Environmental Product Declarations

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), also known as Type III environmental declarations, present quantified environmental information on the life cycle of a product to enable comparisons between products fulfilling the same function.

Such declarations:

- are provided by one or more organizations.

- are based on independently verified LCA data, life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) data or information modules in accordance with the ISO 14040 series of standards and, where relevant, additional environmental information,

- are developed using predetermined parameters, and

- are subject to the administration of a program operator, such as a company or a group of companies, industrial sector or trade association, public authorities or agencies, or an independent scientific body or other organization. (ISO 14025).

Who to contact to create an EPD?

The following program operators have existing programs to register EPDs or to build product category rules (PCRs) for products that do not have applicable rules in place.

Asia

Environment and Development Foundation (EDF) of Chinese Taipei EPD

Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry (JEMAI) PCF

Korean Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) EPD

Europe  

French Agency on Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) National Experimentation for the Environmental Display on Products

British Standards Institute 

German Institute of Construction and Environment (IBU)

North America

FP Innovations

NSF International National Center for Sustainability Standards EPD

Institute for Environmental Research & Education Earthsure EPD

International EPD System

The Green Standard EPD

The Sustainability Consortium

UL Environment EPD

 

Where to find existing PCRs?

Existing PCRs can be searched through the PCR Library

 

Applicable standards:

ISO 14020 (1998) Environmental labels and declarations – General Principles

ISO 14025 (2006) Environmental labels and declarations - Type III environmental declarations – Principles and procedures

ISO 21930 (2007) Sustainability in building construction - Environmental declaration of building products

ASTM WK23356 – New Specification for Product Category Rules for Building Products and Systems

ANSI Standards developed through the Leonardo Academy:

Standard for Sustainable Agriculture (LEO-SCS-001)

Type III Life Cycle Impact Profile Declarations for Products and Services (LEO-SCS-002)

EU CEN Environmental Product Declaration

WI prEN 15804 Sustainability of Construction Works – Environmental Product Declarations – Core Rules for the product category of construction products

UN Central Product Classification

US Part 260 Guides for Use of Environmental Market Claims

Canada Plus 14021