The International EPD System

Welcome to the house of EPDs!

Innovating the oldest EPD System in the World.

Global EPD programme for publication of ISO 14025 and EN 15804 compliant EPDs

The International EPD System is owned and operated by EPD International AB. The program is operated in accordance with a.o. ISO 14025, ISO/TS 14027, ISO 14040, ISO 14044 and ISO 14067. For construction products, our EPD programme also complies with the European standard EN 15804 (A1 and A2) as well as ISO 21930.

The International EPD System is the world’s first and longest operational EPD programme, originally founded in 1998 as the Swedish EPD System by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and industry.

Third-party verified EPDs based on ISO 14025 and EN 15804 are published against a commercial fee. In addition, supplemental environmental communication services, such as but not limited to Carbon Footprint Declarations (CFP) according to ISO 14067, ECO Platform EPD registrations and digital/machine-readable datasets developed with so-called EPD tools for use in third party software solutions are on offer.

  • The International EPD System is the inventor of the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and the Product Category Rules (PCR).
  • The International EPD System is open to private and public organizations from most countries, and any product category. As of today, +400 organisations from almost 50 countries publish their EPDs via the programme.
  • The International EPD System has a global service network (independent licensees) with exclusive representations in the following territories: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam) and Turkey. All other nations are managed via EPD International AB from our offices in Sweden.
  • Strategic partnerships with LCA-consultants, verifiers and accredited verification bodies
  • EPDs with global validity accepted in various Green Building Schemes (e.g. BREEAM, LEED), Building Information Management (BIM) software for building LCAs and Green Public Procurement.

Organizational structure and process

The graph shows the flowchart for the organizational structure and process of The International EPD System (System).

As an EPD programme operator registered as a limited company - EPD International AB - under Swedish law, we need to fulfil a number of mandatory obligations as set-out e.g. in the Swedish national company laws, but also in ISO standards, ISO 14025 in particular.

These managerial and technical/methodological duties and obligations are mainly divided between the company's Board of Directors, the EPD Secretariat, the Technical Committee (TC) and the International Advisory Board (IAB).

The Secretariat is governed by its Board of Directors who has the overall programme responsibility. The Secretariat is responsible for the overall (operational) management of The International EPD System.
In orange, the main administrative structure and processes are shown.

Both the Technical Committee and International Advisory Board have advisory and support responsibilities.

In green colour, the PCR selection resp. PCR development, and in light orange the EPD verification structure and process are presented.

More information accessible via:

GPI 5.0

Technical Committee

The Technical Committee's responsibility is to advise and assist the EPD Secretariat.

The Technical Committee:

  • acts as the PCR review panel for the review and approval of final draft PCRs,
  • proposes a general LCA methodology for declarations and suggest measures for the further development of technical and LCA-oriented issues within the framework of the programme,
  • supports the Secretariat in technical issues,
  • considers applications and approve LCA/EPD/PCR experts to act as individual verifiers and suggest measures for the surveillance of their competences, and
  • performs sample checks to ensure that verifications done by individual verifiers are carried out according to the General Programme Instructions.

Technical Committee members (as per December 2024)

Our Technical Committee shall operate according to specified routines and is currently staffed with the following independent members: ​

  • Paola Borla (Chair), who is also a member of our International Advisory Board, Professional Consultant, Life Cycle Engineering, Italy.
    Product category expertise: Construction products, Food & beverages, Fuels & chemical products, Glass & plastic products, Paper products. ​
  • Andrew Norton, Director, Renuables, United Kingdom. Product category expertise: Food & beverages, Construction products, Infrastructure & buildings, Furniture & other goods, Glass & plastic products, Paper products. ​
  • Bárbara M. Civit, Researcher, UTN FRM – CONICET, Argentina.
    Product category expertise: Food & beverages, Mining products, Packaging products, Construction products, Tourism services. ​
  • Claudia A. Peña, Director of Sustainability at ADDERE Research & Technology, Co-Director HUB EPD Latin America.
    Product category expertise: Minerals & basic ores, Metal products, Construction products. ​
  • Daniel Olausson, CPO, Bimobject, Sweden.
    Product category expertise: Construction products, Vehicle & transport equipment. ​
  • Diogo Aparecido Lopes Silva, Professor, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brazil.
    Product category expertise: Manufacturing processes, Wood and wood-based products, Biomass and bioenergy.
    ​
  • Elia Rillo, Senior LCA Expert, Studio Fieschi & soci, Italy.
    Product category expertise: Construction products, Textile, Apparel & footwear, Metal products, Plastic products.
    ​
  • Gorka Benito Alonso, Project manager, IK Ingenieria, Spain.
    Product category expertise: Construction products, Vehicles & transport equipment, Furniture, Infrastructure & buildings, Metal, plastic, and glass products. ​
  • Hüdai Kara, Managing Director, Metsims Sustainability Consulting, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
    Product category expertise: Textiles, footwear & apparel, Metal products, Construction products. ​
  • Julie Sinistore, Senior Project Director, WSP, USA.
    Product category expertise: Food, agriculture, electronics/IT, apparel, financial and construction goods and services. ​
  • Nasser Ayoub, Professional Consultant, DCarbon Egypt, CEO Hub EPD Egypt, Egypt. Product category expertise: t.b.a. ​
  • Noa Meron, LCA Team Lead, thinkstep-anz, New Zealand.
    Product category expertise: Construction products, Furniture, Packaging materials, Electronic products, Textiles, Machinery & equipment. ​
  • Rob Rouwette, Professional Consultant, start2see, Australia.
    Product category expertise: Construction products. ​
  • Rui Wang, Senior LCA specialist, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (China office), China.
    Product category expertise: Energy facilities & products, Construction products, Transportation products, Chemicals, Electronics, Steel, Aluminum, Waste treatment servicse. ​
  • Sanjeevan Bajaj, Director, CRPG, India; Director SAEL, India.
    Product category expertise: Agricultural crops, Textiles. ​
  • Sophie Kieselbach, Senior Implementation Engineer, Makersite, Austria.
    Product category expertise: Building and construction, Packaging materials, Automotive industry, Machinery, Electronics, Renewable materials.

International Advisory Board

Because market acceptance and requirements matter!

The International Advisory Board (IAB) is the advisory board that supports the Secretariat to increase the market acceptance and uptake of the International EPD System and suggests activities and events aimed at promoting its establishment and applicability. ​ The IAB supports the Secretariat in:

  • considering and proposing new potential audiences and applications for EPDs
  • providing market inputs to the work of preparing the General Programme Instructions and other activities to revise and update the programme.

The International Advisory Board (IAB) should consist of a group of EPD stakeholders from different industry sectors and countries. It's open to representants from public and private organizations. Membership in the IAB shall be based on the assessed need to fulfil its roles and nominations by EPD stakeholders.

International Advisory Board members (as per January 2024)

  • P. Borla (Chair Technical Committee), Life Cycle Engineering
  • M. Cook, European General Galvanizers Association (EGGA)
  • J. Depelchin, 3M Research & Development
  • R. Epsom, CBRE Global Investors
  • M. Fieschi, Studio Fieschi & Soci
  • D. Maglica, Blue Systems
  • M. Medard, Saint-Gobain
  • E. Riise, Essity Hygiene and Health
  • F. Sessa, Quantis International
  • G. Silberman, Tenaris
  • M. Di Stefano, Granarolo

The members of the IAB can be contacted via the Secretariat.