Home Blog Careers Media Contact us Français Member Access Who we are Forest operations Pulp and paper Wood products Bio-sourced products Services Environmental product declaration services Environmental product declarations (EPDs) are a standardized way for manufacturers to report quantified environmental impacts of their products. They are developed in compliance with well-established ISO guidelines to ensure that rigorous and transparent procedures are followed. The following ISO standards apply to developing and publishing EPDs: 14040, 14044, 14025, and 21930. FPInnovations has been an ISO-compliant Environmental product declarations program operator since 2011 and published the first product category rules (PCRs) for North American architectural and structural wood products — the first in North America relevant to wood that addressed lumber, plywood, and most other primary and secondary products made from wood. FPInnovations has also published PCRs for pulp, paper, and paperboard products, tissue, and containerboards, as well as corrugated boxes, enabling the pulp and paper sector and corrugated product manufacturers to publish EPDs. Request information Email About EPDs ISO guidelines for LCA ISO guidelines for developing and publishing EPDs EPDs are mini LCA reports EPDs follow common rules The purpose of EPDs Manufacturer-specific EPDs versus industry-wide EPDs EPD features and limitations   EPDs contain LCA data for a product, that is, information on environmental impacts from raw material extraction, releases to air, water and soil, and waste generated over all or part of the product’s life.   The information is intended to help inform purchasing decisions, as with nutrition labels on food packages. The purchaser can be another business (who might roll this data into an EPD for a composite product) or can be a consumer.   For consumers and other non-LCA practitioners, the information in an EPD may be unfamiliar. Readers may need to first gain some basic education in LCA in order to understand the terminology and for interpretive context. This may be similar to the learning process when nutrition labels first emerged.   EPD information is reliable due to a strong foundation of international standards and the review and verification process for LCA studies and EPDs.   EPDs are transparent about assumptions, scope and boundaries in the underlying LCA. This is important to readers comparing two EPDs.   LCA and EPDs address only some of the factors relevant to sustainability. While this is obvious to LCA practitioners, readers of EPDs that are new to the world of LCA may misunderstand the boundary of LCA. LCA is not a comprehensive environmental metric.   EPDs are not a replacement for non-LCA metrics and certifications such as those for sustainable forest management. Readers of EPDs that make this mistake are advised to learn more about LCA and EPDs in general. However, EPDs can contain non-LCA information on a voluntary basis, if the EPD owner believes this additional information is relevant or useful. For example, an EPD may mention a company’s commitment to other aspects of sustainability, and may list various environmental attributes or certifications, but the EPD does not replace actual documentation for those certifications.   The LCA study underlying an EPD will typically not include land use impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functions, because there is not yet an internationally accepted methodology for doing so within LCA. Manufacturers would report on these impacts through a means other than an EPD.   By definition, LCA results are best estimates rather than a measure of absolute performance. LCA typically addresses mid-point impacts (for example, global warming is reported as a potential impact in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents of all greenhouse gas emissions) rather than end-point impacts (for example, human health impacts that may occur as a result of climate change) due to a high degree of uncertainty in predicting the end-point condition. For this reason, human health impacts are not generally addressed by LCA and are instead approached through other means.   EPDs are not judgmental – there is no implied performance benchmark to enable an EPD to convey the “greenness” of a product. The intention of an EPD is to provide data that enable the buyer to make the judgment. FPInnovations’ General Program Instructions Download Published PCRs Product category rules for North American corrugated products – May 2019 Product category rules for North American market pulp, paper and paperboard products, tissue, and containerboard – August 2017 Tools Business-to-business carbon sequestration tool Business-to-consumer carbon sequestration tool Published EPDs Typical western red cedar bevel siding – February 2018 Typical western red cedar decking – February 2018 5-PC-ME/CE/BE particleboard core door – October 2017 Western red cedar lumber – June 2016 Teknion Expansion Casegoods – May 2016 Interested in learning more about EPDs and how to get one? For more information about Environmental product declarations, contact Lal Mahalle, Senior Scientist and EPD Program Administrator. 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