclosure laws, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261). The Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act requires any U.S. business that does business in California to publicly report their annual scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, as specified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The Climate-Related Financial Risk Act requires any U.S business entity that does business in California to report on their climate-related financial risk. ACA will continue to monitor state legislative activities related to sustainability, climate change, and emissions goals and reporting.

ACA coordinates its sustainability activities within the United States with other national associations at the global level through its participation with the World Coatings Council. In addition, the ACA Sustainability Committee oversees the work of Solar Reflectivity Work Group and monitors the progress of several projects that relate to sustainability. ACA Sustainability Committee worked in tandem with the ACA Product Stewardship Committee to author comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides Proposal.

 

 

ACA Action

The Sustainability Committee’s goal is to make business easier for the industry by actively engaging on the development of emerging green building standards and codes. ACA and the Sustainability Committee’s focus has been finalizing Sustainability Program for Architectural Coatings (NSF/ANSI 498). ACA will continue to provide technical advice to the Cool Roof Rating Council’s (CRRC) Wall Product Rating Program through its seat on the CRRC Board of Directors and will continue to monitor the effect it will have on green building code requirements. ACA will continue to share the industry’s contributions to sustainability through the upcoming 2024 Sustainability Report by placing a greater focus on the industry’s contributions to combating the effects of climate change and highlighting member initiatives. ACA will finalize the PCR for Coil Coatings and continue updating the PCR on Architectural Coatings.

 

ACA Staff

Katherine Berry
Director of Sustainability & Environment

Suzanne Chang
Counsel