Using Rakennustieto EPD

Uses of EPD information

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

The manufacturer of a construction product can make a declaration

• 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 uses 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?

Rakennustieto Oy 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.