The North American wood products industry is committed to sustainability in its products and their use. In support of this commitment, we are pleased to share third-party verified Environmental Product Declarations and Transparency Briefs that describe the environmental performance of many of the products we produce.
American and Canadian Wood Councils Release Wood Environmental Product Declarations
An EPD Transparency Brief summarizes the most critical data presented in an EPD. It provides all critical information about a product from the EPD, including its composition, life-cycle environmental impacts, material content, water and energy usage, and other product information, all in a format standardized by the third-party verifier, UL Environment. The intent of the Transparency Brief is to make it easier for users to see key product details and allow them to focus on just the environmental data.
All North American wood industry EPDs shared here have been independently third-party verified by UL Environment (ULE), a business unit of Underwriters Laboratories. ULE verifies that EPDs conform to the requirements of ISO 14025, the global standard governing EPDs. Their review looks at both the underlying life-cycle assessments as well as the data reported in the EPDs.
As required by the international standard, these wood product EPDs provide measurements for:
- Global Warming Potential
- Primary Energy Consumption
- Material Resources Consumption
- Non-hazardous Waste Generation
- Acidification Potential
- Eutrophication Potential
- Ozone Depletion Potential
- Smog Potential
The wood products industry has many manufacturers located across North America. Because these EPDs are intended to characterize the environmental performance of individual products, their scope covers "cradle-to-gate," or from raw material harvest through when the finished product is ready to leave the manufacturing facility. As there are too many possible uses for each product after manufacturing to make reasonable assumptions about their use-phase impacts, these EPDs do not cover the gate-to-grave phase of their life cycle.
Whether you are a builder, designer, or consumer, you want to know about the products you specify and use. We invite you to download these EPDs for your use and future reference.
Questions & Answers on EPDs - "Where can I find information on Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for Wood?"
What are EPDs?
Additional Wood Product EPDs
Western Red Cedar Lumber Association - Select the EPD'S tab on the WRCLA site