EPDs, or environmental product declarations, are crucial first steps toward transparency in sustainable building practices. As the U.S. standard to report greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts found in the manufacturing of building materials, EPDs empower consumers to make more sustainably conscious purchasing decisions. The demand for this reporting continues to grow in both the private and public sectors, making it increasingly important to understand the role of EPDs.
In fact, taking the time to produce and provide EPDs can greenlight a significant competitive advantage. In a crowded marketplace, material manufacturers and suppliers who measure, report, and disclose environmental impacts can better differentiate themselves to customers.
Programs like LEED, BREEAM, Architecture 2030 Challenge for Products, and the International Green Construction Code are just some of the industry and regulatory bodies requesting that building product manufacturers submit EPDs to demonstrate the environmental performance of their products. Meanwhile, government policies that encourage businesses to report environmental impacts are also springing up. For example, through GSA projects supported by the Inflation Reduction Act, businesses that manufacture construction materials and products to develop and verify EPDs are eligible for federal grant money.
At a glance, getting started with EPDs can look cumbersome. Data required to develop a verified EPD will likely come from multiple sources. Why? Instead of focusing on a single stage of product manufacturing, EPDs account for the full cradle-to-gate portion of a product’s lifecycle. That means that every impact — from extracting raw materials, to transportation, to the point where a product is packaged and ready for shipment — should be included in an EPD.
Fortunately, material suppliers are not alone when it comes to reporting a product’s environmental impact. Nonprofit partners like NRMCA, NPCA, NAPA, and NSSGA offer a wealth of resources. Many include lifecycle assessment tools and other templates to help businesses get started.
Additionally, software is becoming increasingly involved in calculating EPDs. Command Alkon’s COMMANDqc, for example, integrates with Climate Earth’s EPD Generator and WAP Sustainability’s Theta Tool to automatically provide pdf documentation on a company’s given mix design.
Acronym Decoder
EPD: Environmental Product Declaration
EC3: The Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator is a free database of construction
EPDs used to assess and reduce embodied carbon
GSA: United States General Services Administration
GWP: Global Warming Potential — commonly known as a product’s carbon footprint
LCA: Lifecycle Assessment
LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — a widely used green building rating system
PCR: Product Category Rules — instructions on how to conduct LCAs based on a product category
