EPD International AB

Product-related environmental issues are becoming increasingly important for companies and other organizations. The international EPD system is an information system that objectively describes the environmental impact of products and services from a life cycle perspective. The purpose is to provide relevant, quality-assured and comparable information on the environmental performance of goods and services in so-called environmental product declarations (EPD).

The need for qualified environmental information is increasing rapidly in line with a growing awareness of the environmental impact of goods services throughout the life cycle. In order to meet information requirements from various stakeholders, many companies therefore wish to describe the environmental impact of their products. Through the EPD system, they have the opportunity to do this in a credible way.

Environmentally adapted procurement

Perhaps one of the most important areas of use for EPD is environmentally friendly procurement. Many manufacturers, sellers and buyers increasingly need data that forms the basis for making objective assessments and fair comparisons of what goods and products contain, but also to see what these cause for environmental problems in a life cycle perspective. Many consumer products now also have EPDs, for example food and electricity are two of the largest product groups with EPDs.

Information on products climate impact.

All environmental product declarations are reviewed and verified by an independent third party before they are approved and published on environdec.com External link, opens in new window.. The system also gives organizations the opportunity to provide information on products climate impact in the form of climate declarations. But an environmental product declaration can also contain other information that a company considers to be of great value in communicating to a broad target group, for example the company's environmental work or the work with social responsibility.

International system

Sweden has long been a pioneer in the communication of products' environmental performance. But since 1998, when the EPD system was launched, interest from different countries has increased and thus it has been gradually transformed into an international system. Today, EPDs are registered from 45 countries around the world.

IVL is responsible for the EPD system

IVL Swedish Environmental Institute took over the operation of the international EPD system on 1 July 2014, when the Environmental Management Council was wound up. The government was looking for a new stable and independent player who could manage the system.
IVL has been a strong driver in the international development of ISO standards and LCA since the 1990s.

Read more about the International EPD® system at environdec.com External link, opens in new window..