An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a summary document of a product’s life-cycle assessment (LCA); it is typically 10–15 pages long and includes technical product details and environmental data. The LCA allows manufacturers to evaluate each product’s environmental performance over its entire life cycle, from material extraction to manufactured product, use stage, and end of life.
A number of parties – including manufacturers, suppliers, LCA consultants, and third-party verifiers – come together to produce an EPD. The declaration helps to identify environmental impacts, to promote confidence in environmental roles, and to prepare for upcoming legislation.
Discover more about LCAs, carbon emissions, and how to calculate products’ impact in our CPD: ‘Sustainability in Construction: Debunking the Carbon Myth’.
How is an EPD created?
- Life-cycle assessment: A thorough analysis of the product’s life cycle is conducted, from raw extraction to disposal. The first three modules in the LCA (A1–A3) are known as ‘cradle to gate’, while modules C1–C4 and D cover end of life and disposal. Data are collected for every product being assessed, and include information on raw materials, resource consumption, and waste.
- Background report: Details about the LCA methodology, including assumptions, approaches, and standards adhered to, are collated to support third-party verification.
- Third-party verification: An independent third party verifies all information and data to ensure accuracy.
- Publication: Once verified, the finalised EPD is published.
What are the standards involved in EPDs?
To date, EPDs are prepared in line with:
- EN 15804+A2
- ISO 14040 and ISO 14044
- ISO 14025
- Product Category Rules (PCR)
- General Programme Instructions (GPI).
What are the benefits of an EPD?
- Highlight the environmental hotspots: An EPD helps companies identify their products’ impact areas. It highlights potential problem areas and opportunities to reduce negative impact, such as by making changes to transportation, raw materials, or energy use.
- Enable preparation for upcoming legislation: Currently, having an EPD for a product is voluntary. However, there will come a time when it is compulsory.
- Promote transparency: EPDs allow manufacturers to showcase their products’ carbon impact. It also strengthens trust between manufacturers and buyers.
- Assess environmental performance: Architects and construction stakeholders rely on EPDs to make informed decisions about the materials they use in their projects. EPDs provide data on the environmental performance of products, facilitating better decision-making.
MyDek’s CPD: Sustainability in Construction: Debunking the Carbon Myth
In our latest Continuing Professional Development seminar ‘Sustainability in Construction: Debunking the Carbon Myth‘, we offer developers, specifiers, architects, and other construction professionals a deeper understanding of:
- carbon and types of emissions
- life-cycle assessments and Environmental Product Declarations
- the benefits of specifying a sustainable product
- actions you can take to reduce embodied and operational carbon in construction.
This CPD can be delivered face-to-face or virtually, according to your team’s requirements. Register your interest here: www.mydek.com/online-cpd-booking/