Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) of construction products in Spain: Current status and future challenges

Abstract

Abstract The current decarbonisation scenario demands a decrease in embodied and operational environmental impacts of buildings, wherein the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method and the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) play a crucial role. The main objective of EPDs is to provide validated and geographically representative data to conduct LCA, since they play a major practical role in the application of LCA. However, development of EPDs in the European context remains irregular. Several countries, such as Germany and France, have a great number of EPDs of construction products, while other countries, such as Spain, present a much lower number. This study aims to analyse the existing EPDs of construction products developed in Spain, and to identify the EPD programs, the type of products (building system or element-associated), which LCA information modules are included, and the accuracy of the declared impact values. The results obtained show that ceramic cladding, gypsum plasterboard, cement, and clay products are those with the greatest number of EPDs. On the other hand, building service products have relatively few EPDs. Finally, several recommendations are proposed towards improving EPD development and challenges are detected.