Transparency is the New Green in product selection, specification & procurement: Understanding the 2022 ACLCA PCR Guidance

Recorded Monday August 15, 2-3pm ET | 11am PT

Creating standardized, consistent, and reliable PCRs & EPDs for transparency, procurement, and supply chain data

With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act* [1] it's a new world for people that create and use EPDs!

With the increasing demand for using ISO Type III environmental declarations (EPDs) to communicate the potential environmental impacts of products and processes, EPDs are also being used to inform design and procurement decisions. This presents the critical need to create EPDs that are ISO standards-conformant, consistent with life cycle assessment (LCA) best practices and that enable digital communication with construction, accounting, and other reporting tools. Assuring the quality of product category rules (PCRs) ensures that EPD results can reliably inform decisions.

Join the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA [2]) Working Group leaders and authors to learn about the newly released, 2022 ACLCA PCR Guidance – Process and Methods Toolkit [3]. The toolkit provides process checklists with criteria for each phase for each of the roles in the PCR creation process – plus methods & methodologies addenda to ensure the quality of PCRs.

Depending on the product type, EPDs are used for different purposes. Checklist criteria for each EPD use case are cumulative with Transparency as the baseline. All criteria must be documented to create a conformant PCR for that level.

Use case levels2

Join us to learn about how...

Public / private procurement is driving demand for EPDs
The new Guidance and Toolkit was created
To use the Toolkit to create new PCRs
To get an existing PCR evaluated for conformance
You can participate the ACLCA PCR Guidance User Group to further the evolution and implementation of this work

Who should attend? Anyone interested in creating and using better EPDs.

MFRs who have created, or will be creating, EPDs
Industry organization leadership funding PCR development
Design & construction industry professionals
LCA practitioners
Providers of PCR, LCA and EPD verification services
Program operators

* Key stats from the Energy Security and Climate Change budget

$250 Million for EPD Assistance (SEC. 60112), which provides funding to support the development and standardization of EPDs for construction materials by providing grants and technical assistance to manufacturers to produce EPDs and invest in transparency. EPDs are documents that disclose the carbon impact of a product’s materials and manufacturing processes.
$100 Million for Low-Embodied Carbon Labeling for Construction Materials (SEC. 60116), to identify and label low-carbon materials and products for use in federally funded transportation and building projects based on data available via EPDs.
$2.15 Billion for Use of Low-Carbon Buildings (SEC. 60503), to be used to specify and install low-embodied carbon materials and products for use in General Services Administration-owned buildings.
$2 Billion for Low-Carbon Transportation Grants (SEC. 60506), which reimburses and incentivizes the use of low-carbon materials and products for Federal Highway Administration projects.
$4 Billion for Improving Climate Resilience of Affordable Housing (SEC. 30002), which will provide funding to improve the energy or water efficiency, indoor air quality and/or sustainability of projects, and implement low-carbon technologies, materials, and products to improve the climate resiliency of affordable housing.
FEMA Building Materials Program (SEC. 70006), which provides financial assistance for the use of low-carbon materials and incentives that encourage low-carbon and net-zero energy projects.

[4]	Special guest! Migdalia Carrion Sustainable Pavements Program Manager Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) [4]
ACLCA PCR Guidance & EPD Comparability Working Group Leaders
[5]	[6]
Heather Dylla, Ph.D. VP Sustainability and Innovation Construction Partners, Inc. Previously Sustainable Pavement Program Mgr, FHWA [5]	Amlan Mukherjee Ph.D, P.E. Professor Michigan Tech Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering [6]
[7]	Terry Swack Founder/CEO Sustainable Minds [7] [8]