Sustainability – EPDs

As industry continues to evolve in a collective drive towards Net Zero Carbon, MPA Asphalt members, their customers and end clients are faced with many challenges, including how to accurately and consistently measure progress.

A key element of evidencing such progress is establishing reliable and consistent methodologies for the assessment of environmental performance. The predominating indicator targeted for reduction is Global Warming Potential (GWP), typically known as the ‘carbon footprint’.

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) effectively combines the calculated environmental impacts, including GWP, of the components used and the operations involved in the life cycle of constructing, operating, maintaining and eventual deconstruction (and recycling) of an asset. The methodology is set out in BS EN 15804:2012+A2:2019. However, without a consistent starting point there is potential for a lack of clarity for clients regarding the outputs from EPDs and the risk of not comparing options and alternatives on a like-for-like basis.

To address the above challenges and to provide clarity to our members and clients, MPA has published a number of verified Sector-Level Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), using the current (2024) OneClick LCA tool. These EPDs were derived from collated and generic industry data, against which, each supplier can deploy its own primary data to demonstrate and gain recognition for any reductions.

See also a briefing on this Sector Level approach.

The following verified MPA Asphalt EPDs are current: