More about EPD

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) presents quantified environmental data for products or systems based on information from a LCA conducted according to the ISO-standards for LCA. EPD is voluntarily developed information and the purpose is to provide quality-assured and comparable information regarding environmental performance of products.

The information presented in this section is based on the framework developed by the Swedish Environmental Management Council. This system is the most internationally recognized of its kind. Certified EPDs can be found and downloaded from the web site link above. 

There are two documents, which control how the calculations and data collection behind an EPD should be done and what information the EPD must contain; Requirements for the EPD system (MSR) and Product specific requirements (PSR). The MSR contains general requirements for all EPDs and a PSR contains more detailed requirements for each product group. 

EPDs can reflect the continuous environmental improvement of products over time and are able to communicate and add up relevant environmental information along a product's value chain. EPDs also add new market dimensions to inform about environmental performance of products and services - objectivity, comparability and credibility (see Figure below).

An EPD has three main parts: 

1. Description of the company and product. The first part of the EPD is a description of the manufacturer and the product. The functional unit, which is the unit to which all calculations are referred, can also be stated here or in the second part. 
2. Environmental performance. This part is the core of an EPD. It is based on a life cycle assessment of the product, which means that all processes from extraction of resources, refining of raw materials, transport and production are included. In most EPDs, important air and water emissions are expressed both as inventory data and as potential influence on different environmental impact categories, for example global warming (GWP). In this case, all emissions contributing to global warming are included in the impact category GWP. Resource consumption is divided into non renewable and renewable resources. All results of calculations are presented per functional unit, which for e.g. chemicals could be 1000 kg of the product. EPDs could also include a presentation of environmental impact from a typical transport to customer.
3. Information about the company and the accredited certification body. Name and address of the company’s contact person and the certification body, period of validity of the certification and references are given in this part. An EPD certified by a third party  is valid for three years. If important process changes are made during the period of validity, updates are needed. 

Benefits of EPDs: 

• Fulfill the need for open and quantitative environmental information for a variety of target groups and markets.
• Supported by international consensus regarding environmental declarations Type III (ISO 14025/TR).
• Meet demands for objectivity, comparability and credibility.
• Facilitate the process of product development.
• Present environmental impact with explanations and information support.
• Are "living" documents which are valid for three years. 

For more information about different types of environmental labeling see Environmental labeling.

For information about experience of EPDs in market communication see Environmental Product Declarations in market communication - the ABB experience. This paper - presented at the International Conference on Environmental Product Information in Stockholm 29-30 September 2003 - describes experiences from implementation of environmental product declarations in ABBs organization and then especially its’ use in market communication.

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