GCCA EPD tool updated and relaunched
Environmental Product Declaration tool update allows for lowest whole-life carbon design and construction
THE Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has announced the global verification of its Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) 3.1 tool, which will help cement and concrete manufacturers better understand the environmental impact of their products and processes and ultimately allow designers to design the lowest whole-life carbon buildings and infrastructure.
EPDs are independently verified and provide registered documents that communicate transparent and comparable information about the life-cycle environmental impact of products in a credible way.
This formal and independent verification allows companies from all markets across the world to compare cementitious products across key environmental indicators and includes evaluation of the natural CO2 uptake of a cementitious product to provide a complete environmental picture. Designers can use this information as part of whole-life carbon impact evaluation of their entire project.
GCCA chief executive officer Thomas Guillot said: ‘We’re delighted to have the GCCA EPD 3.1 tool globally verified. The tool is designed to produce data that will allow cement and concrete manufacturers around the world to secure EPDs in a consistent manner and better understand the sustainable impact of their products and processes.
‘We’ll continue to refine and develop our EPD tool so we can carry on meeting industry demand as we deliver on the pledges set out in the GCCA’s recently launched Net Zero Roadmap, which will see the industry fully decarbonize by 2050.’
‘EPDs are becoming increasingly important for cement and concrete manufacturers as they continue to reduce the carbon footprint of their products and will become more vital for the wider construction sector as they seek to reduce whole-life carbon of new projects,’ said Andrew Minson, GCCA director of concrete and sustainable construction.
‘GCCA’s version-3.1 tool will help the industry communicate through whole-life EPDs how their products are addressing the climate challenge.’
The tool works by users entering key information on the constituents, processes, and energy needs to manufacture a product, together with information about the product during its use and end-of-life stages. The tool outputs data that support development and can be used to secure an EPD from a third party.
To enable global use of the tool, there are two versions of the GCCA’s EPD 3.1 tool, one for international markets and one specifically for the North American market, which has different EPD standards to the rest of the world. To become verified in North America, the 3.1 version builds on the existing 3.0 tool through the refinement of underlying data related to transport and site energy.
