A leading third-party certifier for the green building industry, SCS Global Services has enhanced its Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and Health Product Declaration (HPD) support program. The enhancements are designed to more effectively fulfill what SCS contends is the promise of transparency, accuracy, scientific credibility, and comparability offered by these product declaration tools, while remaining flexible and responsive to the needs of individual companies.
Architects, designers, and specifiers are increasingly seeking EPDs and HPDs in response to new building project credits offered under USGBC LEED v4. EPDs are summary reports of product-related
environmental impacts based on a “cradle- to-grave” life cycle assessment (LCA). HPDs are disclosures of product content and potential health hazards from chemicals of concern. “SCS provides two types of EPDs—basic EPDs for those seeking LEED v4 credits, and ‘Full Transparency’ EPDs providing even more comprehensive and reliable information based on advanced LCA,” says Environmental Certification Services
Managing Director Stowe Beam. “Similarly, we help companies satisfy their essential HPD obligations, and also offer extended services that enable companies to more fully communicate the safety of potentially hazardous chemicals in products, as well as options for making long-term improvements to those products.”
The company has been innovating in the field of LCA and LCA-related ecolabeling since the early 1990s, he adds, when it pioneered the world’s first EPDs, then called Environmental Report Cards. In 1997, it introduced the international standards development community to this concept, which was adopted as “Type III” LCA-based environmental disclosure labeling. Today, SCS is a major contributor to the new, voluntary LCA standard being developed through the ANSI process, LEOSCS- 002. This standard incorporates advanced LCA metrics and improved environmental data access to increase the accuracy, reliability, and ultimate usefulness of LCA results related to environmental and human health impacts.
SCS’ HPD services build upon years of experience working with companies along entire life cycle supply chains. These services include consulting to help companies navigate the complexities of compiling relevant data from suppliers regarding chemicals of concern. SCS also provides independent verification of completed HPDs according to the guidelines being established by the Health Product Declaration Collaborative and the “Pilot Third Party Verification Program” launched late last year at Greenbuild International Conference and Expo.
HPD and EPD services complement SCS’ full suite of certification offerings for building products and manufacturing processes that help building industry professionals earn LEED credits. — www.scsglobalservices.com