NSF Sustainability, a division of NSF International, has been accepted by the American National Standards Institute as one of the first organizations to participate in a pilot program for Type III environmental product declarations (EPDs) to meet a growing demand for standardization in the environmental certification industry.
NSF provides third-party sustainable product certification, environmental claims validation services, product category rule (PCR) development and EPD certifications, and develops national sustainability assessment standards and protocols for certification of product and service provider sustainability attributes.
The pilot for the the ANSI Eligibility Process for Program Operators and an ANSI Assessment for Verification/Validation of Type III Environmental Declarations includes a detailed assessment of environmental credentials and operating procedures and an on-site assessment.
EPDs are increasingly used across many industries to enable product manufacturers to bring transparent environmental data to customers. An EPD’s specifications are established by a PCR, which is created by a committee of interested stakeholders and defines how to conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) for a product group.
In the building industry, for example, EPDs can assist architects and designers with determining a specific product’s environmental impact within its category and to meet green building rating system criteria in both LEED v4 and the latest edition of Green Globes.
ANSI created the pilot program to meet a growing demand for standardization in the environmental certification industry with the intention of eventually developing a program meeting International Organization for Standardization standards.
This pilot program is an analysis of the program operator’s PCR development process and EPD verification processes. It will verify that program operators meet the requirements and processes found in two ISO environmental label and declaration standards, ISO 14020 and ISO 14025, as well as ISO/IEC 17065, Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services.
Earlier this month NSF Sustainability partnered with environmental software company Sustainable Minds to provide LCA verification and report certification for Sustainable Minds Transparency Reports.