EPD – Environmental Product Declaration

WOCA EPD

A WOCA EPD is a third-party verified Environmental Product Declaration that documents a product’s environmental impacts, resource consumption, and waste generation throughout its entire life cycle. The environmental impacts are quantified and reported in relevant impact categories, including, among others, global warming, acidification, and eutrophication.

 

In addition, the EPD includes accounts of energy consumption (renewable and non-renewable) as well as waste streams, including disposal, recycling, and energy recovery.

EPDs are prepared in accordance with EN 15804+A2, ISO 14025, and the relevant Product Category Rule (PCR 2019:14) and are used as verified documentation of the environmental properties of construction products.

How WOCA prepares an EPD

WOCA prepares Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in close collaboration with an external LCA consultant with documented professional expertise. The consultant supports WOCA throughout the entire process and is responsible for, among other things:

  • Advising on the selection and use of appropriate LCA software in accordance with applicable standards and program requirements
  • Collecting, quality-assuring, and validating data, including primary production data and relevant background data

After completion of the life cycle assessment, the EPD is prepared in accordance with applicable international standards, including EN 15804 and ISO 14025, as well as the relevant Product Category Rule (PCR).

Get Access to WOCA EPD

The completed EPD is then subjected to an independent, approved third-party verification, during which the methodology, data, calculations, and results are assessed to ensure compliance with the established requirements. Following successful verification, the EPD is submitted to the relevant program operator for formal review, registration, and publication, for example via EPD International.

WOCA Environtmental Product Declarations can be downloaded from here:

 

EPD International – EPD Library

 


WOCA LCA (Life Cycle Assessment)

LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) is an internationally recognized method for systematically mapping and quantifying a product’s environmental impacts throughout its entire life cycle—from raw material extraction and production to use and end-of-life. The LCA is carried out in accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 and constitutes the technical and data-related basis for the preparation of an EPD.

Types of EPDs

  • Industry EPD
    Represents an average or worst-case scenario for a given product type. Typically used in early design phases or in cases where a product-specific EPD is not available.

  • Product-specific EPD
    Prepared for a specific product from a specific manufacturer and may cover several comparable products within the same product range.

WOCA’s products are covered by a third-party verified, product-specific EPD based on a full life cycle assessment. The EPD includes several products and is based on a representative reference product, selected to ensure a conservative and comprehensive representation of the environmental impacts for the entire product group.

Standards and environmental impact categories

There are two versions of the EN 15804 standard:

  • EN 15804+A2:
    Includes 13 mandatory environmental impact categories and 6 voluntary categories, which are documented in the LCA.

  • EN 15804+A1:
    Includes 7 environmental impact categories.

The methodological differences between A1 and A2 mean that EPDs prepared under the two standards are not directly comparable and therefore should not be used simultaneously within the same building LCA.

WOCA applies EN 15804+A2, as this version provides a more detailed and comprehensive picture of the product’s overall environmental impacts. The standard also enables reporting of new indicators, including those related to (eco)toxicological effects, which are not included in the A1 version.