Apr

23, 2014

PCR for Carbon capture and storage (CCS) services published

PCR Carbon capture and storage (CCS) services

Product Category Rules (PCR) for declaring the environmental impact of carbon capture and storage (CCS) services have now been published in the International EPD® System.

The development of the PCR was led by Michela Gallo and Adriana Del Borghi at the University of Genoa as the appointed PCR Moderators in accordance with 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 appointed Technical Committee.

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

Apr

22, 2014

PCR for Paints and varnishes and related products published

Product Category Rules (PCR) for declaring the environmental impact of paints and varnishes and related products have now been published in the International EPD® System.

The development of the PCR was led by Karin Sanne at AkzoNobel as the appointed PCR Moderator in accordance with 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 appointed Technical Committee.

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

Apr

22, 2014

Updated PCR for Sauces

The Product Category Rules (PCR) for sauces have undergone a major update, and is now once again available.

The update of the PCR was led by Paola Borla at Life Cycle Engineering as the appointed PCR Moderator in accordance with 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.

With the PCR now once again available, any company is welcome to voluntarily develop and publish information on the life cycle environment impact of their olive oil in a transparent and comparable way.

Apr

21, 2014

PCR for Site remediation and clean-up services, soil and groundwater updated to comply with latest programme instructions

PCR PCR for Site remediation and clean-up services, soil and groundwater

The Product Category Rules (PCR) document for PCR for Site remediation and clean-up services, soil and groundwaterhas now been updated to comply with the latest General Programme Instructions. The changes were minor why the document still has the same validity as before.

Any stakeholder is now welcome to develop and register Environmental Product Declarations (EPD®) in the International EPD® System for communication to stakeholders on national or international markets.

Apr

17, 2014

Happy Easter holidays!

Image: [c] Flickr.com / Aussiegal. License: CC BY 2.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The Secretariat would like to wish you all a happy Easter holiday!

The office will be closed from Thursday April 17th and reopen on Tuesday April 22nd. On April 22-25th, Kristian Jelse (kristian@environdec.com) will be the contact person for all urgent matters.

Apr

16, 2014

New recommendation for PCR Moderators

Developing Product Category Rules may be a long process, spanning several months, and involving many stakeholders. Besides the PCR Moderator, the draft document often involvs work performed by different stakeholders in preparing or commenting on the document, the Secretariat and the Technical Committee.

To avoid that any work is done for PCRs that in the end are never published, the Secretariat has issued a new recommendation for PCR Moderators for the Approval and Publication phase:

After comments have been provided by the Technical Committee (TC), it is recommended that the update of the draft PCR is done within one month of the comments provided by TC to avoid any draft PCR to become stalled in such a late phase of its development.

As before, PCR Moderators are encouraged to keep an active communication with the Secretariat during PCR development. This is key for spreading information to other stakeholders via www.environdec.com, the EPD Newsletter and through other channels.

Please contact Kristian Jelse, Project Manager PCR Library and PCR development, if you have any questions on PCR development.

Apr

9, 2014

Meeting with a PCR Moderator

We met with George Michalopoulos at RodaxAgro, an experienced PCR Moderator in the International EPD® System, to talk about PCRs, EPDs and current EPD activities in Greece.

Apr

7, 2014

Read our latest newsletter (#4 2014)

It is a new month, and a new version of the International EPD® System has been sent to all subscribers. For non-subscribers, the newsletter may be downloaded in PDF format.

Contents:

New statistics of EPDs published per product category
Lantmännen - "Sweden's most sustainable brand 2014"
Upcoming event: Sustainability certification of wine at Vinitaly conference
Case study: Analyzing hygiene pads
International EPD® System in social media
Newly registered EPDs
Latest PCR activity

Apr

4, 2014

Two new PCRs published

Two new PCRs have been published in the International EPD® System. The two documents are:

The PCRs are now available for any organisation to use to develop and register EPDs of their products.

Apr

3, 2014

Updated PCR for Virgin olive oil and its fractions published

The Product Category Rules (PCR) for virgin olive oil and its fractions have undergone a major update, and is now available once again.

The update of the PCR was led by George Michalopoulos at RodaxAgro Ltd as the appointed PCR Moderator in accordance with 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.

The former version of the PCR has been used by five different companies to produce EPDs of their products:

With the PCR now once again available, any company is welcome to voluntarily develop and publish information on the life cycle environment impact of their olive oil in a transparent and comparable way.

Apr

1, 2014

Lantmännen - "Sweden's most sustainable brand" 2014

The Swedish food, energy and agriculture company Lantmännen was recently awarded "Sweden's most sustainable brand" 2014 in the Sustainable Brand Index survey. The survey consisted of 9,000 consumers assessing how some of Sweden’s major brands performed in terms of environmental and social responsibility.

Lantmännen was one of the first companies to register Climate Declarations in the International EPD® System. In a comment to the Secretariat, Claes Johansson Head of Sustainable Development at Lantmännen writes:

It is gratifying that the consumers appreciate our long-term work with responsibility from field to fork. Transparency in the food chain is an important part of this. We have been working with Climate Declarations on a selection of our products and that has contributed to the spread of knowledge about the impact of the raw materials on the environmental impact of food products from a life cycle perspective. It is an important tool to drive improvements in the food sector.

A big congratulations to Lantmännen from the International EPD® System!

Apr

1, 2014

PCR for professional cleaning services updated to comply with latest programme instructions

The Product Category Rules (PCR) document for professional cleaning services has now been updated to comply with the latest General Programme Instructions. The changes were minor why the document still has the same validity as before.

Since its first publication in May 2011, the PCR has been used by one copmany to publish an EPD of its services. With this update, we hope this PCR will be used to develop and register many more Environmental Product Declarations (EPD®) in the International EPD® System for communication to stakeholders on national or international markets.

Mar

31, 2014

New IPCC report published today

The Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change has just released a new report from its second Working Group (WGII) entitled Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability.

The report is described in this way in the official press release:

[The report] details the impacts of climate change to date, the future risks from a changing climate, and the opportunities for effective action to reduce risks. A total of 309 coordinating lead authors, lead authors, and review editors, drawn from 70 countries, were selected to produce the report. They enlisted the help of 436 contributing authors, and a total of 1,729 expert and government reviewers.

The full report or a summary for policymakers is available on the IPCC website.

The International EPD® System provides EPDs as credible way to give information on the climate impact from the declared product. Used correctly, we believe life cycle based information about goods and services is one of the tools that may reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their associated risks.

In the experience of the Secretariat, the carbon footprint of products is still the environmental aspect of an EPD of which most stakeholders are interested. With the registration of an EPD, containing all the relevant environmental aspects that may be quantified or described, the Secretariat offers the service of producing a one-page Climate Declaration at no additional cost. The option to receive a Climate Declaration is available in the registration form.

Mar

26, 2014

Case study: Analyzing hygiene pads

Serenity, an Italian producer of hygiene products such as pads, decided to step up from LCA to registered EPDs. This included analyzing life cycle aspects of more than half of its products in one go.

Mar