Page 18 - Kutnar, Andreja, et al., eds., 2015. Proceedings of the 1st COST Action FP1307 International Conference - Life Cycle Assessment, EPDs, and modified wood. University of Primorska Press, Koper.

erience
in
environmental
declarations
programme
ZAG
EPD

Friderik
Knez1

1
Slovenian
National
Building
and
Civil
Engineering
Institute,
Slovenia,
friderik.knez@zag.si

Keywords:
EPD
programme,
ZAG
EPD,
wood

Environmental
declarations
type
III,
according
to
ISO
14025,
are
a
powerful
tool
to
transparently

communicate
the
environmental
properties
of
products
and
materials
in
Business-­‐to-­‐Business

(B2B)
and
Business-­‐to-­‐Consumer
(B2C)
relations.
However
the
general
methodology
described
in

ISO
14040
and
14044
does
not
provide
sufficient
information
to
enable
fair
comparisons
between

alternatives.
Therefore,
only
limited
value
can
be
extracted
from
an
LCA
itself.
Considering
this,
an

EPD
programme,
named
ZAG
EPD,
was
deployed
in
2012
at
the
Slovenian
National
Building
and

Civil
Engineering
Institute
(ZAG).
Although
the
principles
of
the
programme
are
generalised,
it
is

used
in
the
field
of
construction
products
only.
The
primary
goal
of
the
programme
is
to
provide

independent
and
comparable
information
on
construction
products
used
in
Slovenia.
Further,
the

programme
serves
as
a
basis
for
creating
a
registry
of
sustainable
construction
products
that
can

be
used
in
Slovenia,
in
the
mode
of
other
existing
registries
(such
as
Germany’s
Oekobaudat
or

Austria’s
Baubook)

The
ZAG
EPD
programme
follows
the
same
basic
principles
of
all
programmes
intending
to
comply

with
EN
15804.
The
ZAG
EPD
programme
is
also
a
member
of
the
Ecoplatfom,
an
European

association
of
EPD
programmes
with
the
primary
goal
of
harmonization
of
programme
rules.

Although
direct
comparison
of
products
based
on
LCA
is
methodologically
unsound,
efforts
to

improve
LCA
comparability
are
being
studied.
One
of
these
efforts
is
the
construction
of
an
EPD

programme
based
on
product
category
rules
(PCRs),
sufficiently
precise
to
provide
reliable

guidance
for
LCA
practitioners.

The
ZAG
EPD
programme
uses
a
two-­‐fold
approach:
either
checking,
accepting,
and
using
existing

PCR
or
creating
an
original
PCR.
In
practice,
existing
PCRs
used
by
the
IBU
(Institut
fuer
Bauen
und

Umwelt)
programme
are
used.
The
reason
for
selecting
this
particular
programme
as
an

alternative
to
creating
original
PCRs
in
the
ZAG
EPD
programme
is
mainly
comparability,
as
most

customers
of
ZAG
EPD
are
active
also
on
German
market.

The
ZAG
EPD
programme
consists
of
several
important
building-­‐blocks:

-­‐
rules
for
LCA
studies
to
be
used
as
a
basis
for
an
EPD

-­‐
LCA
project
report
verification
requirements

-­‐
independent
regulating
body
for
PCRs,

6