The contents of Rakennustieto EPD declaration

The declarations approved by the Building Information Foundation RTS sr contain all information required by the standard.

 Their main features are as follows:

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Product Information

• Description of the product and its use, product standards, physical properties
• Main raw materials of products and product description (materials brought to the factory)
• Substances contained in the product that are covered by the candidate list of REACH SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern)

Calculation principles for life cycle assessment

• Functional/declared unit
• Rakennustieto EPDs must cover at least the product manufacturing stage, from the acquisition of raw materials to the factory’s gate, i.e. information modules A1 … A3. raw materials of products and product description (materials brought to the factory)
• Rakennustieto EPDs must include modules A4, C1, C2, C3, C4 and D (see instructions on the RTS PCR)‍
• Cut-off criteria, Assessment period

Life cycle assessment results

• Environmental impacts
• Use of resources
• Waste categories
• Other environmental indicators
• Other information to be declared (emissions to soil, emissions to surface water, indoor air emissions)
• Additional technical information (scenarios used, which help when assessing the building level)
• Application, transportation, waste in worksite, End-of-life, waste processing
• Potentials for reuse, recovery, recycling
• Additional information

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Pre-EPD for products that do not fulfill the one year production requirement

As of 2021 it is possible to apply for Rakennustieto EPDs for products that do not fulfill the one year production requirement.

The product in the pre-EPD must be similar enough compared to a sibling product that has been in production for at least one year, and the LCA for the pre-EPD can be calculated based on the sibling product. The actual consumption of the raw materials (not theoretical), as well as the losses in production must be known for the pre-EPD. The verifier must ensure that the results are reliable. One must clearly state that the EPD declaration is a pre-EPD.

Pre-EPD is valid for 1,5 years after the verification date. After this the Rakennustieto EPD must be updated and verified again and base the calculations on the production data of the pre-EPD product itself. The owner of the pre-EPD must re-apply for the Rakennustieto EPD status by submitting the EPD application form. The applicant must clearly state that it is about renewal of a pre-EPD.

See the classification fees for pre-EPDs here.

Applications of Rakennustieto EPD declarations

An EPD for construction materials can be drawn up for many different applications.

The manufacturer of a construction product can make a declaration

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• For the company’s own use, in order to raise awareness about the environmental impacts of products.
• An EPD can also be made for other companies, in which case the declaration provides the essential information from the point of view of the information needs of other companies.
• An EPD can also be made for consumers. In this case, the most technical information can be left out to focus exclusively on what is essential for the consumer (e.g., carbon footprint and energy consumption). This type of EPD is not following the standard EN 15804

Rakennustieto EPDs are made primarily for “business-to-business” use. The declarations are Type III EPDs, i.e., they provide quantified environmental information about the life cycle of a product to enable comparison between products that perform the same function at the building level. The life cycle assessment has been carried out in accordance with EN ISO 14044 and the construction sector-specific amendments contained in EN 15804 (e.g., system boundaries, modularity, etc.).

EPDs contain all the information that, according to the EN 15804 standard, must be presented in EPDs in communication between companies. They can be produced by one or more organisations for one product or a product group containing similar products. Product information and environmental impact calculations are presented in EPDs as defined in the standard.

What are the applications of EPD information?

The quality and quantity of environmental information vary considerably. EPDs guarantee companies a reliable source of environmental information on construction products. All product declarations bearing the Rakennustieto EPD code are verified by a third party. The verification ensures that the information is

• reliable
• consistent
• comparable at building level
• compliant with up-to-date standards
• easy to process further and readily available

Environmental information of products can be used for comparisons at the building level during planning, when the products are fulfilling the same functional and technical requirements. It is important that the building’s entire life cycle be taken into account in all comparisons at the building level. In this case, primary EPD information includes technical and functional properties and related requirement levels as well as environmental information.

Rakennustieto EPD information is needed when defining:

• harmful substances contained in the product
• suitability of the products for recycling
• suitability of the products for reuse
• suitability of the products for disposal
• resource efficiency of the products
• material efficiency of the products
• the carbon footprint of the products and construction and other environmental impacts

The information declared in Rakennustieto EPDs can be used as source of information for purposes such as RTS Environmental Classification, LEED, BREEAM, DGNB and other assessment, certification and quality control tools for buildings.

Are Rakennustieto EPDs suitable for international use?

Yes. All Rakennustieto EPDs have been drawn up in accordance with EN 15804:A2 2019 (or EN15804: 2012), RTS PCR and product group-specific standards. Therefore, they can be used within the EU. The EN standard differs slightly from the corresponding ISO standard, so Rakennustieto EPDs do not necessarily cover all aspects of information that is needed in e.g. Japan and USA. However, for example, LEED v4 also approves EPDs according to EN 15804.

The EPD operation of Building Information have been audited by ECO Platform and meets all the requirements se for the operation.

Where the information is published?

The Building information Ltd is publishing the EPDs in its website. In addition to that, the EPD information can be published in ILCD+EPD dataformat in the ECO Platform ECO Portal.

Companies have also the possibility to get the Rakennustieto EPD listed in Building Information’s product information service (Rakennustiedon Tuotetieto) and publish the carbon footprint information there.

EPD tools

Tightening environmental requirements for products and construction require faster ways to calculate the environmental impacts. The purpose of EPD tools is to reduce the time spent on calculating environmental impacts and to promote the EPD use.

EPD tools provide manufacturers with environmental impact information from the entire manufacturing process to the final disposal. The purpose is to utilize up-to-date information on the environmental impacts of raw materials and processes. With the tools companies can e.g.

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• Refine the product development
• Develop products with better environmental impacts
• Compare information on building and building component level

Tool verification

The verification of EPD tools differs from the verification of independent EPD’s. The appendix A specifies the differences and requirements for verification of an EPD tool, SAMPLE EPDs’ and Rakennustieto EPDs’ created using an EPD tool. In practice, the following information is required for the approval of an EPD tool:

• Description of the tool (applicable product groups) and name, as well as the users
• Description of the process and the background data sources
• Three different sample EPDs from the tool (three different extreme cases from the tool)
• Three different verification reports completed (tool, PRE EPD and three sample EPDs)
• PRE EPD printed from the tool
• Three sample EPDs from the tool
• Log of the tool changes
• Reference EPD prepared
• Communication report between the tool user and verifier

Simplified verification

The Rakennustieto EPDs composed with an EPD-tool are verified. After the tool has been accepted it helps in the creation and verification of new EPDs for similar products. EPD from an accepted tool can be verified with a simplified verification process. This means that only the information that has been entered is verified. The verifier needs to sign the EPD. The EPD made with the tool is valid for 5 years from the verification.

The accepted tools can be searched on our website with search term “tool”. In the beginning of year 2023 we had 10 accepted tools.

Rakennustieto EPD and ECO Platform

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The EPD Programme of Building Information has been audited and approved into the ECO Platform system.

The holder of an Rakennustieto EPD declaration has the chance to add the EPD information into ECO Platform portal and add ECO Platform logo to the declaration.

ECO Platform has changed the search engine provider and from October 2020, all EPDs published by the Program Operators will be noticed in the new ECO Portal in ILCD format. To publish in the EcoPortal, please send EPD information in ILCD+EPD format as an XML file or ZIP file and excel-file (EN15804:2019).

Additional information on ECOPlatform is available at www.eco-platform.org.

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