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Tasks and Mission

Bau EPD GmbH has set itself ambitious tasks and goals:

  • Running an EPD programme for Type III Environmental Product Declarations in German-speaking countries in close coordination with the building certification bodies in these countries
  • Establishment of a consistent and unified basis for the production of EPDs throughout Austria, the basis can be used for all LCA productions in the construction industry
  • This basis must be supported by a widespread consensus in the building community. All interested circles and stakeholders must be involved.
  • Here, maximum possible harmonisation and compliance with other European EPD programmes in the international scene must be achieved in order to facilitate mutual recognition.
  • In addition, the EPD platform will pay attention to the correct way of communicating and using EPDs, in particular consumers must not be given the impression of a Type I environmental label.
  • Another important goal – to be achieved in the medium term – is also the further development of standards for environmental assessment of construction products, both with regard to the calculation rules and the meaningfulness of the assessment parameters for environmental impacts (are the chosen indicators relevant at all? Which indicators might be missing? …)

These efforts should lead to consistent and therefore comparable datasets that can be easily used in all Austrian building certification schemes, can help in the formulation of best bidder criteria in public procurement and should serve as a basis for benchmarks at product level (e.g. within the framework of the natureplus label or the Austrian Ecolabel).