Investigating the Effect of Environmental Product Declaration Adoption in LEED® on the Construction Industry: A Case Study

Industry adoption of environmental product declarations (EPDs, an internationally standardized document providing quantified environmental impacts over the life cycle of a product) is increasing as LEED® v4 material credits allow reliance on their content. This raises the question as to whether this reliance is appropriate, as well as larger questions about how it is affecting the wider construction industry. A case study is presented to investigate the use of EPDs in construction projects through the experience and perspective of members of three major stakeholder groups: Owner/Client, Designer, and Contractor. This includes the motivations for using EPDs, potential concerns with the methodology and creation of EPDs, the reliance of the information within EPDs and determining appropriateness of this reliance through the various stages of project delivery. Findings indicate that EPD impacts on the timeline is a key concern from the contractors while limited transparency of EPD development processes was a key concern for designers. Stakeholders noted that the integrative design process was critical to the success of this project, avoiding long lead-times and allowing for close review of specifications.