Environmental Product Declaration Explained

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a Type III environmental declaration that quantifies environmental information about the life cycle of a product. This can enable comparisons between products fulfilling the same function.[1] The methodology to produce an EPD is based on product life cycle assessment (LCA),[2] following the ISO 14040 series of standards.[3] [4] [5]

Companies may produce EPDs in order to understand the environmental impact of their products or services, differentiate their products on the market and demonstrate a commitment to limiting environmental impacts. EPDs are a transparency tool and do not certify whether a product can be considered environmentally friendly or not. They are primarily intended to facilitate business-to-business transactions, although may also benefit environmentally motivated retail consumers when choosing goods or services.[6]

Content

The content of an EPD will vary according to the product category and methodology used. Most EPDs summarize environmental information on the product alongside information about the company and production methods. The text and illustrations are designed to be easily understood and the environmental impact information desired by most EPD users can be found in one or two tables. Some manufacturers choose to include information about innovative production processes, using the EPD as a marketing tool. For example, a 38 page EPD for a pasta product contains sections on the brand and product, environmental performance calculations, information on sustainable wheat cultivation, milling, packaging production, pasta production, distribution, cooking, packaging end-of-life, and summary tables for environmental results in different markets.[7]

The input data and LCA calculations are included in a background report, which are not typically published.

Digital EPDs

EPDs are available directly from manufacturers or hosted on EPD databases, which are typically owned by the programme operators through which EPDs are produced, verified and published. The usefulness of data stored within an EPD is proportional to how easily it can be accessed and analysed, however, database owners have been slow to modernise platforms and most require users to download individual PDFs in order to view and compare the data.[8]

Progress has been made to improve the design of EPDs for machine-readability and indexing purposes for the construction industry through the EN ISO 22057 standard, ILCD+EPD[9] and openEPD[10] formats. EN ISO 22057 was created by ISO/TC 59/SC 17 Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works based on the BIM data templates concept and it is compatible with the EPDs developed according to EN 15804 and ISO 21930. openEPD has been designed in a way that EPD data can be accessed via an API, promoting the integration of product-specific data into industrial design and stock inventory software.[11] Some limitations for machine-interpretability of digital EPDs have been identified[12] to use EPDs at asset level, in order to maximise its use and reduce environmental impacts.[13] The InData network[14] and other groups are working on improving these formats.

Framework for creating an EPD

The first step in creating an EPD is defining the product, using the appropriate Product Category Rules (PCR). A Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) for the LCA must be verified and from reliable sources (for example, from a manufacturing facility). A Life Cycle Environmental Impact Analysis (LCIA) is performed by an LCA expert using software and a variety of assessment tools.[15] The EPD is delivered as a document or report following a series of verification reviews; it is then ready for registration and publication.[16] [17]

Product category rules

PCRs are specific rules and requirements that set out how the LCA of a product should be carried out and the results disclosed. They provide guidance that, in theory, enables fair comparison among products of the same category.[18]

Criteria contained in a PCR includes: a description of the product category, the goal of the LCA, functional units, system boundaries, cut-off criteria, allocation rules, environmental impact categories, information on the product's use phase, required units, LCA calculation procedures, requirements for data quality assessment, and other relevant information.[19] The goal of PCRs is to help develop EPDs for products that are comparable to others within a product category. ISO 14025 establishes the procedure for developing PCRs and the required content of a PCR, as well as requirements for comparability.

Challenges

LCA studies can vary in terms of assumptions and methodological choices made during the LCA and consequently, the results for products that fulfil the same function may not be consistent with one another.[20] [21] [22]

Construction sector

EN 15804
Long Name:Sustainability of construction works - Environmental product declarations - Core rules for the product category of construction products
Organization:CEN
Committee:CEN/TC 350 - Sustainability of construction works
Domain:Core product category rules (PCR) for Type III environmental declarations for any construction product and construction service.
Website:https://standards.cencenelec.eu/dyn/www/f?p=205:110:0::::FSP_PROJECT:74037&cs=1DB6B38866B73011ED991761FF1B811AC

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) standard, EN 15804:2012+A2:2019/AC:2021,[27] is a common PCR for construction materials. Other complementary standards, for example for environmental building assessment (EN 15978) are also published by the same Technical Committee.

In order to enhance harmonization, the main Programme Operators for EPD verification in the construction sector created ECO Platform, with members from various European countries. The Programme Operators approved to issue EPDs with the ECO Platform verified logo[28] are:

The ECO Platform also includes the following trade associations:

Some Programme Operators are under bilateral mutual recognition agreements, including[29] IBU (Germany), EPD International (Sweden) and AENOR GlobalEPD (Spain).

The following programme operators are based in North America and Asia,[30] and typically develop PCRs based on ISO 21930:2017.[31]

ISO 21930
Long Name:Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works — Core rules for environmental product declarations of construction products and services
Status:Published
Organization:ISO
Committee:ISO/TC 59/SC 17
Base Standards:ISO 14025, ISO 14040, ISO 14044
Domain:Environmental impact of construction works
Website:https://www.iso.org/standard/61694.html

North America

Asia

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Environmental labels and declarations - Type III environmental declarations - Principles and procedures. 15 April 2019.
  2. Book: Life Cycle Assessment: quantitative approaches for Decisions that Matter. Matthews. H. Scott. Hendrickson. Chris T.. Deanna H.. Matthews. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. 2015. 88–95. 4.
  3. Del Borghi . Adriana . LCA and communication: Environmental Product Declaration . The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment . February 2013 . 18 . 2 . 293–295 . 10.1007/s11367-012-0513-9 . free . 2013IJLCA..18..293D .
  4. Manzini . Raffaella . Noci . Giuliano . Ostinelli . Massimiliano . Pizzurno . Emanuele . Assessing environmental product declaration opportunities: a reference framework . Business Strategy and the Environment . March 2006 . 15 . 2 . 118–134 . 10.1002/bse.453 .
  5. Minkov . Nikolay . Schneider . Laura . Lehmann . Annekatrin . Finkbeiner . Matthias . Type III Environmental Declaration Programmes and harmonization of product category rules: status quo and practical challenges . Journal of Cleaner Production . May 2015 . 94 . 235–246 . 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.02.012 . 2015JCPro..94..235M .
  6. Allander . A . Successful Certification of an Environmental Product Declaration for an ABB Product . Corporate Environmental Strategy . July 2001 . 8 . 2 . 133–141 . 10.1016/s1066-7938(01)00094-x . 2001CorES...8..133A .
  7. Barilla. 26 Sep 2013. Durum wheat semolina pasta in paperboard box: Environmental Product Declaration. Revision 8 of 7 November 2019.
  8. Web site: International EPD System .
  9. Web site: About EPD - Eco Platform en . 2024-05-23 . www.eco-platform.org.
  10. Web site: openEPD: Home - An Open Format for the world's Digital EPDs . 2024-05-23 . openEPD . en-US.
  11. Web site: openEPD: Home - An Open Format for the world's Digital EPDs . 2024-05-23 . openEPD . en-US.
  12. Aragón . A. . Alberti . M.G. . Limitations of machine-interpretability of digital EPDs used for a BIM-based sustainability assessment of construction assets . Journal of Building Engineering . November 2024 . 96 . 110418 . 10.1016/j.jobe.2024.110418 . free .
  13. Anderson . Jane . Rønning . Anne . Using standards to maximise the benefit of digitisation of construction product Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) to reduce Building Life Cycle Impacts . E3S Web of Conferences . 2022 . 349 . 10003 . 10.1051/e3sconf/202234910003 . 2022E3SWC.34910003A .
  14. Web site: InData . 2024-10-02 . InData . en-IE.
  15. Web site: Life Cycle Metrics for Chemical Products. WBSCD. 29 September 2014. 14 April 2019.
  16. Stahel. Walter R.. 24 March 2016. Circular Economy. Nature. 531. 2016. 435–8. 10.1038/531435a. 27008952. 2016Natur.531..435S. . free.
  17. Web site: 2021-04-19 . How to get an EPD . 2022-07-06 . Building Transparency . en.
  18. Ingwersen . Wesley W. . Stevenson . Martha J. . 2012 . Can we compare the environmental performance of this product to that one? An update on the development of product category rules and future challenges toward alignment . Journal of Cleaner Production . 24 . 102–108 . 10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.10.040 . 2012JCPro..24..102I .
  19. Almeida . Marisa Isabel . Dias . Ana Cláudia . Demertzi . Martha . Arroja . Luís . Contribution to the development of product category rules for ceramic bricks . Journal of Cleaner Production . April 2015 . 92 . 206–215 . 10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.073 . 2015JCPro..92..206A . 10773/16706 . free .
  20. Teehan . Paul . Kandlikar . Milind . Sources of Variation in Life Cycle Assessments of Desktop Computers . Journal of Industrial Ecology . April 2012 . 16 . s1 . 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2011.00431.x . free .
  21. Säynäjoki . Antti . Heinonen . Jukka . Junnila . Seppo . Horvath . Arpad . 2017-01-05 . Can life-cycle assessment produce reliable policy guidelines in the building sector? . Environmental Research Letters . 12 . 1 . 013001 . 2017ERL....12a3001S . 10.1088/1748-9326/aa54ee . free .
  22. Web site: Industrial Deep Decarbonisation Initiative . 5 December 2023 . Driving consistency in the greenhouse gas accounting system: A pathway to harmonized standards for steel, cement, and concrete . 2024-05-23 . Industrial Decarbonization Accelerator . en-US.
  23. Subramanian . Vairavan . Ingwersen . Wesley . Hensler . Connie . Collie . Heather . Comparing product category rules from different programs: learned outcomes towards global alignment . The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment . August 2012 . 17 . 7 . 892–903 . 10.1007/s11367-012-0419-6 . 2012IJLCA..17..892S .
  24. Sébastien Lasvaux, Yann Leroy, Capucine Briquet, Jacques Chevalier. International Survey on Critical Review and Verification Practices in LCA with a Focus in the Construction Sector. 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management - LCM 2013, Aug 2013, Gothenburg, Sweden. hal-01790869
  25. Fet, A. M., & Skaar, C. (2006). Eco-labelling, Product Category Rules and Certification Procedures Based on ISO 14025 Requirements (6 pp). The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 11(1), 49–54. doi:10.1065/lca2006.01.237
  26. Tasaki, T., Shobatake, K., Nakajima, K., & Dalhammar, C. (2017). International Survey of the Costs of Assessment for Environmental Product Declarations. Procedia CIRP, 61, 727– 731.doi:10.1016/j.procir.2016.11.158
  27. Web site: CEN . EN 15804:2012+A2:2019/AC:2021 . 2024-05-24 . standards.cencenelec.eu.
  28. Web site: Programme Operators in ECO Platform. ECO Platform.
  29. Web site: Bilateral agreements and international recognitions . . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064656/http://www.en.aenor.es/aenor/certificacion/mambiente/globalepd_reconocimientos.asp . 4 March 2016.
  30. Hunsager . Einar Aalen . Bach . Martin . Breuer . Lutz . An institutional analysis of EPD programs and a global PCR registry . The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment . April 2014 . 19 . 4 . 786–795 . 10.1007/s11367-014-0711-8 . 2014IJLCA..19..786H .
  31. Web site: ISO 21930:2017 . subscription . 2024-05-23 . International Organization for Standardization . en.
  32. Web site: Smart EPD.
  33. Web site: FP Innovations EPD Programs. 21 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190327190734/https://fpinnovations.ca/ResearchProgram/environment-sustainability/epd-program/Pages/default.aspx. 27 March 2019.
  34. Web site: NSF International EPD Programs.
  35. Web site: The Sustainability Consortium.
  36. Web site: UL Environment EPD.
  37. Web site: ASTM Internation EPD.
  38. Web site: ICC Evaluation Services EPD.
  39. Web site: NRMCA EPD Program.
  40. Web site: SGS Global Services EPD.
  41. Web site: JEMAI CPF Program.
  42. Web site: Korean Environmental Industry & Technology Institute.
  43. Web site: Environment and Development Foundation.

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