Full Suite Of Updated EPDs Sets Industry Up To Meet Market Needs
By Jackson Morrill
President & CEO of the American Wood Council
awc.org
The American Wood Council has released updated versions of its 10 Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for softwood lumber and engineered wood products. The updated versions include new, regional EPDs for softwood lumber and softwood plywood, marking the first time AWC has published region-specific EPDs for those products.
AWC, led by its members, chose to move from a single, North American EPD to region-specific EPDs to meet the growing market desire for more granular reporting and demonstrate the industry’s commitment to transparency. For softwood lumber, there are now four regional U.S. EPDs, Inland Northwest, South, North and Pacific Coast. Plywood moved from a single EPD to two distinct regions, South and West.
The increased granularity was possible because of the industry’s commitment to data transparency and reporting through AWC’s Life Cycle Survey, which collects mill-level data that is then aggregated and analyzed to form the base of the EPDs. AWC also partnered with the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM) and the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement to ensure data quality. In addition, all of AWC’s EPDs are third-party verified by the American Society for Testing and Materials to ensure compliance with the International Organization for Standardization’s standards that govern EPD development.
In addition to the new regional EPDs, AWC also led the industry updates to the EPDs for several engineered wood products, including Oriented Strand Board, Laminated Strand Lumber, Glued Laminated Timber and Laminated Veneer Lumber.
The full suite of industry EPDs are a demonstration of the U.S. wood product industry’s commitment to leading with transparency. The industry is dedicated to making sure data is used appropriately and aggregated in a way that is accessible and representative, resulting in high-quality EPDs. These new EPDs are a significant moment for the industry, and the data they present continues to reinforce that U.S. wood products are beyond compare when looking for a building material that can meaningfully reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment.
The new EPDs, along with all other EPDs AWC maintains, are accessible on AWC’s website.
