Product Category Rules (PCR) for declaring the environmental impact of buildings have now been published in the International EPD System. The document is applicable for the European context, and aims towards compliance with the European standards:

• EN 15804 (Sustainability of construction works - Environmental product declarations - Core rules for the product category of construction products), and
• EN 15978 (Sustainability of construction works - Assessment of environmental performance of buildings - Calculation method).

The development of the PCR was led by Ulf Wiklund at Tyréns 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 buildings in a transparent and comparable way.

COOP Italia has as the first company produced and published EPD®s for beef and veal meat. The EPDs declares in a transparent way the resource use and environmental impacts that arises from the life cycle of 1 kg of bone-free meat at the shelf of a retailer in Italy. The document also includes a scenario for the cold storage and cooking of the meat in an Italian home.

The EPDs were developed with the technical support of Studio LCE, based on the Product Category Rules (PCR) for "Meat of mammals" that were published in 2013. The EPD document and the underlying life cycle assessment study was verified by an approved individual verifier to ensure that the rules and standards were followed.

The EPD library of the International EPD® System now contains a wide range of food items, such as burgers, pasta, flour, pastries, fruits, olive oil and dairy products, from companies wishing to be transparent of the environmental impact of their products.

The Italian wine producer Feudi San Gregorio have issued an EPD for their wine Pietracalda Fiano di Avellino. Although there have been EPDs for wine earlier, this is the first EPD for wine according to the PCR 2010:02, Wine of fresh grapes, except sparkling wine; grape must.

The EPD describes the environmental performance from the wine, from the activities on the wineyard, through the wine production and distribution of the product and end-of-life of the packaging.

Read the EPD

The Product Category Rules (PCR) document for cement 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 September 2010, the PCR has been used by five copmanies to publish EPDs or their products.

With the update to comply with the latest programme instructions, 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.

The Product Category Rules (PCR) document for postal services has now been published in the International EPD® System. The document is intended to be applicable globally and covers the product category UN CPC 6811 and sub-classes, which covers postal services related to letters, parcels and more.

The document has been prepared according to the PCR development process in the General Programme Instructions, based on ISO 14025:2006 and other international standards. The PCR Moderator was Pieter Reitsma at the International Post Corporation, who has led the work to prepare the document. The other participants were CTT Correios de Portugal, Correos y Telégrafos, PostNord and the United States Postal Service. During its development, the PCR was subject to two months open consultation on www.environdec.com, as well as review and approval by the Technical Committee of the International EPD® System.

The PCR is now ready to be used to develop and register Environmental Product Declarations (EPD®) in the International EPD® System for communication to stakeholders on national or international markets.

The Product Category Rules (PCR) document for prefabricated buildings 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 January 2013, the PCR has been used by  Sebach Srl to publish an EPD and a climate declaration of their portable toilets.

With the update to comply with the latest programme instructions, 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.

The Product Category Rules (PCR) document for bottled waters has now been updated to version 2.0 and in accordance with the latest General Programme Instructions. 

Since its first publication in 2010, the PCR has been well used with five different companies currently using EPDs to declare the environmental impact of their products: Cerelia, San Benedetto, Coop Italia, Ferrarrelle and Lete. The document is intended to be applicable globally and covers the product category UN CPC 24410, which covers bottled waters, not sweetened or flavoured.

The document has been prepared according to the PCR development process in the General Programme Instructions, based on ISO 14025:2006 and other international standards. The PCR Moderator was Germana Olivieri at LCA–lab srl, who has led the work to updated the document. During its development, the PCR was subject to two months open consultation on www.environdec.com, as well as review and approval by the Technical Committee of the International EPD® System.

The PCR is now once again ready to be used to develop and register Environmental Product Declarations (EPD®) in the International EPD® System for communication to stakeholders on national or international markets.