Life Cycle Assessment is a method used to quantify the environmental burden associated with a product or service.

An EPD is a document in which the environmental impacts resulting from the manufacture of a product are declared. All results are calculated using real-world data via the LCA methodology and are third-party verified, positioning EPDs as the gold standard for green performance metrics of products.

All too often, the environmental impact of a luminaire is considered simply by reference to the efficiency of the light source.
However, to get a full appreciation of the product, we must consider the product’s entire life cycle.

LCA is a powerful tool which can help to do this and offers specifiers, end-users, and manufacturers insight into your products.

Meeting Regulations: There are more regulations mandating LCA of buildings. These regulations filters down to construction products and materials. Therefore, EPDs are becoming essential for compliance and reporting for:

• Net Zero Carbon Building Standards, for which EPDs are to be used for carbon reporting, above all other metrics (in both UK and EU).
• Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, promotes the calculation and disclosure of the life-cycle global warming potential of buildings. LCA must be undertaken for large new buildings from 2028, and all buildings from 2030.
• Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation seeks to make products more energy and resource efficient, while improving the availability of information on product sustainability.
• Voluntary standards. EPDs support BREEAM certification by supplying transparent, third-party-verified data which can help achieve points in several BREEAM categories, particularly under Materials and Waste, as it demonstrates a commitment to using sustainable and low-impact materials.

Carbon Footprint Reporting: They are used for reporting the carbon impact of products, critical for meeting climate goals like Net Zero.

More specifically, the information collected for and declared within an EPD can be used to provide the necessary carbon footprint data for:

• The Carbon Boarder Adjustment Mechanism – identifying supply chain hotspots which may be affected by CBAM in the future.
• Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive – reporting on emission from scopes 1, 2 and 3.
• Meeting Green Targets – use data as a tool to informing responsible innovation to meet corporate or state targets.