As part of its Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products grant program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Portland Cement Association (PCA) more than $2.4 million to lead a project that will improve both the quantity and quality of industry Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).
“Getting the EPA’s approval to move forward with this project is representative of PCA’s environmental efforts coming full circle,” said PCA President and CEO Mike Ireland. “Two years ago, our association advocated strongly for the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included the most provisions ever to combat global warming.
“The IRA did pass, and today, some of that funding is making this project possible. We’ll be communicating more environmental impact data in a more detailed fashion throughout the industry, which should help us to hasten our pace toward carbon neutrality,” Ireland said.
The project, which was developed by the PCA in partnership with the American Coal Ash Association, the Natural Pozzolan Association and the Slag Cement Association, will significantly boost the number of facility-specific EPDs for cementitious materials, which will upgrade the quality of information available for consumers.
The PCA will distribute up to $1.5 million in grants to eligible manufacturers over the next five years. It will also provide training and on-call technical assistance to guide manufacturers from EPD development to verification to the final publishing of the information. Lastly, the association will help initiate and regularly update industry-average EPDs for cementitious materials.
