Getting Your EPD Verified with the GCCA EPD Tool

Verification is often the slowest and most expensive step in publishing an EPD. The GCCA EPD Tool is a pre-verified tool, which changes what your verifier needs to check. This article explains how that works and how to prepare.

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What pre-verification means

The calculation model behind the tool has been independently verified. This covers the background data, the default inventory data, the calculations and the way results are reported. These elements are locked, so users cannot change them.

Because the model is already verified, your verifier does not need to check it again for every EPD. Their work focuses on your own data.

The simplified verification report

The International EPD System lists the GCCA EPD Tool as a pre-verified tool. For EPDs calculated with the tool, verifiers use a simplified verification report. The methodological checks are already marked as pre-verified. The verifier examines:

• your company-specific data, and whether it is plausible and consistent;
• the scenarios you chose, and whether they are realistic for your market; and
• how the results and other information are presented in the EPD.

This removes the most time-consuming part of verification. Depending on the verifier, the product and the quality of your data, it can cut verification time and cost by up to 50%.

What you need to provide

For each EPD, the tool exports two outputs:

• A self-declaration with the main information and results, which you can use to draft the EPD.
• A background report in Excel, with the full set of inputs and results. This goes to the verifier only. It is never published, so your commercially sensitive data stays confidential.

Before you send them, check that you can back up your plant data with records. Make sure the scenarios for modules A4 to D are described clearly and fit the market your EPD covers.

Publishing on the International EPD System

On the EPD Portal, you create an account and register your organisation as the EPD owner. You then create the EPD and select the GCCA tool for your product type, with Version 6.0 as the pre-verified tool. Your verifier approves it, and you register it. A one-off registration fee normally applies, and some operators also charge an annual fee.

Always use the latest version of the simplified verification report template. It is available on the tool's website.

A ready-made route

If you would rather have verification and publication handled for you, GCCA works with Labeling Sustainability. They can turn your background report into a verified, published EPD, through Labeling Sustainability or EPD Global as programme operator. Find out more and submit the form.

Next steps

Read about what is new in Version 6, or request a demonstration of the GCCA EPD Tool.