Improving the Data and Disclosure of the Environmental Impact of Building Materials

The guide explains how Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) function as 'nutrition labels' for building materials by reporting life-cycle assessment (LCA) data, specifically Global Warming Potential (GWP). It argues that current EPDs suffer from inconsistencies due to varying data sources and proprietary datasets. To achieve an 'ideal EPD' that supports fair carbon reduction policies, the author recommends that Product Category Rules (PCRs) mandate facility-specific data, limit product variation within single reported values, and require supply-chain-specific data for upstream processes. The document also identifies barriers to adoption, such as high up-front costs for small businesses and the lack of a universal public database, while noting US government initiatives like the EPA's grant program and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 aimed at advancing EPD development.

• Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are the primary tool for disclosing Global Warming Potential (GWP) in the construction sector, used by professionals to compare functionally equivalent products and by policymakers to set GWP thresholds in 'Buy Clean' procurement policies.
• The 'ideal EPD' for policy compliance should be based on harmonized universal background datasets and governed by rigorous Product Category Rules (PCRs) that require facility-specific data rather than averages across multiple sites, and supply-chain-specific primary data for upstream processes.
• Current EPD standardization is hindered by several barriers, including prohibitive up-front costs for small businesses, the use of different proprietary background datasets by software, and a lack of industry-wide EPDs for certain product types.
• The US government is supporting the expansion of EPDs through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which funds an EPD Assistance Program and a low-embodied-carbon 'eco-labeling' system managed by the EPA.

APA

RMI (2023). Improving the Data and Disclosure of the Environmental Impact of Building Materials. https://rmi.org/resources/improving-the-data-and-disclosure-of-the-environmental-impact-of-building-materials/

Chicago

RMI. Improving the Data and Disclosure of the Environmental Impact of Building Materials. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/improving-the-data-and-disclosure-of-the-environmental-impact-of-building-materials/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Improving the Data and Disclosure of the Environmental Impact of Building Materials |date=4 October 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/improving-the-data-and-disclosure-of-the-environmental-impact-of-building-materials/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023improving, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Improving the Data and Disclosure of the Environmental Impact of Building Materials}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/improving-the-data-and-disclosure-of-the-environmental-impact-of-building-materials/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }