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Photo: NASA

Photo: NASA

Blooms of phytoplankton, east coast of New Zealand

Why EPDs?

The overall goal of an EPD is to provide relevant and verified information to meet the various communication needs. An important aspect of EPD is to provide the basis of a fair comparison of products and services by its environmental performance. EPDs can reflect the continuous environmental improvement of products and services over time and are able to communicate and add up relevant environmental information along a product''s supply chain.

EPDs are based on principles inherent in the ISO standard for Type III environmental declarations (ISO 14025) giving them a wide-spread international acceptance.

Meeting increased demands for information on the market


There is an increasing market demand for quantified environmental information. The business sector as well as other parts of society have a need for an international recognised systems approach which enables communication of relevant and credible information about environmental performance of products. EPDs are being developed with the overall purpose to meet these demands and to serve these needs.

Two specific merits with EPD in the context of effective communication is worth mentioning:

  • A dynamic communication tool concurrent with product development 
  • One declaration for all national and international markets

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Simplifying information exchange for purchasing and procurement

EPDs are considered to be a useful tool in green purchasing and procurement within both the public and business sector. EPDs used for that purpose may include all sorts of information, e.g. content of hazardous substances, information about disassembly, recovery and recycling of used products and waste. As a source of information for these applications, a number of EPDs can be outlined for people involved in green purchasing and procurement, and assessment of suppliers:

Advantages for producers, importers and suppliers providing information:

  • The common reporting format
  • The wide range of communication possibilities
  • The international recognition

Advantages for purchasers/procurers, retailers and customers receiving information:

  • The easy-access to verified information
  • The provision of other relevant information
  • The possibilities to make fair judgements

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Facilitating in-company product-related work

Today environmental work in many organisations seems to focus more on product-related issues and EPDs might be used as a strategic tool for different types of in-company environmental work. The EPD methodology, including a structured and well-defined procedure based on LCA for mapping all relevant environmental aspects in a life-cycle perspective will most likely automatically give organisations a favour in terms of reliable and up-dated knowledge which can be used in many ways to sharpen their competitive edge, i.e for the following purposes:

  • Showing good knowledge and control of product-related development in their supply-chain
  • Input to Eco-design and product development work
  • Facilitating to implement and maintain an effective environmental management work, EMS

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