EMAS

EMAS is short for Eco Management and Audit Scheme. This is the EC's volunteer programme for companies who wish to improve their environmental friendliness above and beyond what is mandatory by law. Through our participation HAG is required to regularly provide reports detailing our environmental efforts and results. HAG, as the first furniture manufacturer in Europe, registered with EMAS in 1995.

ISO 14001

HAG was the first office furniture manufacturer to be ISO 14001 certified in 1995. The ISO 14001 environmental governing system requires that HAG not only meet the criteria stipulated by law, but continuously strive to improve our environmental efforts and exceed these criteria.

ISO 14025-EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)

In 2003 HAG started mapping and documenting the materials contained in our chairs and the environmental consequences of these. A year later, in December 2004, HAG was awarded EPD's (Environmental Product Declarations) as the first office furniture manufacturer in the world.

Green electricity certificates

In 2005 HAG was awarded green electricity certificates for purchasing electricity form only renewable water energy sources with the aim of eliminating CO₂ emissions throughout our production value chain.

Greenguard certification

The Greenguard Environmental Institute in the US certified HAG in June 2006. This certificate guarantees that HAG products do not contain hazardous substances or emit pollutants exposing the user to potential health risks.

3 standards for environmental certifications and declarations

Today there are three levels of environmental certifications and declarations, all established by the international standardisation organisation ISO:

• Environmental Declarations Level 1 (ISO 14024)
  This level is intended for consumer goods, which are labelled with certifications such as the EU flower or Swan mark. This labelling is based on general environmentally friendly qualities, and says little about the contents of the product or its environmental strain.


• Environmental Declarations Level 2 (ISO 14021)
  This requires the manufacturer to report the environmental qualities of their goods themselves. No demands or requirements are made for third-party inspection.


• Environmental Declarations Level 3 (ISO 14025/EPD)
  This is intended for business-to-business between both manufacturer (HAG) and subcontractors and manufacturer (HAG) and customer. The declaration list in detail the exact content of the product, the energy consumption and the environmental strain producing a HAG chair causes. A neutral thrid party controls each declaration according to set guidelines.

THIS IS WHAT WE DO.

HAG chooses environmental declarations level three:

• so that we employ a neutral, credible and comparative method
• so that we can provide you, our client, with detailed and quantitative environmental information
• so that we can document and evaluate the environmental strain our own product development causes
• so that we can provide you, our client, a comparative tool for comparison with similar products