VIEWPOINT


EPDS, DECLARE AND EUROFINS – SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS UNPACKED


Matt Neary, national sales manager at Knauf Insulation.


THIS MONTH, WE will unpack some of the more common sustainability labels and explore the commercial opportunities.


EPDs and LCAs


Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are becoming the industry standard for comparing the environmental impact of construction products. The Construction Leadership Council has set a target for 40% of product revenue across the industry to come from products with EPDs by 2025 and 100% by 2030. EPDs and Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are often treated as interchangeable terms, but there is an important distinction between them. While an LCA is necessary to complete an EPD, an LCA by itself should be met with scepticism. LCAs not done for the purposes of an EPD are not standardised and are usually carried out by the manufacturer without third-party verification.


An EPD accesses the environmental impacts of a commercial product, process, or service across all the stages of its life cycle. Embodied carbon and a range of other factors are considered.


VOCs and Eurofins Most manufactured products produce Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that at best can produce a smell, and at worst be extremely harmful chemicals that cause serious illness. VOCs are in their highest concentration indoors, so it is a priority of many manufacturers to create products that don’t negatively impact air quality.


Accreditations such as Eurofins Indoor Air Comfort Certification rate products according to their VOC emissions and provide certificates of assurance. Those products with Eurofins Gold


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Certification have best-in-class VOC levels that go beyond legislated standards.


DECLARE and the ‘Red List’


The ingredients of a product can also have an impact on the environment. Chemicals that are common in some manufacturing processes can cause permanent damage to the environment. A DECLARE label brings transparency to this issue by declaring 99.9% of the ingredients in a product and highlighting whether the product contains any harmful chemicals on the ‘Red List’. The use of ‘Red List Free’ products is already a key factor in achieving credits in Green Building Rating Systems such as LEED and the Well Building Standard.


The commercial challenges


Understanding what makes a product more sustainable isn’t the only barrier to adoption for your customers. The biggest challenge is price. Research by the BMF shows that merchants are concerned fundamentally by the price barrier, believing that their customers will not pay more than a 5% premium on a product that’s more sustainable. But the challenge isn’t


insurmountable if products with sustainability credentials have other clear benefits. For example,


most of our glass mineral wool products are manufactured with ECOSE®, Knauf Insulation’s unique plant-based binder that is low-carbon and low-VOC. Products made with ECOSE® are soft to touch and easy to handle. They generate low levels of dust and VOCs and have been awarded the Eurofins Gold Certificate for Indoor Air Comfort. Our use of ECOSE®


is a key factor


in many of our products achieving the DECLARE ‘Red List Free’ label, but it also provides clear benefits for installers and occupants.


Reducing scope 3 emissions


Merchants with sustainability targets should also consider how the products they stock will have an impact on Scope 3 emissions. These emissions can account for more than 70% of a business’ carbon footprint, and include all indirect and non-owned emissions except for those generated by purchased energy.


The most impactful strategy for merchants wanting to reduce Scope 3 emissions is to stock products that have lower embodied carbon. Glass mineral wool, for example, has the lowest embodied carbon of any mainstream insulation material. Knauf Insulation uses up to 80% recycled glass cullet to make its glass mineral wool. In St. Helens, it has partnered with Veolia, who have built a waste processing


facility next door to the site to supply the factory directly. Unfortunately, comparing the EPDs of different products isn’t always easy. In 2022, the European standard for EPDs was updated from EN15804+A1 to EN15804+A2. The new standard examines a broader range of factors, making the two difficult to compare.


Comparisons are further complicated by multi- product EPDs used by some manufacturers, where one set of results is declared for a representative product, and a conversion table is provided to calculate the data for the rest of the range.


Different products will have different characteristics and chemistry to provide different levels of performance, therefore product-specific EPDs, particularly from the +A2 standard, are always preferable as they provide the most representative data.


Strategic opportunity Merchants can help themselves and their customers reduce scope 3 emissions by understanding the many standards and accreditations used in the industry, EPDs, Eurofins and DECLARE being just a few examples. The commercial challenges, especially around pricing, are real. But focusing on the added value of sustainable products – such as improved air quality and health benefits. BMJ


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net December 2024


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