# A Case Study on Integrating an Eco-Design Tool into the Construction Decision-Making Process
## 1 Introduction  
The European Union aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and has implemented several initiatives to stimulate the transition from a linear economy to a circular and knowledge-based development model, of which the European Green New Deal is the most ambitious and iconic example [1; 2; 3]. The European Green New Deal recommends that EU member states adopt a plethora of measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and implementing regenerative actions to remediate past environmental hazards [3]. With similar goals, aiming to simultaneously provide economic growth and address societal challenges, the United Nations established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to encourage the global adoption of environmentally responsible development models. Several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are directly linked to the value chain of construction, which traditionally operates within a linear economic model characterized by high resource consumption and waste production [4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9]. Currently, the construction sector is accountable for extracting over 30% of the global natural resources, consuming approximately 34% of global energy, and using approximately 16% of all freshwater consumed [10; 11]. In addition, the construction sector generates approximately 35% of all waste produced globally and around 40% of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions [3]. Therefore, the construction sector will play a pivotal role in mitigating global warming and addressing societal distresses stemming from climate change [12; 13; 14; 15]. For the constructionsector to transition from a linear economic model, it is crucial to implement systematic eco-design assessments in construction projects [8; 16]. When applying eco-design criteria, the environmental impacts of construction projects are evaluated alongside conventional decision-making factors such as cost, time, and quality of construction, aiming to maximize the project's overall efficiency during all stages of its life cycle [17; 18]. However, to ensure the adoption of eco-design criteria, it is necessary to provide the industry with reliable assessment tools to enable assertive and effective decision-making based on clear, objective, and independent information regarding the performance of competitive construction solutions [19]. Environmental product declarations (EPDs) contain relevant information on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of construction materials and products, including resource consumption and environmental impacts generated throughout their life cycle [20]. LCA follows the European standard EN 15804:2013 [21], while the European standard EN 15978:2011 [22] prescribes the protocol for quantifying environmental indicators to be included in EPDs. Despite the relevance of the information contained in these documents, interpreting the information therein can be challenging for unspecialized professionals, often discouraging their use or resulting in erroneous analyses, thus compromising the decision-making process and potentially worsening the environmental and economic performance of construction projects [23]. Recently, some efforts have been devoted to developing environmental assessment tools based on EPDs and LCAs to facilitate the adoption of eco-design criteria in construction projects [24; 25; 26]. [PERSON] et al. [26] presented the preliminary results of an eco-design assessment tool that was developed in-house and based on EPDs and LCAs (UAveiroGreenBuilding project). This research reports on further optimization steps and validation through application of the developed tool to a real rehabilitation project. Additionally, some authors have proposed the integration of environmental assessments into building information modeling (BIM) software [27; 28] and, foreseeably, other virtual technologies such as computer-aided engineering, IoT, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality [29; 30; 31].