The DGNB Navigator: Finding and assessing construction products

Construction products contribute significantly to the sustainability of our built environment. Accordingly, building products in around half of the criteria in the DGNB System also have an impact on the certification result and thus the overall performance of building projects. Overall, construction products can influence up to 56.6 percent of a project's certification result.

In order to make informed decisions, all those involved in a construction project need information on construction products and services that provide transparent, bundled and targeted answers to these questions. This is exactly where the DGNB Navigator comes into play. As the only construction product platform on the market, it brings together the information offered by manufacturers on aspects of sustainability with the demand from architects and planners on one platform and links it to the DGNB certification.

A platform for manufacturers, planners and DGNB auditors

In the DGNB Navigator, all relevant product data is provided by the respective manufacturer and checked for plausibility by the DGNB. Quality levels allow for a precisely tailored filtering process. This way, products can be systematically compared and evaluated under sustainability aspects, for example with regard to their content of harmful or risky substances, the CO₂ emissions associated with their manufacture, or their recyclability. The manufacturer, as the owner of the data, retains data sovereignty and undertakes to keep it up to date.

With its certification area for auditors, the DGNB Navigator also represents the central platform for documenting criterion ENV1.2 in the DGNB System. Here, the DGNB auditor lists the products to be documented according to the criterion for the project to be certified, which leads to a classification of the project.

Awarding data transparency: the DGNB Navigator Lable

The quality of such a database stands and falls with the accuracy and completeness of the data provided. The DGNB Navigator guarantees both through comprehensive data queries and a transparent indication of sources as well as timeliness. It is based on the idea of presenting all relevant data on the environmental impacts of construction products in a transparent, complete and reliable manner. The DGNB checks the plausibility, the completeness of the data and the classification of the quality levels with regard to pollutants and harmful substances.

A construction product registered in the DGNB Navigator can also receive the DGNB Navigator Label if a product-specific environmental product declaration (EPD) is available and the data query is complete after a data comparison by the DGNB. With the DGNB Navigator Label, the manufacturer can document its commitment to the topic of sustainability and offer the demand side the required orientation and transparency for product selection.