The document discusses the EPD 2.0 concept, which introduces a new way to integrate life cycle management using Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). EPDs provide quantified environmental information about products and are used for both internal and external communication and decision making. Companies are increasingly using EPDs not just for communication but also for eco-design, identifying improvement opportunities, and integrating life cycle thinking into their organizations. The EPD 2.0 concept aims to make EPDs the starting point for product and process optimization, environmental management, and sustainability communication.

1. Whitepaper
The EPD 2.0 concept
– a new way of integrating
life cycle management
Anna Braune, Siegrun Kittelberger,
Johannes Kreissig
PE INTERNATIONAL AG | 01.10.2011

2. The EPD 2.0 concept – a new way of integrating life cycle management
Contents
Executive summary ..................................................................................................................................... 03
Communicating LCA results ............................................................................................................... 04
Communicating LCA results for producers in the building
and construction sector .............................................................................................................. 04
Content of EPDs ............................................................................................................................. 04
Current use of EPDs ............................................................................................................................... 05
Communication to the market ................................................................................................. 05
Identification of environmental highlights .......................................................................... 05
Use of building-LCA for producers ........................................................................................... 05
Eco-design with EPDs ........................................................................................................................... 06
Interpreting the current situation ........................................................................................... 06
Calculating alternatives based on the current situation ................................................. 06
Assessing new approaches ........................................................................................................ 06
Implementing life cycle thinking in organizations using EPDs ...................................... 06
References, authors ...................................................................................................................................... 07
About PE INTERNATIONAL ......................................................................................................................... 08

3. The EPD 2.0 concept – a new way of integrating life cycle management
Executive Summary
Building products manufacturers increasingly But is the intention of companies to generate
use LCA based information for their environmental EPDs only because of the sheer communicational
communication. ISO 14025 consistent Environ- aspects? Having experienced over one hundred
mental Product Declarations (EPD) provide an ideal successful EPD projects it shows that in most of the
format and verification structure, to deliver un- projects there is much more intention in such
biased information transparently. The EPDs them- projects. The paper provides insights into companies’
selves are on the one hand side used in market- EPD projects, summarizing how these companies
ing and communication and demonstrate a com- make use of EPDs today, in their internal and ex-
pany’s responsibility for sustainability impacts. ternal communication, and in their eco-design
activities.
On the other hand side, the information provided
in EPDs is directly used in quantified ways in With the »EPD 2.0 concept«, a new way of inte-
building assessment schemes. The European DGNB grating life cycle management is introduced:
assessment scheme for example is performance- Starting point for process and product optimiza-
oriented and uses total building LCA calculation and tion, product related environmental management
benchmarking in its certification process. This and sustainability communication.
procedure is in line with the upcoming standardiz-
ation in the field of sustainable construction.
EPDs are the basis for the environmental assess-
ment according to the DGNB scheme.
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4. The EPD 2.0 concept – a new way of integrating life cycle management
Communicating LCA results
Communicating LCA results more and more true, that architects and planners
for producers in the building use EPDs in their decision making processes to
and construction sector support their customers, the final consumers.
Product LCA results can be used in different ways: It would be wrong to say that already today, EPDs
Internally and externally, qualitively and quanti- are widespread the favored information source
tatively. for environmental conscious building planners.
But due to the introduction of sustainable build-
Internal use of LCA results: If a company decides
ing certification schemes such as DGNB, EPDs gain
not to be publish LCA results, third party verifi-
growing recognition in this field. Secondly, »first
cation or an external review is not needed. The
movers« being very active in the communication
results can be used for decision making proces-
of providing EPDs for their products motivate
ses, environmental product development, internal
other companies to follow and also provide such
environmental management, site selections, etc.
quantified environmental information.
External use of LCA results: If a company decides
The LCA indicators being communicated by EPDs
to communicate LCA results externally in a quan-
e.g. according to the German IBU scheme embrace
titative way, an external review is crucial for
(amongst others) the following:
gaining reliability. EPD schemes such as the IBU,
the French FDES or the Swedish EPD system • Global warming potential (GWP) in kg CO2
provide external verification. If the company de- equivalents
cides to communicate that LCA is used e.g. in • Depletion potential of the stratospheric ozone
product development without publishing the en- layer (ODP) in kg CFC 11 equivalents
vironmental profile results, it is not needed to • Acidification potential of land and water sources
go through an external review. (AP) in kg SO2 equivalents
• Eutrophication potential (EP) in kg (PO4)3- equiv-
If EPDs e.g. according to IBU are chosen by the
alents
producer, the LCA results can go into LCA
• Formation potential of tropospheric ozone
databases. Examples are the German Oekobau.
photochemical oxidants (POCP) in kg Ethene
dat or the UK Green Guide to Specification.
equivalents
• Input of non-renewable primary energy in MJ,
Content of EPDs net calorific value
Environmental Product Declarations EPD are a • Input of renewable primary energy in MJ, net
communication tool. According to ISO 14025 calorific value
»type III environmental declarations present quan-
This set of indicators is complemented by addi-
tified environmental information on the life cycle
tional indicators such as abiotic depletion
of a product to enable comparisons between pro-
potential for non fossil and fossil resources ADP,
ducts fulfilling the same function«. According to
waste indicators, total water consumption, etc.
the standard, EPDs are primarily used for B2B com-
munication. The experiences of using EPDs in the
building and construction sector show, that it is
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5. The EPD 2.0 concept – a new way of integrating life cycle management
Current use of EPDs
Communication to the market Identification of environmental
Currently, EPDs are used to communicate environ- highlights
mental product profiles to the market, be it via Part of an EPD project is the provision of an LCA
the EPDs as published or be it via databases and report to the verifier. This report ususally contains
tools. In Germany, the DGNB Navigator for example environmental contribution and sensitivity ana-
also publishes EPD results of building products be- lyses, which are a helpful source for the identifica-
side the program holder IBU or the companies tion on improvement potentials. These analyses
themselves. B2B usage of EPDs becomes recently show the verifier whether the calculation was per-
more prominent especially for system products formed correctly, side-effect is the identification
such as external thermal insulation composite sys- of environmental hot-spots for the producers. These
tems (ETICS). The German ETICS association has analyses in EPD LCA reports can be a very valu-
published a so-called Environmental System Dec- able source for eco-design strategies.
laration (ESD), consisting of separate specific
EPDs for the respective system elements. Use of building-LCA for producers
Performing LCA is defined in ISO 14040 and ISO The assessment of a product’s environmental profile
14044. This framework is valid for all product e.g. during an EPD project allows producers to
types or studies. For EPDs of building products, understand own impacts and when integrated
EN 15804 is the valid standard (starting mid 2011), into an exemplarily building LCA, to gain orien-
defining exactly calculation methods, scenario de- tation how relevant a product performs in a build-
velopments, indicator choices etc. This allows ing’s life cycle context. Sustainability certification
building up consistent data management struc- scheme frameworks such as the DGNB scheme
tures. For building LCAs EN 15978 is the future also allows to identify and assess additional
respective standard. performance criteria and to better understand
and strategize product development.
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6. The EPD 2.0 concept – a new way of integrating life cycle management
Eco-design with EPDs
That product LCA is best qualified to serve as en- Software tools such as the GaBi i-report allow pro-
vironmental analysis tool and to support the ducers to vary their LCA models without any LCA
identification of environmental optimization po- expert knowledge, only by changing e.g. recipes,
tential is no new message. Eco-design with LCA physical amounts or the like.
provides a big picture view on the product life cycle
and its alternatives. The environmental optimiza- Assessing new approaches
tion of an insulation material can include the as- The assessment of total new approaches ususally
sessment of bio-based alternative materials, the requires an extended life cycle model including
switch to renewable on-site energy generation, all options that are of interest for the producer. LCA
an assessment of the suppliers’ performance or modeling know-how is needed. Therefore it is
evaluating alternative end-of-life pathways. useful to work with predefined models e.g. based
Interpretation and result presentations usually on an initial EPD project that can be extended
provide information on: and then used for assessment of total new approach-
• Share of environmental impacts of materials, es. Training and initial support by LCA experts is
substances, processes or life cycle stages usually indispensable.
• Comparison of alternatives Becoming an LCA expert based on an initial EPD
• Environmental indicators to control and measure project is a manageable and feasable task and should
eco-design not be regarded any more as work for scientist
only.
Interpreting the current situation
EPDs, providing the relevant LCA indicator results Implementing life cycle thinking in
of products, can be used to identify the current organizations using EPDs
environmental situation. It can be used as a starting The implementation of life cycle thinking into or-
point within an environmental product related ganizations can best be supported by easy to use
management system, for eco-design, or benchmark tools that are as close to day to day work of e.g. prod-
setting. It allows setting priorities in improve- uct designers as possible. Web-based LCA sol-
ment processes. The reliability of results for the pro- utions are available nowadays, and training also
ducer is high through the external verification step. does not require traveling or long absence times.
If LCA becomes integral part of a designer’s work,
Calculating alternatives based on undesirable developments from an environmen-
the current situation tal point of view can be avoided. And again, using
If alternatives based on the current situations are the EPD framework supports a consistent
to be assessed, the life cycle models used to cal- environmental concious product development.
culate the EPD indicators serve as perfect starting
point. Different material choices, energy gener-
ation options, suppliers can be assessed in the same
defined context as for the EPD. The effort to adapt
such models and receive results for alternatives is
usually quite low, especially compared to »new
LCA studies«.
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7. The EPD 2.0 concept – a new way of integrating life cycle management
References Authors
[1] Institute Construction and Environment Anna Braune
(IBU), General Guideline document (Leitfaden Siegrun Kittelberger
für die Formulierung der Anforderungen an
Johannes Kreißig
die Produktkategorien der Umweltdeklarationen
(Typ III) für Bauprodukte), 2006
[2] ISO 14040:2006. Environmental Management
– Life Cycle Assessment – Principles and
Framework. International Organization for
Standardization (ISO), 2006
[3] ISO 14044:2006. Environmental Management
– Life Cycle Assessment – Requirements and
Guidelines. International Organization for Stan-
dardization (ISO), 2006
[4] DGNB (Ed.), Handbuch Neubau Büro- und Ver-
waltungsgebäude, Version 2009 (Handbook
Office and Administration Buildings, New Con-
struction, Version 2009). Deutsche Gesellschaft
für Nachhaltiges Bauen e.V. (German Sustain-
able Building Council). Stuttgart.
ISBN: 978-3-942 132-00-8, 2009
[5] FprEN 15978:2011. Sustainability of construc-
tion works — Assessment of environmental
performance of buildings — Calculation
method. European Committee for Standard-
ization (CEN), 2011
Picture credits
Cover Graphics: i-stockphoto
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8. The EPD 2.0 concept – a new way of integrating life cycle management
About PE INTERNATIONAL
PE INTERNATIONAL is one of the world’s most experienced sustainability software, content and strategic
consulting firms. With 20 years of experience and 20 offices around the globe, PE INTERNATIONAL allows
clients to understand sustainability, improve their performance and succeed in the marketplace. Through
market leading software solutions, Five Winds Strategic Consulting Services and implementation meth-
odologies PE INTERNATIONAL has worked with some of the world’s most respected firms to develop the
strategies, management systems, tools and processes needed to achieve leadership in sustainability.
Contact:
Anna Braune
a.braune@pe-international.com
PE INTERNATIONAL AG
Hauptstraße 111-113
70771 Leinfelden-Echterdingen
Phone +49 711 341817-430
Fax +49 711 341817-25
www.pe-international.com
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