Guidance for Procurers
This guidance aims to help procurers identify and interpret the circular information that can be expected in a furniture EPD.
Note: The guidance is based on EPDs for furniture and the information may vary for other product categories.
What is an LCA, EPD and PCR?
To understand how an EPD can be used and interpreted, it is important to define some key terms. Different EPD program operators may use synonyms for the same concepts, and in this text, the terms used by the largest program operator will be used.
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method for calculating the environmental impact of a product or service throughout its life cycle, including production, use, and waste management. To ensure comparable results from bidders when using LCA data in procurement, it is essential that calculations and reporting are done on similar grounds. These guidelines are called PCR (Product Category Rules), and together with ISO standards, they specify how calculations should be done for an EPD (Environmental Product Declaration).
An EPD is a public summary of an LCA that follows a specific PCR and has been third-party verified by a program operator. In some product groups, such as furniture, a supplementary PCR (also called c-PCR or a-PCR) with rules and recommendations for a specific product type is also used. Whether a c-PCR is needed or not varies.
This guidance is based on EPD Norway's c-PCR for furniture (NPCR 025 PCR – Part B for Furniture Ver. 2), which in turn builds on a PCR for construction products and services (NPCR Part A: Construction products and services Ver 2.). By referring to a specific PCR (and possibly c-PCR) in a procurement, it can be ensured that the submitted EPDs are created under the same conditions. In procurement, it is possible to refer to a specific PCR that is already established.
The EPD owner is responsible for the information provided in the EPD. If there are questions about the content, it is recommended to contact the EPD owner. The general information at the beginning of the EPD also shows who conducted the LCA calculations.
Procurement of Needs and Expected Lifespan
Procuring circularly and from a life cycle perspective often involves focusing on extending product lifespans. EPDs systematically take into account the product's lifespan. To apply this in procurement, it is important to understand how a product's lifespan is addressed, as this can differ from how lifespan is discussed in other contexts.
Functional Unit, Reference Service Life, and Expected Lifespan
Terms to look for: RSL, Reference Service Life, ESL, Expected Service Life, Estimated Service Life, Life Expectancy, LCA information, General Information, Programme Information.
To enable comparisons between EPDs, a functional unit can be used, representing a standardized amount of the function the product offers. For a furniture EPD, the functional unit is usually a functioning piece of furniture over a certain period, a so-called reference service life (RSL). These are often determined by the PCR or industry standards.
If a piece of furniture has an expected service life (ESL) that differs from the reference service life, the functional unit is adjusted accordingly. This means, for example, that if the reference service life for a piece of furniture is 10 years and the expected service life is 5 years, two (2) pieces of furniture will need to be produced. Thus, the functional unit is 2. If the expected service life is instead 20 years, the functional unit becomes half (0.5) of a piece of furniture. If the EPD owner chooses to include circular measures that extend the product's lifespan, such as repair or refurbishment, the expected service life is extended, which in turn affects the functional unit and the product's environmental impact. Information about RSL and ESL can be found in the LCA information at the beginning of an EPD.
Note: Different program operators use the terms "Reference Service Life" and "Estimated Service Life" in different ways or use the terms synonymously. It is important that you know how the PCR you choose has interpreted the terms. However, the mindset and application in LCA calculations are the same.
Reference Service Life: 10 years | Estimated Service Life | Number of furniture needed to meet the functional unit |
|---|---|---|
Furniture 1 | 5 years | 2 |
Furniture 2 | 10 years | 1 |
Furniture 3 | 20 years | 0,5 |
When using EPDs in procurement, it is important to compare the reference service life and the expected service life with the needs the procurement is intended to meet. Procurers (and buyers) should consider whether the expected service life is important and whether the assumptions about use and wear align with the need, and can find much of this information in the EPD description.
Product Content
Terms to look for: Content Information, Content Declaration, Product Information, Product Specification
An EPD describes the material and chemical content of the product, which can be used to verify circular requirements for specific material choices or the proportion of recycled material in the product. Note that the content declaration only covers what is in the final product and not what is used during the production process. However, the use of chemicals in production is included in the LCA calculations, where their environmental impact is reported. This means that increased circularity upstream in manufacturing can have a positive impact on the LCA result, but it may not necessarily be reflected in the content declaration.
What is mandatory to include in the product content is stated in the PCR and if any the c-PCR. In NPCR Part A for Construction products and services
External link, opens in new window., it is stated that for furniture, substances of very high concern (SVHC) or those on the candidate list in REACH must be included if the final product contains 0.1% or more of the substance.
Assumptions and Boundaries
Terms to look for: System Boundaries, System Diagram.
o calculate the environmental impact of furniture, its life cycle is divided into different modules. These modules are standardized within the EPD system and in the EPD's LCA calculations, but they may be referred to by different terms and visually presented in different ways in the EPD itself. Another example is the use of terms such as upstream and downstream. The EPD section on system boundaries shows which parts of the furniture's life cycle are included in the LCA calculations. Detailed information about assumptions and any exclusions in the LCA calculations can also be found under LCA information. PCR and c-PCR specify which modules are mandatory or optional for the specific product group. Below is an example of how the different modules are divided for a furniture EPD that follows NPCR 025 PCR – Part B for Furniture Ver. 2, a c-PCR created by EPD Norway and also used by EPD International.
- Module A: Production Phase: Here, the environmental impact from raw material extraction, transportation, production, and installation of the product is calculated. The use of recycled or reused material in production is reported here.
- Module B: Use Phase: Extension of lifespan through maintenance, refurbishment, and repair can be reported here. For furniture, these are often assumed to be negligible. If the EPD owner can demonstrate that repairs and refurbishments are carried out to extend the furniture's lifespan, the environmental impact of these processes could increase the LCA result in module B, but lower the environmental impact per functional unit (if the functional unit is expressed as a function per time unit) for the entire product life cycle.
- Module C: End-of-Life Stage: A furniture EPD also includes the product's end-of-life stage, i.e., when the furniture becomes waste, is reused, or recycled. If there is no information on what happens after the furniture is discarded, LCA calculations are based on the most likely scenario, such as disposal or recycling. Circular handling of the product, such as reuse and recycling, reduces the impact in this module, but there will always be some form of impact from, for example, transportation or processing of the recycled material. As a procurer and buyer, it is also worth considering that your organization determines how the discarded furniture is managed, for example, whether it is thrown away or reused. The calculations in module C are based on assumptions about how the furniture will be handled after it is discarded.
- Module D – Benefits and Loads Beyond the System Boundaries:This module differs from the other modules and looks outside the product's system boundaries, which can mean either an increased or decreased environmental burden in other systems. Circular processes and their positive aspects can be identified here. If the furniture is reused or recycled, this can be reported as a reduced environmental burden in other systems, as the demand for virgin material decreases. Circular handling of the furniture can therefore result in a negative entry in module D, as it means a reduction in environmental burden in another system. The use of recycled material in the product will not be reported in this module, as it has already been included in module A.
Environmental Impact Assessment
Termer att leta efter: LCA Results, Environmental Performance Indicators Results, Environmental Eerformance
Indicators
LCA results show the product's environmental impact by converting these into different impact factors, such as climate impact, acidification, toxicity, etc. In ISO SS-EN 15804:2012+A2:2019/AC:2021 and the chosen PCR, it is stated which indicators are mandatory. Additional indicators requested by customers, or the industry, can also be included, provided they have been included as a voluntary indicator in the product's PCR. A procuring organization cannot require whatever indicator they want, but can request indicators that are included in the PCR.
Interpreting the LCA Results
In which modules the greatest impact is shown according to the indicators can guide EPD owners in where in the life cycle their product's primary impact lies. However, interpreting the LCA result in a single module or indicator alone can sometimes be misleading. An example of this is the production of wooden furniture's biogenic climate impact in module A, which is described in the next section. To avoid misunderstandings, it is therefore important to include all modules, even though you as a procuring entity have the ability to influence module C.
Wooden Furniture and Climate Impact
Terms to look for: Climate Change Fossil, Climate Change Biogenic, Global Warming Potential Fossil, Global Warming Potential Biogenic.
Promoting renewable raw materials, such as wood, in procurement is considered circular. To highlight this circular aspect, the climate impact from carbon from fossil and biogenic sources is separated according to EPD standards. Emissions of biogenic carbon in waste incineration are offset by the uptake of the same amount of biogenic carbon in forestry, which according to LCA calculations in an EPD gives a net-zero impact on the climate over the entire product life cycle.
In an EPD, therefore, the use of biogenic materials in furniture can result in lower climate impact compared to if fossil materials had been used. However, to get an accurate picture of the climate impact, it is important to consider the entire product life cycle, including both production (module A) and waste management (module C). If the reader of the EPD only considers module A, they will only see the uptake of biogenic carbon in the forest, but not the release in module C and its negative climate impact. This can give a false impression that an increase in production (and in a procurer's or buyer's case, purchases) of wooden furniture results in ever greater climate gains, especially if the reader only takes the biogenic climate impact indicator into account. It is therefore important to consider the entire life cycle when interpreting LCA results and to include the total climate impact from both fossil and biogenic carbon to get an accurate overall picture of the furniture's climate impact.
The assumption that the climate impact of forestry products is net-zero is common, but research shows that it is not that simple. The carbon balance is complex and is influenced by several factors such as forest type, forestry methods, and time perspective. It is therefore important to be cautious with the assumption that emissions of biogenic carbon during waste incineration automatically correspond to an equal uptake in forestry.