Environmental Product Declarations
What is an EPD?
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is an independently verified report on the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. The impact of the product is calculated via a Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) which conforms to the requirements of the relevant Product Category Rules (PCR).
An official EPD typically consists of two documents: the public EPD document summarising the environmental impact of the product (LCA results) and the private background report. Using the private background report, the finished document is verified by an approved Program Operator and published on one of the publicly available online platforms.
Why are EPDs important?
-
Crucial for low-carbon procurement, increasingly demanded in both public and private sectors, including initiatives like the UN's IDDI.
-
Enhance visibility of the environmental impact of products, aiding efforts to reduce embodied carbon.
-
Increasingly requested by clients seeking sustainable building products.
-
Assist designers in developing low-carbon solutions by enabling comprehensive carbon calculations for projects.
-
Help manufacturers measure and reduce their environmental impact, benchmarking their performance.
Read the eBook
This e-book provides an overview of EPDs and how to create them and explains how the GCCA EPD tool can help your business.