The Role of Environmental Product Declarations in the Decarbonization of Building Materials and Components

Francesco Asdrubali (), Gianluca Grazieschi and Dante Maria Gandola
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Francesco Asdrubali: Department of International Human and Social Sciences, Perugia Foreigners’ University, Piazza B. Fortebraccio 4, 06123 Perugia, Italy
Gianluca Grazieschi: Institute for Renewable Energy, Eurac Research, Via A. Volta 13/A, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Dante Maria Gandola: Department of International Human and Social Sciences, Perugia Foreigners’ University, Piazza B. Fortebraccio 4, 06123 Perugia, Italy

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-29

Abstract: As energy efficiency measures have reduced the operational carbon footprint of buildings, the significance of embodied carbon has increased. Efforts by all construction players, including material and component manufacturers, are needed to avoid burdens shifting towards embodied impacts. Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) can represent useful instruments to push the decarbonization of construction materials. This study examines EPDs to assess the embodied GWP of insulation materials, bricks, concrete, cement, steel, and natural stones. The variance structure of the GWP was studied for each material, the main variation parameters were detected, and statistically significant categories were identified. For each category reference values were calculated (i.e., mean or median values, lower and upper interquartile ranges, and box plot whiskers) which can be useful for manufacturers to reduce the impact of their products, for EPD verifiers to detect outliers, and for designers to determine safety coefficients for using EPD data in the early design stage. Consolidated results were achieved for materials produced through standardized processes whose GWP variability was mainly structured around universal physical properties or production techniques. More localized or artisanal products demonstrate higher decarbonization potential but require further segmentation and additional GWP data to establish more robust reduction benchmarks.

Keywords: building materials; building components; environmental product declarations (EPDs); life cycle assessment (LCA); embodied carbon; embodied energy; decarbonization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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