The revision of ISO 21930:2017, Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works – Core rules for environmental product declarations of construction products and services, aims to help assess the eco-friendliness of a building or infrastructure project using a common method for expressing environmental product declarations (EPD). The revised standard, which replaces ISO 21930:2007, was updated in response to, and to align with, actual experience in the different markets and EPD programs around the world.
In terms of a construction product, an EPD is a transparent declaration of its life-cycle impact, and incorporates raw material production, construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning. This provides the information required to assess the environmental impact of an entire building or civil engineering works.
EPDs provide a transparent, independent, and reproducible analysis of the environmental impacts of construction products and give detailed information with sound data and figures. As such, they form the basis for designing green buildings and other civil engineering works.
EPDs developed in accordance with ISO 21930 serve as a “green building” tool using a fair, open, and science-based evaluation process that allows all materials and products to compete on a level playing field.
Leader of the team of experts that developed the new standard, Anne Roenning, said, “In the world of construction, ISO 21930 has the capacity to make a major contribution to building a more sustainable future for our planet.
“It will significantly contribute to reducing climate change and other environmental impacts attributable to the construction sector and the built environment,” Roenning said.
Quantifying a building’s sustainability using ISO 21930 offers advantages, which include:
- Comparability—Ensuring that comparable environmental information is generated and used, without creating technical barriers to trade.
- Efficiency—Reducing the “environmental footprint” through a better understanding of the impacts within the chain of processes involved in producing products.
- Reliability—Providing increased credibility and a level of confidence that enables the public to use such information for decision making when choosing and using construction products.
ISO 21930 is intended to be used by providers and users of information related to environmental performance of construction products, including designers, manufacturers, end users and owners in the building and construction sector, as well as those involved in EPD programs.