What the new BIFMA e3 Sustainability standard and LEVEL® Certification means for you
The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Association (BIFMA) e3 Sustainability standard that supports the LEVEL® sustainability certification program just went through a major overhaul, advancing sustainability of products and adding an elite new level. To find out what it means, we sat down with Steve Kooy, BIFMA’s Technical Director of Health and Sustainability, who explained what’s changed and what you need to know.
The Basics of BIFMA LEVEL®
LEVEL® by BIFMA is a multi-attribute sustainability certification most commonly used by contract furniture manufacturers to connect their products sustainability attributes to the growing expectations of Architecture & Design (A&D) firms. Those that achieve a LEVEL® certification are listed on a free public registry that helps buyers find products made with social and environmental practices that align with their goals. Over the years, Foresight has supported more than half of all businesses that have earned LEVEL certification.
What’s new, and what’s not
The BIFMA e3 Sustainability standard is updated at minimum every five years, and this year’s changes are notable. Kooy explained that BIFMA restructured the way products qualify for certain levels, switching from counting credits to achieving specific criteria at each tier. The new system provides more transparency since buyers can be assured that all products at any given tier have met the same guidelines. Rather than pursuing points in random or haphazard categories, companies will have more consistent, comparable achievements at each tier.
The other big change was adding Tier/LEVEL® 4 certification, an elite accomplishment which represents the best performance possible. Adding a Tier/LEVE® 4 will drive continuous improvement without overwhelming the existing tiers. BIFMA also added an extended producer responsibility piece, and the entire standard was trimmed from more than 100 pages to 66, so it's easier to read and understand. If you’ve been through the process before, you’ll recognize the focus of the standard remains similar and depending on the tier continues to encourage organizations to advance their sustainability initiatives addressing the organization, facility, and products. Subjects, including employee wellbeing, supplier engagement, life cycle assessments, chemical inventory, and carbon footprint continue to be emphasized in this standard. You can also expect a similar route through the tiers, from gathering documentation at LEVEL 1 to greenhouse gas and identifying product chemistry at higher levels.
Certification made simpler
One of the biggest advantages of these changes is that qualifying for certification has become much more straightforward. With this revision, BIFMA essentially wrote a checklist for each level, so businesses will know exactly what they need to do to be certified.
Any product that is new to LEVEL certification will go through the latest standard (note that it’s labelled 2024, though it was released in 2025). If your products are already certified with the 2019 standard, Kooy says you’ll have time to engage with the new standard as you work your way through the three-year cycle. However, he notes that the new version represents what the market wants today – so raising the bar to meet those new expectations will be to your advantage.
Want to learn more about the changes? Watch this space for details about a Q&A session from BIFMA coming soon and reach out. In the meantime, we’re offering gap analysis services to help you navigate this process as the goalposts move. Reach out to get started.
