Jim Fava, Thinkstep

1. Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
– what are they and why should I care?
Jim Fava, thinkstep
John Jewel, Senior Consultant, thinkstep
Steve Baer

2. Main Objectives of Presentation
• Understand the market drivers increasing the need for building
product information.
• Clarify what is meant by LCA and EPDs
• Highlight the business value of EPDs in order to understand
business benefits
• Outline what you should be doing now to realize the value of
producing EPDs on your products and materials.
• If you are a designer and/or architect, the reason why you
should specify products/materials which have EPDs will be
described.
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3. Megatrends Affecting Business
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7 Billion People
Complex Global Value Chains
Climate Change
Scarce Resources

4. Business Value of Sustainability –Framework™
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Less Certain/Long TermCertain/Short Term
Innovate
Mitigate
Revenue
• Revenue Growth
• Revenue Resilience
• Sustainability driven
Innovation
Brand
• Reputation Management
• Employee Attraction
• Employee Retention
Risk Management
• Operational Risks
• Value Chain Risks
• Societal Risks
• Regulatory Management
Cost Reduction
• Operational Efficiency
• Employee Productivity
• Value Chain Efficiency
© thinkstep

5. 23/05/16 5
What are EPDs?

6. Environmental Impact Reporting
A Need for Brevity and Consistency
6
Environmental Facts
Functional unit: 1 yd3 of 3,000 psi concrete
Primary Energy Demand [BTU] 9.3x105
Renewable [BTU] 5.9x104
Non-Renewable [BTU] 8.7x105
Global Warming Potential [lb CO2 eq] 360
Acidification Potential [lb H+ eq] 40
Eutrophication Potential [lb N eq] 0.39
Ozone Depletion Potential [lb CFC-11 eq] 2.4x10-10
Smog Potential [lb O3 eq] 21
Boundaries: Cradle-to-Gate
Company: XYZ Concrete
Total Recycled Content: 30%
Fly Ash: 20%
Slag: 10%
Image source: adapted from www.turbosquid.com
Illustrative example only – numbers not actual

7. EPDs, LCAs, and PCRs
Decoding the Acronyms
7
Product Category Rule (PCR)
“Set of specific rules, requirements, and guidelines for
developing Type III environmental product declarations
for one or more product categories” (ISO 14025)
The Guidelines
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
“Compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and
the potential environmental impacts of a product
system throughout its life cycle” (ISO 14040)
The Analysis
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
“Providing quantified environmental data using
predetermined parameters and, where relevant,
additional environmental information” (ISO 14025)
The Declaration

8. Raw Materials
Final Disposal
Life Cycle Thinking…
A lens to assess your business & supply chain sustainability
Recycling
Materials
Manufacture
Products
Manufacture
Transportation & Manufacture
Use
8

9. 9
Does life cycle matter?
…and water footprint …and air pollutants
…and solid waste …etc etc etc
7/18/2012

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PCR, LCA, and EPD – Relationships
Product Category
Rules
Life Cycle
Assessment
Environmental
Product
Declaration
Reviewed through (1) Public
comment and (2) an expert review
panel
Reviewed by
an LCA expert
Reviewed by the
“Program Operator”
Third-party organization responsible for
administering PCRs and EPDs
(examples: UL Environment, NSF International,
ASTM)

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Industry-wide EPD
Cover Page

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Industry-wide EPD
Summary Page

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Industry-wide EPD
LCIA Results Page

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FAQ: Environmental Product Declarations
• Can you conduct LCA if you are not going to publish an EPD?
• Yes. LCAs are frequently completed without publishing an EPD and used to inform
improvements/decision making
• EPDs are typically used to meet specific market drivers (e.g., LEED)
• How long does an EPD take to complete?
• 1-2 months (in addition to the LCA and PCR)
• How long does an EPD last?
• EPDs typically need to be redone every 5 years
• Varies based on the program operator, age of the data, etc.

15. Don’t Solve the Wrong Problem
Leather is
Ranched and
tanned in US
Shoe made in Portugal
The ‘biggest bang for the buck’ in energy conservation is
in the tanning of leather
Materials and finished goods shipped across the Atlantic

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The Business Value of EPDs

17. MR Credits:
• Building Life Cycle Impact Reduction
• Building Optimization and Disclosure: Environmental Product
Declarations
• Building Optimization and Disclosure: Sourcing of Raw
Materials
• Building Optimization and Disclosure: Material Ingredients
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LEED v4 and Material Health
Other North American rating systems incorporating demand for Transparency & Disclosure

18. Wal-Mart's radical traceability

19. Product Transparency … Where is it coming from?

20. Owners Are Driving Requirements
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SFO

21. What Do We Do With All This Data?
Developing Material Libraries and Transparency
Initiatives

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EPD Development Process

23. Without EPDs, comparing across different LCAs can be like comparing apples vs. oranges.
Goal and scope
System boundaries
Model assumptions
Databases
Environmental impacts
EPD Development Process
Need for consistency
23

24. Comparing EPDs is OK because instructions and
guidelines ensure consistency for assessments of
products in the same category.
The instructions and guideliens are outlined
in the Product Category Rules (PCRs)
EPD Development Process
Need for consistency
24

25. 23/05/16 25
EPD Development Process
EPD
Verify the EPD
• Work with program operator
• Review LCA report/model
• Review EPD
• Publish on program operator
website
Create the EPD
• Summary of LCA
• Follows PCR
• Compliant with ISO 14025
Identify the PCR
• Stakeholder engagement
• Consensus-based document
• Collaborate with program
operator and/or LCA expert
Conduct the LCA
• Primary data collection
• Industry and/or company-
specific model
• Support from LCA expert
• Compliant with ISO 14040/44

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EPD Development Options
Option 1: Industry-
average EPD
• A single EPD that
represents all trade
association
members
• Collects and reports
average data
• Pros: Cost-effective
(leverages industry
economy-of-scale)
• Cons: only contributes
½ “product” in LEED
Option 2: Independent
company-specific EPDs
• EPDs for each
company, using
company/product-
specific results
• Pros: contributes to full
1 “product” in LEED
• Cons: Expensive (no
industry economy-of-
scale)
Option 3: Company-
specific EPDs w/
Industry Support
• EPDs for each
company, using
company/product-
specific data results
• Data collection and
modeling occurs
across industry at
same time
• Pros: cost-effective;
contributes to full 1
“product” in LEED
• Cons: requires
coordination and
collaboration

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Roles and Responsibilities
Industry Association
- Leadership
- General organization
Member Companies
- Provide data
- Provide review
Cross functional teams
LCA Consultant (e.g.,
thinkstep)
- Leadership
- Guide data collection
- Develop models
- Develop EPDs
Program Operator
- Provide critical review
- Provide general oversight

28. Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
Declare environmental impacts using LCA principles
Growing importance in the building and construction community, including
integration into LEED v4
EPD development process
Multiple quality assurance steps ensure credibility
A single EPD can be resource-intensive to generate
Significant advantages to streamlining EPD development
Use custom tools to generate EPDs
Large economy of scale benefits à reduced cost + time
Summary
28

29. Zumtobel is first in its industry
with verified* EPDs for all of its
10,000 products.
*according to ECO scheme
Bill of Materials from ERP
GaBi DfX
GaBi Databases
Customized datasets
Other databases
Product LCA
Automatic verified ISO 14025 EPD
Image: Zumtobel

30. 1. EPDs and LCA are here to stay and will be upon you
soon
2. EPD communicate factual information in predetermined
agreed upon format
3. LCA is a calculation and diagnostic tool to identify hot
spots and areas for improvement
4. Building rating systems are using EPD as part of the
product footprint and part of the transparency polices
5. Designers/specifiers are expecting and demanding
transparency of environmental information for the
product/materials they specify
6. Important to engage marketing and communication
function to ensure EPD is similar to normal
manufacturing literature – should be the same format/
template.
Walk away messages
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31. 31
for your attention!
Thank you
Dr. James Fava
Chairman
Thinkstep
jimfava50@gmail.com
Jim.fava@thinkstep.
com

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?
Questions and Answers

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Who is thinkstep

34. Latest News

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About thinkstep
Confidential – Do Not Circulate

36. 23/05/16 36
2000+ Customers
Confidential – Do Not Circulate

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thinkstep software, data and service solutions

38. Our software, data and services enable organisations worldwide to
succeed sustainably by driving their
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What’s the value for your business?
Product
innovation
Operational
excellence
Brand
value
Regulatory
compliance

39. What’s the value for your business?
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39
These values are averages across different industries based on best available data
from over 5,000 thinkstep projects, external sources and expert assumptions.
* 10% new brand value, 7 % attraction and retention