The International EPD(R)system
The International EPD® system for environmental product declarations is an information system to factually describe the environmental characteristics of products and services in a life cycle perspective. EPD® (Environmental Product Declaration) was launched in 1998.
As the climate problem is global, it is an advantage if the solution also is global. The EPD® system meets the requirements of the international standard for environmental product declarations ISO 14025. The activities around the system have been continuously expanded geographically, but also to new product and service categories. After that a new framework worked through by representatives from several countries the EPD® system has recently been internationalised. Today it is administered by an international consortium, IEC (the International EPD Consortium). Swedish representatives for the EPD work are the Swedish Environmental Management Council and the Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
One important use is green procurement. In procurement EPD® can be used to compare different products environmental performance in an objective and scientific way.
There is a number of other country-specific, not as comprehensive information systems that accounts for environmental impact based on life-cycle analysis. The EPD® system is the only system with an international application.
The main objective of the scheme is to support and assist organizations to communicate information about goods and services performance in a credible manner by:
- offering a complete program for all organizations that want to communicate information about the products environmental performance under ISO 14025, and
- through cooperation and harmonization EPD support other programs that work to broaden the use of EPD's in a global market.