In the last couple of years, there has been a real turn in the way the construction industry addresses sustainability. One of the biggest topics of discussion is around net zero. The need to reduce the energy demand of buildings is not new. Part L has been in place for a while and buildings that have lower energy demand are attractive to tenants/occupiers. This has been particularly true since the spike in energy prices that has been seen in 2022. However, the biggest changes that has taken place is with regards to carbon emissions associated with the manufacturing, transportation, installation and disposal of construction products – the embodied carbon impact. Manufacturers are therefore asked to provide information on the carbon impact of their products which can in turn inform construction projects. The construction sector has been working on the development of standards to measure the carbon impact of construction products and projects for many years and they are well established as the measurement and reporting standards. Those standards are: BS EN 15978 at project/building level and BS EN 15804 at product level. Manufacturers are often asked to provide an EPD (Environmental Product Declaration). An EPD is created from a life cycle assessment (LCA) study during which manufacturers are asked to provide a lot of information related to the manufacturing of their products: energy, water, raw materials quantities and transport, waste, etc. The data collected from the factory are analysed and reported against a set of indicators (set out in BS EN 15804). The results together with some information on the products are transposed in an EPD template. The LCA report, evidences to support the information in the LCA study and the unverified EPD templates are submitted to an organisation (a programme operator) who then verifies the information provided and issues the verified EPD. Only verified EPD published on the programme operators’ websites are valid EPD. Instead of searching individual EPD programme operators’ websites, it is possible to find EPD on eco-platform. A number of FIS members recognise the importance of getting EPD.
Etex’s contribution
Etex publishes updated EPDs for 10 Siniat products
A modern manufacturer must be transparent about the impacts of their products and Life Cycle Assessment is one of the key tools to use. The results of a Life Cycle Assessment are published in an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
Etex have recently updated EPDs for our best selling Siniat products. EPD are ‘Type III’ environmental declarations, meaning that they are independently verified and compliant to ISO14025/ISO21930 and the new European EN15804 A2 standard.
Oliver Cripps, Head of Sustainability at Etex, says: “It can be difficult to compare the results of LCA across manufacturers and products. Because we are using the new standard, we declare the production (A1-A3) phase plus the end of life (C). Those published before July 2022 are only likely to show the production phase, or a selection of modules. Additionally, other factors such as the unit of measurement, inclusion of biobased content and emissions factors may vary.
To help a non-technical audience, we are publishing EPD Summary Sheets alongside our EPDs. These contain brief descriptions of the methodology and key results such as Global Warming Potential (embodied carbon) and recycled content.”
Etex is also raising 5 questions to ask when looking at EPDs
- Is it verified or not?
An EPD should be third party verified to relevant standards.
- Is the EPD current?
Check the publication date and expiry date. EPDs must be updated every 5 years.
- Which Life Cycle Stages are included?
New EPDs should declare the production (A1-A3) phase plus the end of life (C)
- Which manufacturing locations are included?
An EPD can cover one product produced in a single location, or those sourced from several locations.
- What is covered?
Is it product specific, based on a range, or a generic sector average? Is the functional unit kg, ml, or M2?
Ecophon’s contribution
Saint-Gobain Ecophon currently have Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) covering 85% of our product sales (March 2023), as part of our sustainability efforts we are aiming to have 89% of products sold to have their own specific EPD by 2025.
In our experience, product specific EPD’s are a way to avoid exposing poor sustainability results for particular products – averaging across the family range can help obscure results that would be hard to explain or call ‘sustainable’. That is why we are advocating for an industry-wide move to standardised EPDs for every product. Until we can achieve that standard, we strive to empower customers with ways to separate good sources of information from ones that aren’t.
Martin Keogh, Business Development Director at Ecophon, says: “As sustainable product selection continues to play a pivotal role in the construction industry, and to further support you to understand the importance of EPD’s, Ecophon have created an interactive game emphasising the ongoing journey towards net-zero in construction. The game allows players to navigate through each section with an intuitive design that follows the EPD format, tackling questions relevant to various metrics. Three EPDs provided to participants allow players to delve into comparisons and information searches, mimicking the process of selecting the most sustainable products for projects.”
Read more about Ecophon’s sustainability efforts on their website https://www.ecophon.com/uk/about-ecophon/sustainability/
Troldtekt’s contribution
Steve Mansell, Country manager for Troldtekt, says:
Troldtekt: EPD Transparency is crucial
At Troldtekt, we manufacture acoustic with Danish wood sourced from FSC or PEFC forestry and cement bonding agent. It is crucial for us to be completely transparent about our impact on the planet when publishing data within our EPDs. Therefore, we have launched 20 separate EPDs for our various acoustic panels rather than just working with average values.
This attention to detail is invaluable for developers, architects or designers wanting to document the carbon footprint of a building to achieve certification under BREEAM, LEED or WELL within the UK.
Since 2022, our clients have had the opportunity to choose Troldtekt panels based on a new cement type, FUTURECEM™ – and download EPDs for these variants as well.
The EPDs evidence that, over the entire product life cycle, the carbon footprint of Troldtekt acoustic panels based on FUTURECEM are 38 per cent lower than that of Troldtekt panels based on traditional white cement.
To sum it all up, our 20 different EPDs take into account:
- the thickness of the Troldtekt acoustic panels (25 mm or 35 mm)
- whether the panels are painted or unpainted
- whether or not the panels are non-flammable A2 panels
- whether the panels are based on FUTURECEM or traditional cement
Summary:
It is becoming more and more important for manufacturers to consider getting EPD. Not only they help inform a project in the more accurate measurement of the embodied carbon emissions, but they also provide robust source of data on products. EPD help manufacturers support claims of green washing. In some countries, such as France, it has been mandatory for manufacturers making green claims to obtain EPD (called FDES in France) to prove their claims. Several countries in Europe are starting to regulate on the embodied carbon of construction projects with targets to be met over time. While there is no regulation in the UK, the market is starting to drive the need for EPD. FIS has worked with its members to publish documents providing more information on EPD and how they fit in the net zero agenda – see: Net Zero – FIS (thefis.org)