Frequently asked questions

Complaints must be sent to post@epd-norge.no, subject: Complaint

The complaint must describe the nature of the complaint, including documentation, if relevant, and the type of complaint, e.g., EPD-Complaint, PCR-Complaint, EPD-Norway/Digi Complaint, Financial/invoice complaint, or other kind of complaint.

See GPI, Appendix I Complaint handling

The use of reference EPDs and project EPDs is relatively new and no international standard has been established for how project EPDs should be. This is the routines for reference EPDs and Project EPDs

• A Reference EPD must be published by EPD Norway
• The Project EPD must refer to a published Reference EPD and include the EPD number
• A Project EPD must be closely related to the Reference EPD (e.g. minor variations, within the same product family etc)
• A Project EPD must contain project related information as production site, volume, transport to project (A4), C and D modules and if relevant A5.
• Unlimited number of Project EPDs can be developed based on published d Reference EPD.
• The Project EPDs must be in accordance to the PCR and standards which the Reference EPD is based on
• The Project EPDs shall not be sent to EPD-Norway, but directly to the user of the Project EPDs

See also this article (in norwegian)

The EPD-Norway approach with regards to certified biogas has been that we do not allow contractual tools for biogas in the core results. It may be reported in the additional information section of the EPD (e.g. using double sets of results).

Results using contractual tools for biogas shall be explicitly stated in the table headers.

In EN15804:2012+A2:2019 section 6.3.8.2 Data quality requirements it is specified that data sets shall, as a general rule, be based on 1 year averaged data. Deviations from this general rule are allowed, but they shall be justified. EPD-Norway has not defined specific criteria for when deviations are justified, this must be considered on an individual basis as part of the verification process. Minor deviations are typically evaluated by the verifier. For major deviations, it is strongly recommended to have a dialogue with EPD-Norway early in the EPD development process. 

If deviations are considered justified: It is a requirement to address such deviations in both the LCA report (e.g. a life cycle interpretation based on a sensitivity analysis) and in the EPD (e.g. under data quality). If deviations are not considered justified: The EPD must be revised and the data shall be based on 1 year averaged data. 

Many factors can be influence the LCIA results. Justification of deviations should identify the most significant factors that may influence the LCIA results. Examples of such factors are product variation, stability of production process, stability of raw materials, seasonal variations, predictability of production, etc.

NOTE: Section 4.4 in the GPI provides guidance for updating the EPD. An agreement should be established between the EPD owner and the verifier to ensure that the content of the EPD during the validity period is correct. The EPD should be evaluated when there is 1 year of data available. If there is a need for adjustments to the EPD, the verifier must submit a verification report (online report) to EPD-Norge with the adjusted EPD enclosed. It is not necessary to carry out a full LCA, only the changes affected by the adjustment need to be verified. When updating an EPD, the same requirements shall be satisfied as when the original declaration was made.

Correlation between LCA framework and EN 15804 and EN 50693 modules

EPDs are based on LCA calculations. LCA is conducted by defining product systems as models that describe key elements of the product system i.e., extraction of raw materials, production, use, and end-of-life of the product. As required by the ISO 14040 & 14044 [1], consistency of system boundaries is important for good LCA studies. Analogously, this applies to EPDs as well.

Depending on product type, EPDs are based on different standards and Product Category Rules (PCRs). Moreover, there are slight differences in the definitions of the life cycle stages in the standards and PCRs. For example, the general LCA framework generally categorizes life cycle stages of products into upstream[1], core[2], and downstream[3] value chain activities.  The EN 50693 standard [2] uses the manufacturing, distribution, installation, use, de-installation, and end-of-life stages. The EN 15804 Standard, on the other hand further disaggregates the life cycle stages into A1-A3, A4, A5, B1-B7, C1-C4, and D modules [3]. As a result, an appropriate correlation between the life cycle stages is essential for correctly interpreting and understanding LCA and EPD results. The correlation between the life cycle stage definitions in the general LCA framework, the EN 15804, and EN 50693 are shown in Table 1.

Interpretation in the different standards

The environmental impacts associated allocated to upstream processes include modules A1 and A2 in (EN 15804). This corresponds to section 4.2.4.2 parts a & b of the EN 50693.

Whereas the Core life cycle stage corresponds to A2 in EN 15804, the core is part of the manufacturing stage in EN 50693 (section 4.2.4.2 – c & d).

All the remaining life cycle stages are categorized as downstream, and it includes value chain activities occurring after the product exits the manufacturing facility. In the EN 15804 standard, it comprises the A4, A5, B1-B7, C1-C4, and D modules. In EN 50693, it contains the distribution, installation, use, de-installation, and end-of-life stages.

Whereas environmental loads and benefits of the product system are aggregated into module D in the EN 15804 standard, it must be reported separately for each life cycle stage in EN 50693.

Note

1. Whereas results from one module can be aggregated into another, disaggregation is impossible. For example, comparing the EN 15804 and EN 50693 standards, environmental impacts from modules A1, A2, and A3 (EN 15804) can be aggregated into the manufacturing stage (of EN 50693). However, environmental impacts of the manufacturing stage (EN 50693) cannot be disaggregated into A1, A2, and A3 modules (of EN 15804).
2. Environmental impact indicators must be determined by using the characterization factors and impact assessment methods as stated in EN 15804:2012+A2:2019.

IOBC «Instantaneous oxidation of biogenic carbon»: Reference for its origin: https://cbmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13021-019-0129-5

The GWP-IOBC/GHG indicator includes all contribution to GWP except that emissions and uptake of  biogenic carbon, including temporary stored in products and packaging (as in Table 9 in EN 15804:2012+A2:2019), which is set to zero (i.e. direct balanced out while other biogenic substances like methane etc has a characterisation factor and therefore accounted for as greenhouse gases). This indicator is often the default in LCA-software in the past and has in the EN 15804 standardisation process been known as «+/- 1 kg biogenic CO₂ = 0 kg CO₂e, or just 0/0». In published standards, it is described as type 2 in EN 16760.

Ja, alle kan i prinsippet benytte EPDer, men det er noen regler som må følges. Se General Program Instructions, kapitel 2.1.8

Det er Teknisk komité (TC) i EPD-Norge som avgjør hvilke PCR-dokumenter som kan benyttes. Ta derfor kontakt med TC for å få svar på spørsmål om spesifikke PCR-dokumenter.

Det er 3 sider i EPD-malen som er obligatorisk å bruke: Første og andre side, samt siste side. For de øvrige sidene er malen et godt utgangspunkt, men det er ikke et krav til at den skal brukes.

For byggevarer skal EN15804 brukes. Dette betyr at det er karakteriseringsfaktorene fra CML, slik de er speifisert i vedlegget til EN15804, som skal benyttes. Årsaken til dette er at resultatene skal være sammenlignbare mellom EPDer. I noen tilfeller kan det være ønskelig at resultatene oppgis ved bruk av ReCiPe eller andre metoder. I disse tilfellene er det mulig å ta med disse i tillegg til CML, men de kan ikke brukes i stedet for CML.

Vannforbruk (net water use, water consumption) er en indikator som beskriver hvor mye vann som forbrukes. Her er det sentralt å vite at vannforbruk ikke er en miljøpåvirkningskategori, men en del av livsløpregnskapet/livsløpsinventaret. Indikatoren beskriver hvor mye vann som forbrukes, ikke hvor mye vann som brukes. En definisjon som kan være nyttig for å forstå forskjellen, er denne:

The distinction between water consumption and water use is essential. While the water use covers nearly the whole off-stream water input and all types of water utilisation (e.g. cooling, irrigation etc.), the water consumption describes only the amount of water that is lost to a watershed as a result of the off-stream activities considered. Water consumption is sometimes also called “net water use” or “net water withdrawal”. (Flury et al 2012)

Vannforbruk inkluderer altså ikke vann som slippes ut igjen til samme vannskille, for eksempel i vannkraftverk eller kjølevann.