Environmental Product declaration (EPD)

The Environmental Product Declaration EPD, a term which comes from the English Environmental Product Declaration, is a document that describes the environmental impacts related to the production of a specific quantity of a product or a service, such as consumption of energy and raw materials, waste production, air emissions and discharges in water bodies.

The Declaration, created on a voluntary basis, must be prepared by reference to the analysis of the life cycle of the product based on the LCA study (Life Cycle Assessment), which defines the consumption of resources (materials, water, energy) and the impacts on the surrounding environment in the various phases of the life cycle. The phases of the minimum considered to be:

  • from the extraction of raw materials, their transport and the production (from cradle to gate);
  • or until the disposal of the product (from the cradle to the grave).

The results are presented in summary form, through a series of environmental indicators, such as the amount of carbon dioxide emitted, or GWP (Global Warming Potential), per unit declared of the product.

The PCR (Product Category Rules), defined by those who publish the EPD for each product type, contain the rules for the conduct of the LCA study and for the preparation of the EPD itself, which should be compliant with the ISO 14025 and EN 15804 for construction products.

The EPD is always subject to verification by an independent third party prior to publication. Only the bodies of verification and validation accredited can perform these checks, adopting methodologies uniform and submitting to the control of Accredia, the entity is the only national accreditation. The publication of the EPD allows companies to communicate in a clear and transparent way the environmental impacts of a product or service.

Advantages of EPD

  • Optimize production processes and reduce costs and waste, by monitoring the improvement of environmental performance.
  • Communicate in a clear, transparent and objective environmental performance along the entire production chain.
  • Enhance the company's brand through a strong policy of transparency towards stakeholders.
  • Contribute to obtaining credits in the protocols of sustainability (e.g., LEED v4).
  • Facilitate the exchange of information to support the “green procurement” of public and private institutions.