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Aug

12, 2015

Extended deadline for registration to EPD International Stakeholder Conference 2015

Image: [c] Geoffroy Groult. License: CC BY 2.0

It has been possible for us to extend the deadline for the registration to the EPD International Stakeholder Conference until 2015-08-20.

The event will take place in Bordeaux, France on August 30th, back-to-back with the LCM 2015 conference. The event is expected to gather EPD stakeholders from industry, academia and others sectors for a chance to meet and learn about the latest developments in the field of Environmental Product Declarations.

We hope to see you in Bordeaux!

Jul

6, 2015

Using EPD in Building Assessment Schemes

The interest for environmental declarations in building rating systems and certification schemes has increased in the last few years. This may be due to recognition of EPD benefits such as the life cycle approach, the transparent disclosure of relevant impact categories and the independent verification.

We have updated the text explaining how and why EPDs may be used for this application.

Jul

3, 2015

Five new or updated PCRs published

New PCRs

Four updated and one new PCRs have recently been published:

  • Kiwifruit (updated)
  • Cleaning inox trolleys (update)
  • Basic iron or steel products & special steels, except construction products (new)
  • Beverage cartons (update)
  • Research and development services in natural sciences and engineering (update)

These documents are now availble to develop and register EPDs for each product category.

Jul

2, 2015

Using EPD in B2B and B2C communication

The concept of type III environmental declarations was developed to primarily be used in business-to-business communication, but their use in business-to-consumer communication is not precluded by the standards.

We have updated the texts explaining how and why EPDs may be used for different applications.

Jun

22, 2015

EPD poster at ISIE conference

The International EPD® System will be present this year at the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE) conference. The event will take place in Guidford, United Kingdom on July 7-10, 2015, and is expected to gather some of the leading experts in the field of industrial ecology, a field very much connected to life cycle assessment and life cycle management.

Kristian Jelse at the Secretariat and members of the Technical Committee will present or co-author a poster related to EPDs:

  • Poster: An argument for attributional LCA in environmental declarations based on a comparison with type I environmental labels and country-of-origin labels. Jelse K., Lindfors L-G., Marino M., Peña C.A., Schenck R.

Jun

18, 2015

Using EPDs in environmental management and ecodesign

Using EPDs in environmental management and ecodesign

EPD is a useful tool for environmental management, whether the environmental management system (EMS) is certified according to ISO 14001 or EMAS or based on other guidelines. By using EPDs, the organization can identify, control, monitor and evaluate the environmental performance in a life cycle perspective and also communicate the result to different stakeholders.

Ecodesign is the concept of taking environmental issues into consideration when designing and developing new products, or when updating existing products. It may also be referred to as or Design for Environment (DfE), eco-design or, more generally, Environmental design. EPD, and the underlying life cycle assessment (LCA) study, may be used as a way to measure impacts and avoiding sub-optimization.

We have described how EPDs can be used in the context of environmental management and ecodesign, use the links below to read more.

Jun

12, 2015

Updated PCR for finished bovine leather published

PCR finished bovine leather

The Product Category Rules (PCR) for Finished bovine leather version 2.0 have been published. The new version is now available for verification, registration and publications of EPD according to ISO 14025 in the International EPD® System.

Since its original publication in 2011, the PCR has been used by two companies to develop and register EPDs.

The work to update the PCR was led by Daniele Pernigotti as PCR Moderator. The draft was available for two months open consultation at www.environdec.com, and reviewed by the Technical Committee of the International EPD® System before publication

Jun

3, 2015

Using EPDs in public procurement

Image: [c] Sebastien Wiertz. License: CC BY 2.0

EPDs can be an useful tool in green public procurement and ISO 14025 states that one of the applications of environmental declarations is procurement. However, so far it is not common to use EPDs in public procurement although there is a great potential.

We have updated the website with more information on how EPDs can be used in public procurement. If you have comments, questions or want to share experiences, please contact the secretariat info@environdec.com .

Jun

3, 2015

PCR for Passenger Commercial Aeroplanes published

PCR

Product Category Rules (PCR) for declaring the environmental impact of Passenger Commercial Aeroplanes have now been published in the International EPD® System.

The development of the PCR was led by Bombardier Aerospace according to the PCR Process described in the General Programme Instructions of the International EPD® System, based on ISO 14025. During the development of the document, it has been subject for an open consultation on www.environdec.com as well as a review by the Technical Committee as the appointed review panel.

The PCR is now available for any company to voluntarily develop and publish information on the life cycle environment impact of these types of product in a transparent and comparable way.

 

Jun

1, 2015

Summer schedule at the Secretariat

Photo: Johan Hansson, Flickr (Licence: CC BY 2.0)

The Secretariat will be closed for about three weeks during the summer period of 2015. For any questions the EPD System, EPDs, PCRs or EPD registrations, please use the following contacts:

Dates Main contact, all topics
June 29th - July 10th kristian@environdec.com
July 13th - July 31st Secretariat closed
August 3rd - August 7th joakim@environdec.com

If you have an EPD that is expected to be ready very close in time to this period, please contact the Secretariat.

May

29, 2015

Updated PCR for bakery products published

Bakery products

The Product Category Rules (PCR) for Bakery products version 2.0 have now been published. The new version is now available for verification, registration and publications of EPD according to ISO 14025 in the International EPD® System.

This PCR is one of the most used by companies for brands such as Kungsörnen, Pan di Stelle, Harry's and Wasabröd.

The work to update the PCR was led by Paola Borla at Life Cycle Engineering as PCR Moderator. The draft was available for two months open consultation at www.environdec.com, and reviewed by the Technical Committee of the International EPD® System before publication

May

25, 2015

Meeting with the Beijing helpdesk

Meeting with the Beijing helpdesk

The International EPD System recently launched a Beijing helpdesk to offer local support, answering questions regarding EPD, etc. We met with Xu Min at the Beijing helpdesk to talk about current EPD activities in China.

May

21, 2015

Save the date: EPD International Stakeholder Conference on August 30th

Image: [c] Geoffroy Groult. License: CC BY 2.0

The EPD International Stakeholder Conference 2015 will take place in Bordeaux, France, on Sunday August 30th 2015. Following successful events in Bologna and Stockholm, the event is expected to gather EPD stakeholders from industry, academia and others sectors for a chance to meet and learn about the latest developments in the world of Environmental Product Declarations.

Save the date in your calendar. More information, and the possibility to register for the event, to come soon.

May

15, 2015

Seminar on life cycle based requirements in public procurement

Participants from municipalities, companies and authorities took part in a seminar on May 6 in Stockholm, Sweden. The seminar was jointly arranged by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and the International EPD® System and focused on lifecycle-based environmental requirements in public procurement.

At the seminar, the EU's new directive on public procurement directive was discussed. The new directive has clarified the possibility of using environmental requirements with a lifecycle perspective. 

"It is very gratifying that the interest is so great for lifecycle-based environmental requirements in public procurement," says Sven-Olof Ryding, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

The Swedish companies Riksbyggen and SCA presented how they work with the life cycle perspective in their environmental management. The Swedish Transport Administration and the Stockholm County Council talked about how they use lifecycle requirements in their procurement activities. Common to all was that they called for more challenging requirements that rewarded the products had the least environmental impact in a life cycle perspective.

May

12, 2015

General Programme Instructions v2.5 published

General Programme Instructions

A new version of the General Programme Instructions has now been published: Version 2.5 (date: 2015-05-11). The new version replaces version 2.01, but existing PCR and EPD documents remain valid. The new version of the programme instructions is expected to be adopted gradually into new PCRs when they are updated.

The new version contains many small improvements, including:

  • Introduction added
  • Updated organisational structure, e.g. name of programme operator, Steering Committee replaced with International Advisory Board and Member organisations changed to members of stakeholder network
  • Information about EPD certificate updated
  • Role of pre-certification as an option during development of new PCRs clarified
  • Added section on how to provide feedback on published EPDs and other documents
  • Document checked to strive for full compliance with EN 15804:2012+A1:2013, and added information on when the standard overrules other instructions in the programme instructions.
  • Clarification on compliance with ISO/TC 14067
  • Further alignment of PCR process with the Guidance for PCR development (2013), e.g. in PCR Committee and what stakeholders to consider to invite to the process
  • Recommendation to include a flow chart in EPD added
  • Allowed use of regional LCIA methods as a complement to the default methods
  • Section of Use of resources revisited
  • New indicator added: radioactive waste
  • General competence requirements for verifiers added
  • EPD validity
  • Requirements to include similar products in the same EPD expanded
  • Changed name of "Other generic data" to "proxy data"
  • Clarified that specifica data for electricity mix shall be used for upstream processes, if available
  • Updated requirements on EPD Process Certification based on experience from companies using this option

The new version was available for open consultation for eight weeks before its publication. The Secretariat would like to thank the following stakeholders for their input on the draft:

  • 3M Company
  • Australasian EPD Programme
  • BillerudKorsnäs
  • CENDEC
  • CTME
  • Ecoinnovazione
  • Tecnalia R&I Certificacion
  • Tetra Pak
  • thinkstep
  • TU Berlin