At the end of December, the EPD International Secretariat will have a limited availability compared to normal due to public holidays. The period affected is December 23rd until January 8th.

In order for an EPD to be guaranteed to be published before the end of the year, it should be submited to registration@environdec.com no later than December 18th.

The Secretariat wishes all EPD stakeholder on the Northern hemisphere a very pleasant winter holiday, and a very nice summer for those on the Southern hemisphere!

EPD verification in the International EPD® System is be done by an accredited certification body or by an approved individual verifier that is listed on this page. The verifiers work independently from the programme operator to seek verification tasks, and are free to work in the geographical areas and product groups where they have sufficient knowledge to carry out the task in a correct way.

As it is not always easy for a company to find a verifier, the Secretariat will launch a trial new service on www.environdec.com: an EPD Verification marketplace, where companies can post information and let verifiers contact them (instead of the company contacting multiple potential verifiers).

If your company has started developing an EPD in the International EPD® System and would like to receive tenders from relevant, approved verifiers, please contact the Secretariat with the following information:

• Product category or PCR
• Geographical scope of EPD
• Estimated dates for start and end of verification
• Contact person e-mail address
• Other relevant information for potential verifiers
• Date after which the information shall be removed for the marketplace

This information will then be published on a dedicated page at www.environdec.com, which will be accessible only to the approved individual verifiers and accredited certification bodies.

This marketplace is a trial service, and the administration is offered without charge by the Secretariat. Participation is voluntary.

The International EPD System was represented on the midterm conference for the European Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) project, in Brussels November 3-4. During the conference, various aspects of the PEF-project were discussed and the pilot PEFCRs was presented. The PEF-project has gained a lot of interest world-wide, showing that there is a great interest on the market in communication life cycle base environmental information. The differences between the EPDs according to ISO and EN standards and the PEF-methodology was discussed at conference and also the need to align the methodologies, especially when it comes to construction products were EPDs based on EN 15804 are already widely used on the market.

The presentations and also video footage from the conference are now available on this website: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/smgp/conference_2015_en.htm

The International EPD System is following the PEF-work closely and we are listening to the needs of the market for the future development of the program.

A Product Life Cycle Assessment seminar will be hosted in Tianjin, China on November 12th. The event is organized by Tianjin Huanke Environmental Consulting Company and IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute Beijing Office, and sponsored by Tianjin Energy Saving and Environmental Protection Technology Supermarket under the Tianjin Academy of Environmental Sciences.

Kristian Jelse from the EPD International Secretariat will present at the event, providing an overview of LCA and its applications, Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) and the International EPD® System. A presentation will also be given by Bill Kung of Ecovane Environmental.

The participation in the event has been made possible via the Beijing Helpdesk of the International EPD® System, launched in February 2015.

More information about the event (in Chinese) and the possibility to register is available at the TAES website.

Links:

• More information about the event (external link; in Chinese) – link is no longer functioning
• More information about the Beijing EPD helpdesk – link is no longer functioning

近期活动：中国天津的EPD和LCA培训

11月12日，一场关于生命周期评估的培训研讨会将在中国天津召开，此次会议由天津环科环境咨询有限公司和IVL瑞典环境科学研究院北京代表处主办，天津节能环保技术超市承办。

国际EPD体系秘书处的Kristian Jelse先生将出席本次培训研讨会，并就生命周期评估的概念和应用、环境产品声明（EPD）及国际EPD体系进行演讲培训。同时，来自上海环翼环境科技有限公司的龚万彬先生也将作为培训专家参与研讨会。

2015年2月在北京成立的EPD北京办事处全程参与了会议的组织和相关人员邀请。

关于此次活动的更多信息和注册办法请参考天津环科院网站（中文）

相关链接

• 关于此次活动的更多信息(外部链接，中文) – link is no longer functioning
• 关于EPD北京办事处的更多信息 – link is no longer functioning

EPD International AB has updated the verificate, originally received in 2012, that it acts in a systematic way as a programme operator of the International EPD® System to fulfill the requirements in the standard ISO 14025.

The standard allows any company, group of companies, industrial sector, public authority, etc., to claim to act as a programme operator for type III environmental declarations. As a voluntary measure to demonstrate to stakeholders its commitment to the standards, the International EPD® System asked a certification body to look at its routines and to compare it with the standard.

“We’re pleased to have received this updated verification document as a proof of our systematic work in sustainability and quality issues. It's important to us and our customers that we are verified as it will further raise the credibility in EPD®s registered in the International EPD® System”, says Joakim Thornéus, Programme Manager at the International EPD® System. 

The verification was done by Intertek Certification AB.

With the recent publication of four new EPDs from Granarolo, a milestone was passed for the International EPD® System: there are now 500 EPDs available for any stakeholder to read and download at www.environdec.com.

"With 500 declarations available, the EPD library is truly becoming an extensive resource for public information about the environmental impact of specific goods and services," says Joakim Thornéus, Programme manager.

Since the start in 1998, more than 700 EPDs have been registered in the International EPD® System. Since EPDs have a limited validity (normally 3 or 5 years), and are de-registered for different reasons, this is the first time 500 EPDs have been available at the same time.

The 500 EPDs currently published have been done so by about 150 companies from 27 different countries, representing a wide range of product groups.

• Search the EPD library

A technical seminar for professionals in the construction and building rehabilitation sectors was organized last 24th September in the conference room of the Official College of Architects in Bilbao (Spain), with the participation of Tecnalia Certificación, GBCe, IHOBE, Saint-Gobain, Alucoil and the CTME, and the aim of encouraging a sustainable approach on a regular and continuous basis. 

This seminar also targeted construction products and materials manufacturers, introducing them to different environmental communication tools present in the market (such as EPD’s), their integration into building certification schemes and their value as a powerful differentiation tool into the companies’ sustainability strategy.

Through the last couple of years, the need of defining and demanding environmental requirements has become one of the main trends in the construction sector, taking into consideration that it represents the 25% of raw materials overall consumption, the 30% of both the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions, the 20% of the drinking water depletion, and between 30% and 40% of the total amount of waste generated, just to mention a few of its impacts.

Sustainable buildings certification schemes, such as VERDE, LEED, and BREEAM, could mean a very useful tool for those professionals seeking for a way of measuring how sustainable a building is. These certification systems are attracting a growing interest from public and private promoters, as well as architects and prescribers. Nowadays there are both, residential (mainly state-subsidised) and office buildings certified in Spain.

On the other hand, implementing these certification schemes criteria into the buildings design and execution stages, opens new possibilities for collaboration between architects, prescribers and promotors on the one hand, and construction products manufacturers on the other. Taking into account that, in order to determine the environmental performance of the building as a whole, the products incorporated represent a significant part, Environmental Product Declarations are a key element in the environmental assessment of buildings, providing accurate and reliable data.

This summary of the event was kindly provided by Tecnalia Certificación.

Performing the life cycle assessment (LCA) that provides the main underlying data for an EPD is a task that can be done by anyone, without any special approval. As many companies and organisations lack the in-house experience in performing this task, a consultant is often used. "Who may assist my company in performing the LCA?" is thus a question that is often submitted to the Secretariat.

To meet this demand, while avoiding to recommend any specific consultancy, we are happy to announce that we have collected a list of companies in different countries that state that they offer LCA and EPD related services. This list is a test that we hope that both companies that are interested in creating EPDs, as well as consultancy companies will find useful to more easily find each other.

If your company offers LCA and EPD consultancy services, and would like to be included in the list, please contact the EPD International Secretariat.

Please note that no fees have been paid by the companies to be included on the list, and being on this list is not required to be able to perform LCAs that would lead to EPDs.

A new version of ISO 14001 - Environmental management systems -- Requirements with guidance for use has been published by the International Organization for Standardization. According to the ISO website, the new version ISO 14001:2015:

specifies the requirements for an environmental management system that an organization can use to enhance its environmental performance. ISO 14001:2015 is intended for use by an organization seeking to manage its environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the environmental pillar of sustainability.

The life cycle perspective has received an increased focus, compared to only considering the environmental impact from the activities of an organization. EPDs could thus be used in different ways connected to an Environmental Management System, including identification of significant environmental aspects and monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation.

• News bulletin of ISO 14001:2015 at www.iso.org (external link)
• Using EPD in Environmental Management Systems

The Secretariat will have new telephone numbers from 2015-09-23 to answer your questions about EPDs, PCR and the International EPD® System. The new numbers can be found via the Contact page.

Please update your address books as the old numbers will expire after a transition period.

Photo: (c) Sh4rp_i (via Flickr). Licence: CC BY 2.0