An EPD for construction materials can be drawn up for many different applications.
The manufacturer of a construction product can make a declaration
- For the company’s own use, in order to provide information about the environmental impacts of products.
- An EPD can also be made for other companies, in which case the declaration provides the company with essential information from the point of view of the information needs of other companies.
- An EPD can also be made for consumers. In this case, the most technical information can be left out to focus exclusively on what is essential for the consumer (e.g., carbon footprint and energy consumption).
RTS EPDs are made primarily for “business-to-business” use. The declarations are Type III EPDs, i.e. they provide quantified environmental information about the life cycle of a product in order to enable comparison at the building level between products that perform the same function. The life cycle assessment has been carried out in accordance with EN ISO 14044 and the construction sector-specific amendments contained in EN 15804:2012 + A1:2013 (e.g., system boundaries, modularity, etc.).
EPDs shall contain all the information that, in accordance with EN 15804:2012 + A1:2013, must be presented in EPDs in the context of “business-to-business” communications. They can be produced by one or more organisations for one product or a product group containing similar products. Product information and environmental impact calculations shall be presented in EPDs as defined in EN 15804:2012 + A1:2013.
What are the applications of EPD information?
The quality and quantity of environmental information vary greatly. EPDs represent a reliable source of environmental information on construction products for business-to-business communication. All product declarations bearing the RTS EPD code are verified by a third party. The purpose of the verification is to make sure that the information is
- reliable
- consistent
- comparable at building level
- compliant with up-to-date standards
- easy to process further and readily available
Environmental information of products can be used for comparisons at the building level during planning, when the products are fulfilling the same functional and technical requirements. It is important that the building’s entire life cycle be taken into account in all comparisons at the building level. In this case, primary EPD information includes technical and functional properties and related requirement levels as well as environmental information.
The information declared in RTS EPDs can be used as source of information for purposes such as RTS Environmental Classification, LEED, BREEAM, DGNB and other assessment, certification and quality control tools for buildings.
Are RTS EPDs suitable for international use?
Yes. All RTS EPDs have been drawn up in accordance with EN 15804:2012 or EN15804:2019, RTS PCR and product group-specific standards. Therefore, they can be used within the EU. The EN standard is slightly different from the corresponding ISO standard. Therefore, RTS EPDs do not necessarily cover all information that is needed, for example, in Japan and USA. However, for example, LEED v4 also approves EPDs drawn up in accordance with EN 15804.