Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) present quantified environmental information on the life cycle of a product, thus enabling comparisons between products fulfilling the same function. They are based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, as described in the EN ISO 14040 series of standards.
EPD promote transparency and increase awareness around the environmental impact of products. They support manufacturers in substantiating environmental claims and optimising their supply chain and allow buyers to make informed product comparisons.
The recently published standard EN 15942:2021 'Sustainability of construction works - Environmental product declarations - Communication format business-to-business' aims at harmonising the way in which Environmental Product Declarations are communicated in Europe.
This document is applicable to all construction products and services related to buildings and construction works. It details the communication format of the information defined in the related standard EN 15804 'Sustainability of construction works – Environmental product declarations – Product category rules'.
This standardized format will improve the business-to-business (B2B) communication of the product's environmental performance and will facilitate the EPD data handling at building level, whenever materials and products are assembled into new products and assemblies.
The standard focuses on the business-to-business communication, while a dedicated document for the business-to-consumer communication will be developed in the future.
EN 15942:2021 was developed by CEN/TC 350 'Sustainability of construction works', which is responsible for the development of horizontal standardized methods for the assessment of the sustainability aspects of new and existing construction works, and whose Secretariat is held by AFNOR, the French National Standardization Body. The standard supersedes its previous edition from 2011 to introduce technical modifications.
Alessia GAETANI
agaetani@cencenelec.eu
