The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) and consultants WAP Sustainability have taken a major step toward greener construction for the industry, with the launch of on-demand Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for concrete producers in North America. The new EPD on-demand service will enable producers to quickly, accurately and cost effectively produce verified EPDs of their products.
EPDs are becoming a key part of sustainable construction. They allow producers to show the environmental impact of their products across a number of metrics, including global warming potential, often referred to as a carbon footprint. Various U.S. state and local governments have emerging Buy Clean initiatives, which require transparency around embodied emissions and rely on EPDs. Increasingly designers are also requiring EPDs to assess their designs and support their decarbonization efforts.
Andrew Minson, GCCA concrete and sustainable construction director, said, “The cement and concrete sector is playing a key part in sustainable construction, but this requires transparent, objective and accessible data on the environmental impact of our products. Our collaboration with WAP will allow concrete producers to quickly and cost effectively produce EPDs that can demonstrate the contribution of their products to a sustainable world of tomorrow.”
Under this partnership, the GCCA EPD calculation engine is integrated into WAP’s EPD On-Demand system (known as Theta EPD). The GCCA calculation engine has been independently verified and complies with relevant EPD standards and concrete PCRs. The collaboration with WAP provides a streamlined solution for EPD preparation, documentation and verification to help producers scale EPD production. GCCA and WAP are working to expand their coverage across the world.
