Environmental Product Declarations Research Articles

Inventory regionalization of background data: Influence on building life cycle assessment and carbon reduction strategies

Robust carbon reduction strategies are needed to meet climate targets, especially for emissions from building materials. Although research has shown that the production of materials can be influenced by local conditions, such as the energy mix, the impact of regionalization on embodied emissions from buildings has not yet been fully explored. In this paper, we investigate the impact of inventory regionalization on the life cycle assessment of buildings and its influence on greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategies. This is performed by first developing a consistent, automated and reproducible method for regionalizing the production process of building materials for all countries. We then apply life cycle assessment to a building for all European countries using the created regionalized processes. The results show strong deviations for certain countries, reaching a difference of up to 17% to the regional average data. When investigating the influence of regionalization on the choice of typical GHG reduction strategies, results show that the choice of strategy can be influenced by the regional context, supporting the need for greater geographic representativeness of building materials inventories for successful GHG emissions reduction pathways. Regionalization can also support the development of more accurate product-specific environmental product declarations (EPDs), which currently rely on average background data.

Evaluating the influence of functional unit on life cycle assessment (LCA) reliability of concrete

The linear lifecycle of concrete, from production through usage to disposal, highlights its status as one of the most carbon-, energy-, and resource-intensive processes in the industry. The development of life cycle assessment (LCA) models to quantify concrete’s embodied and buildings’ operational emissions is strongly influenced by the selection of the functional unit (FU) since it dictates the magnitude and significance of the environmental burdens from concrete and buildings' life span. The chosen FU should comprehensively capture the concrete's functionalities and construction parameters. Nonetheless, establishing a FU that encompasses spatial, temporal, and intensity aspects of cement/concrete and its applications remains a significant limitation in the practice of current LCA models. This study analyzed the FU influence on the environmental footprint of concrete samples with specific compressive strengths (material level) via LCA. The LCA was conducted in OneClick LCA using the environmental product declaration (EPD) provided by the software for each ready-mix concrete sample. From the LCA results, the C 30/37 concrete mix (lowest compressive strength) exhibited the lowest carbon footprint for all the environmental indicators when a volume-based FU was considered. In contrast, the results were more favorable for the C 65/70 concrete specimen when the compressive strength (28 curing days) was chosen because less cement is needed to achieve one MPa of strength. This behavior was also observed in the modeling of a column in a building, where the mixture with the highest compressive strength (C 65/70) showed the lowest environmental impact for all the indicators. However, this assessment does not represent the actual building system's footprint. Thus, regionally specific functional units need to be established, considering not just concrete functionalities but also national regulations, stakeholder needs, and local resource availability.

A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Building Sustainability Across Typical European Building Geometries

In recent years, significant progress has been made in the sustainability assessment of building materials and buildings. The introduction of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), the development of Level(s), and the release of relevant series of standards have helped to improve the sustainability of buildings. However, a research question that remains unresolved is the lack of information related to the comparison of the sustainability performance of building units across Europe and the significance of conducting such research. This study addressed this question by implementing a comparative whole-building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) across buildings in Europe. The study emphasizes the necessity of considering typical building geometries and thermal performance of buildings across Europe and introduces six typical building geometries for three different European clusters (northern-western, central-eastern, southern cluster). The results of this study revealed that the sustainability performance of buildings is not similar across the EU and that cost-optimal minimum thermal performance requirements for building structures have a significant impact on their environmental performance. Particularly, single-family houses in Central and Eastern Europe are responsible for 324.42 kgCO2e/m2. Contrary to this, Northern and Western European single-family buildings have the lowest environmental impact with 268.97 kgCO2e/m2. Multifamily houses in Southern Europe are responsible for 321.82 kgCO2e/m2, in Northern and Western Europe the environmental impact is 275.37 kgCO2e/m2. The outcome of this study is significant for the scientific community involved in assessing the sustainability of buildings in Europe, as it provides valuable insights into their environmental performance, considering the energy efficiency and sustainability aspects of buildings. The study's findings should be considered when setting minimum LCA-related requirements, in view of the provisions of the new EU policies expressed in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast for defining the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of new buildings.

Life Cycle Assessment of Plasterboard Production: A UK Case Study

Plasterboard, which serves as a nonstructural building material, is widely employed for lightweight wall construction and surface finishing in walls and ceilings. Amid mounting concerns regarding product sustainability and the adoption of Net Zero strategies, evaluating the environmental performance of materials has become crucial. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) for wall gypsum plasterboard, aiming to pinpoint areas for potential environmental improvement. The LCA methodology, adhering to established guidelines and considering midpoint impact categories, was employed to quantify environmental impacts across various stages of the plasterboard life cycle—encompassing raw material extraction, plasterboard manufacturing, transportation during all stages, and end-of-life treatment of plasterboard waste. Primary data were sourced directly from a plasterboard manufacturer and recycler and supplemented with secondary data obtained from the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and the Ecoinvent 3.9 database. Among the identified impact categories, the human carcinogenic toxicity category emerged as the most affected category, primarily due to the raw material supply stage, followed by freshwater ecotoxicity, which was impacted due to the material supply stage.

Analysing carbon impacts of green roof at Hilton Watford: life-cycle assessment approach

This paper investigates the environmental aspects and energy impacts of implementing a green roof system at the Hilton Watford hotel, utilising building information modelling software (Revit) for three-dimensional modelling and Insight for energy simulation. Following EN 15804:2012+A2:2019, the study employs life-cycle assessment methodology, focusing on embodied and operational carbon. Environmental Product Declarations, Inventory of Carbon and Energy database and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors guideline inform embodied carbon calculations. The results show the green roof system releases 263 839.56 kgCO2e as embodied carbon, while its sedum layer sequesters 211 468.12 kgCO2e over a 50 year lifespan. Energy efficiency analysis indicates a 3.3 kWh/(m2/year) reduction in energy consumption, leading to a 112 130.31 kgCO2e reduction in operational carbon dioxide emissions, highlighting the environmental benefits of green roof adoption. The findings suggest a 0.35% mitigation of whole life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions, with greater impact in situations of lower insulation effectiveness, showcasing the potential of green roofs in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, the green roof incurs a minimal financial burden, constituting only 0.51% of the overall project cost.

Adapta renewed the environmental product declaration for its VIVENDI SDS collection

Adapta renewed the environmental product declaration for its VIVENDI SDS collection

Aggregating midpoint-indicator results from Environmental Product Declarations for comprehensive evaluations of products' profiles, through the Dominance-based Rough Set Approach: An application in the Durum-Wheat Pasta Sector

To-date there is an unsolved methodological problem for the type-III labelling scheme, namely the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), that essentially derives from the midpoint approach used for the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which the EPD itself is based upon. As a matter of fact, in the current EPD system, it is impossible to perform univocal aggregated evaluations of the product's profile, due to the different equivalent unit-of-measures which the midpoint impacts are expressed with, and to the absence of a scientifically-based, objective scheme for aggregation and weighing.The authors wanted to undertake this challenge with the aim of enhancing the effectiveness and utility of EPDs to guide managers, consumers and other stakeholders in the promotion, distribution, and consumption of sustainable products, in the context of green public procurement. To achieve this goal for the case of durum-wheat pasta, the EPD was complemented by the authors with the Dominance-based Rough Set Approach (DRSA). In result, an aggregate preference model considering all impact categories was obtained, thereby leading to comprehensive comparisons of complete environmental profile of products. The model has the form of a set of minimal decision rules, that can be used by producers for understanding the environmental performance level of their pasta products, and subsequently making strategic decisions for its improvement.Seven of those rules were determined from DRSA application, that regarded grain production and milling, package manufacturing, and a comprehensive downstream phase that included the disposal of the packaging system, and the pasta cooking with water waste disposal. In addition to this, those rules primarily considered the following midpoint categories within the ensemble of those provided by the EPD system for pasta products: acidification, eutrophication, global warming, and mineral element depletion.All of them were certain rules: three of the “at least” type (two at least good, and one at least medium); and four of the “at most” type (one at most bad, and three at most medium).By referring the given PCR-based LCA results to the threshold values of performance on criteria present in the premise of these rules, producers can know in advance the quality class (bad, medium, or good) which their pasta products belong to.In case of a negative evaluation, they can try to improve the value of some crucial indicators before applying for obtaining the EPD, and so enhance the environmental profile of their products.The authors believe that their study advances knowledge and enriches the literature concerning the application of multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA), wherein DRSA stands out as an outstanding example. This contribution is particularly significant in enhancing and valorising sustainability assessment tools and certification schemes.Under this perspective, the study documented that leveraging DRSA to supplement the EPD system, for the particular case of pasta products, can contribute directly and indirectly to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, so, to advancing environmental sustainability within the food sector.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Commercial Interior Version 4 (LEED-CI v4) Gold-Certified Office Space Projects: A Pairwise Comparative Analysis between Three Mediterranean Countries

Over the past five years, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Commercial Interior version 4 (LEED-CI v4)-certified office projects have been intensively studied in the USA and China, but they have not yet been studied in the Mediterranean region. The purpose of this study was to explore office building certification strategies for LEED-CI v4-certified projects in the Mediterranean region. The study design included pairwise comparative analyses between Spain (number of projects (n) n1 = 14), Türkiye (n2 = 13), and Israel (n3 = 11). Cliff’s δ and exact Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney tests were used to process ordinal and discrete data, while the natural logarithm of the odds ratio and 2 × 2 Fisher’s exact tests were used to handle dichotomous data. It was found that Spain and Türkiye outperformed Israel in the Location and Transportation (LT) category due to their desire to reduce the use of private transport. Spain and Türkiye were ahead of Israel in the LTc5 “reduced parking footprint” credit (p = 0.008 and 0.0005, respectively). Israel outperformed Spain and Türkiye in the Energy and Atmosphere (EA) category due to the sum of all six EA credits (p = 0.086 and 0.010). Spain overtook Türkiye and Israel in the Materials and Resources (MRs) category due to Spain’s increased use of environmental product declarations. Spain and Türkiye were ahead of Israel in the following four MRs credits: MRc1 “long-term commitment” (p = 0.030), MRc2 “interiors life cycle impact reduction” (p = 0.037), MRc3 “building product disclosure and optimization—environmental product declarations” (p = 0.029), and MRc5 “building product disclosure and optimization—material ingredients” (p = 0.034). Spain, Türkiye, and Israel showed similarly low levels of achievement in the Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) category (p ≥ 0.405). However, Spain and Türkiye outperformed Israel in the following two credits: EQc1 “enhanced indoor air quality strategies” and EQc2 “low-emitting materials” (p = 0.001 and 0.060, respectively). In parallel, Israel outperformed Türkiye in the EQc3 “construction indoor air quality management plan” (p = 0.026), and Israel outperformed Spain in the EQc8 “quality views” credit (p = 0.066). As a result, a pairwise comparison of the three Mediterranean countries showed that each country has a unique LEED certification strategy. Knowledge of the above green building strategies will be helpful for LEED professionals.

Environmental performance of different water bottles with different compositions: A cradle to gate approach

Plastic production has increased over the years and the packaging industry was responsible for 44% of the total plastic production. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), due to its favorable properties, is one of the most used polymers in this sector.This study first aimed to compare the environmental performance related to the production of a novel recycled PET (rPET) form, namely, rPET flake, and then compare it with the production of virgin PET (vPET) and rPET pellet. Secondly, this study aimed to compare the environmental impacts of four water bottles with different compositions, namely, option A composed with only vPET, option B made with 50% vPET and 50% rPET pellet, option C made with 75% rPET pellet and 25% rPET flake, and option D made with 50% vPET, 25% rPET pellet and 25% rPET flake. Option A was designed as a single-use water bottle, while the remaining options (Options B, C and D) were thought to be reusable bottles, and for that reason were heavier and more robust compared to Option A. The environmental impact assessment followed the International Standard Rules of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and the impact assessment method used was the Environmental Product Declaration. Ecoibéria and Logoplaste provided the majority of the required data, and three functional units were considered. The first one was the production of 1 kg of PET, the second was the production of different water bottles, and finally, the third one was the consumption of 2 l of water with different water bottles. As a result, it was first observed that the production of rPET flake in comparison to vPET reduces, on average, 79% of the impacts, and rPET pellet reduces 10% of the impacts. Secondly, in the production of the different water bottles, Option A, the single-use bottle, presented the lowest environmental impacts in almost all categories. Finally, when taking into account the reusable factor, the use of single-use bottles presented the higher environmental impact in all categories, probably because of the dilution of the environmental impacts associated with the production of heavier and robust reusable bottles by the multiple times of uses of these bottles.

Sustainable procurement of water supply infrastructure projects: a building information modeling-based approach

ABSTRACT Triple Bottom Line (TBL)-based project proposal evaluation is highly data-intensive. The above challenge is elevated when considering the complex nature of construction projects. Emerging concepts, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), provide a data repository that aids TBL-based proposal evaluation. Despite national-level BIM mandates, there is a lack of BIM-based TBL performance evaluation tools. Hence, this study developed a BIM plugin toolkit to automate proposal evaluation of water supply infrastructure projects by considering the TBL performance. This toolkit incorporates a unique TBL-based evaluation methodology that integrates environmental product declarations, social life cycle impact, and life cycle costing. The case study revealed that the selected proposal had superior environmental and social performance while the bid price was slightly higher (6.5%) than the lowest-cost proposal. The proposed method provides a user-friendly tool for TBL-based proposal evaluation and promotes BIM implementation in the construction industry.

Assessing Embodied Carbon for Reinforced Concrete Structures in Canada

The global emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions means that engineers and architects are increasingly required to account for embodied carbon in their designs. However, there is a lack of knowledge and tools in the structural engineering community to enable calculation of embodied carbon for reinforced concrete structures. This paper aims to address this concern by providing a review of the most up-to-date approaches for calculating embodied carbon as well as the important factors that engineers should consider during the design phase to reduce embodied carbon. Environmental product declarations for concrete in four Canadian provinces will also be compared to illustrate the variability in the embodied carbon and the factors that influence this variability. Finally, the paper will present a case-study on the design of a reinforced concrete beam to demonstrate how to calculate embodied carbon and to illustrate how changes in design can influence the total embodied carbon.

Comparative life cycle assessment of light frame timber and reinforced concrete masonry structural systems for single-family houses in Luxembourg

The building sector's significant greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption present added challenges to meeting European climate commitments amidst rapid population growth. In Luxembourg, single-family houses dominate the residential buildings, noticeably contributing to construction waste and CO2 emissions. This study compares the environmental impacts of a three-story reinforced concrete masonry single-family house and an identical timber building in Luxembourg, emphasizing greenhouse gas emissions and embodied energy. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment was conducted using Building Information Modelling (BIM) models to analyze the global warming potential and primary energy requirements. Environmental product declarations from the producers and the ÖKOBAUDAT German database were used to determine the environmental impacts of the materials. The results show that the timber building outperforms the concrete building with a 43.5% lower global warming potential, while the concrete building demonstrates a 15.6% reduction in primary energy demand. This aligns with the average outcomes of seven similar studies discussed in this paper, at 33.2% and 4.7%, respectively. Moreover, the timber building is 78.6% lighter than the concrete one. When evaluating benefits and loads beyond the system boundary, the timber building provides 3.6 and 4 times greater advantages in terms of global warming potential and primary energy, respectively, compared to the reinforced concrete masonry building. Additionally, the study explores the impact of reusing the floors in the timber building. The cradle-to-grave LCA reveals that reusing the timber slabs improves the building's global warming potential and primary energy by 2.4% and 1.2%, respectively. However, when considering the benefits and loads beyond the system boundary, floor system reuse exhibits a 38.9% surge in global warming advantages while reducing primary energy benefits by 28.1%. The findings advocate for a policy promoting timber construction and reuse in Luxembourg, aiming to achieve the net-zero emission target by 2050.

Environmental benchmarks for the European cement industry

The urgent need to address climate change has pushed Europe to the forefront of environmental legislation initiatives, such as the Environment Action Program (EAP) within the European Green Deal and the disclosure of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in the construction sector. The cement industry plays a vital role in this transition because it is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. EPDs have managed to articulate the environmental information flow across different stakeholders, allowing them to incorporate sustainability design practices at the manufacturing, construction, and design levels. However, current EPDs are deterministically disclosed and lack benchmarks, hindering effective comparison and impeding sustainable material development. To address this challenge, the present research introduces a novel Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based probabilistic analysis to develop clinker and cement benchmarks. The proposed method incorporates data from industry reports, environmental databases, and EPDs, to generate the stochastic benchmarks. Moreover, a wide range of environmental performance indicators at a national level in Europe are covered, offering a holistic perspective beyond climate change. The results highlight the benefits of using country-specific environmental benchmarks, reducing the standard deviation of results by 2 to 7 times compared to background datasets. The reduction of clinker content proved to reduce 7 to 9 kg CO2eq/t for every 1% reduction in all countries. However, it also increased other indicators depending on the mineral component used as a replacement, underscoring the need for holistic analysis. The research also exposes discrepancies between EPDs and industry-related data, accentuating the need for stochastic information disclosure to enhance reliability and facilitate decision-making by stakeholders. Another significant contribution of this research is the development of an extensive open-access database, providing a reference for future developments regarding sustainable cement and concrete.

Environmental Product Declarations as a Data Source for the Assessment of Environmental Impacts during the Use Phase of Photovoltaic Modules: Critical Issues and Potential

In the context of policies promoting renewable energies for decarbonization, energy transition and the development of energy communities, photovoltaic systems require special attention. Even for these systems, it is legitimate to inquire about the correlation, currently carried out through life cycle analysis, between benefits and environmental impacts. To maintain long-term productivity levels and ensure the proper functioning of the system, maintenance interventions are necessary. While these interventions guarantee performance, they also have repercussions for the environment. This study aims to assess the environmental impacts caused by ordinary and extraordinary maintenance interventions, taking into account specific factors, during the 30-year operational phase. To evaluate these impacts, this study verifies the feasibility of using data from Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and the Product Category Rules (PCR) as reference. The initial results highlight, on the one hand, among the main issues, the importance that all EPDs attribute to the impacts caused by water consumption during the use phase of the PV modules, and on the other hand, some critical issues mainly due to the lack of data relating to the installation site necessary for the correct planning of maintenance activities. Finally, the study presents some reflections for a potential recalibration of the PCR and their associated EPDs.

Challenges in the harmonisation and digitalisation of Environmental Product Declarations for construction products in the European context

Challenges in the harmonisation and digitalisation of Environmental Product Declarations for construction products in the European context

Meta-Analysis of Life Cycle Assessment Studies for Polyethylene Terephthalate Water Bottle System

The life cycle assessment (LCA) serves as a crucial tool for assessing the environmental impact of products, with recent emphasis on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Our meta-analytical review of 14 LCA research papers (2010–2022) on PET bottles, aligned with PRISMA guidelines, spans six phases: raw material production (MP), bottle production (BP), distribution and transportation (DT), collection and transport (CT), waste management (WM), and environmental benefits (EB). Utilizing the global warming potential (GWP) as the indicator, our study harmonized data into a consistent functional unit, revealing an average emission of 5.1 kg CO2 equivalent per 1 kg of PET bottles. Major contributors to global warming were identified across the MP, BP, and DT phases. While the MP and BP phases exhibited low variability due to uniform processes, the CT, WM, and EB phases displayed higher variability due to scenario considerations. A comparison with Korean environmental product declaration data affirmed the methodology’s practical utility. Our approach offers potential applicability in diverse product category assessments, emphasizing its relevance for informed decision-making in sustainable product development.

Integrating LCA data and expertise into sustainable product development

Environmental consciousness is growing amongst companies in the construction industry. Often these companies are performing Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) for their Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) to convey impact data of their products to their customers. The LCA studies also reveal insights regarding the distribution of the impacts within the companies, offering a prime opportunity for sustainable product development. Despite the acquired LCA expertise it appears difficult to capitalize this potential. Therefore, this paper will explore the integration of LCA and EPD data and company expertise into company specific guidelines for sustainable product development.The aim of the case study at Aalberts Integrated Piping Systems, a supplier of valve, connection and fastening technology, was to support decision-making by outlining considerations and simplified LCAs for comparing options during product development. Additionally, a more general framework was developed to assist sustainability managers in other companies in tailoring design guidelines to their contexts.By adopting this framework, LCA data and expertise seamlessly integrate into product development, aligning with the existing product development process for easy adoption within the company. The framework’s systematic approach ensures no vital aspects are overlooked. Its adaptability to businesses with varied sustainability knowledge ensures a broad range of potential users.

Equations for early-stage design embodied carbon estimation for concrete floors of varying loading and strength

Building designers are increasingly tasked with tracking and reducing the embodied carbon of structural systems, including concrete floor slabs. Design decisions that affect both the structural performance and the embodied carbon of a concrete floor are often made in the early design stages without complete structural analyses and life cycle assessments, which are commonly finalized in later stages. In this study, we employ polynomial regression models to estimate the embodied carbon for ten concrete floors to guide practitioners toward environmentally-informed design decisions. Six reinforced concrete (RC) and four post-tensioned (PT) floors are evaluated with varying five structural parameters including the span length, concrete strength, live and dead loads, and deflection limit, equating to 41,328 design scenarios for the RC systems and 27,552 design scenarios for the PT systems, while also considering 32,440 different concrete mix Environmental Product Declarations. The analytical equations are deployed in a web-app intended for practitioners to quickly evaluate and compare different design scenarios and floors. By estimating the embodied carbon of concrete floors while accounting for design and material uncertainty, these equations are ready for immediate use to reduce the carbon footprint of future buildings.

Assessing the environmental impacts of beef production chains integrating grazing and landless systems

Livestock production systems contribute significantly to environmental impacts at the global level, and meat consumption is projected to increase with the population. There is a need to reduce the impact of food production, including that from beef systems. Different production systems, ranging from traditional grazing to landless systems, coexist within the beef sector. Among these, mixed systems have emerged as a promising alternative. These mixed systems typically involve adult cattle in grazing systems alongside fattening calves in landless systems, potentially achieving higher productivity while reducing the overall environmental impacts. The first step towards proposing mitigation strategies involves identifying the impacts of the sector. This study aimed to estimate the main environmental impacts of four types of mixed beef systems based on the origin of the calves that are raised, fattened, and slaughtered. Using life cycle assessment, the study evaluated the environmental impacts from the cradle to the slaughterhouse gate, expressed per kilogram of carcass weight. The four systems assessed include suckler cow farms that fatten their own offspring (beef single farm, BSF), a system in which calves raised on a suckler farm are fattened on a different farm (beef fattening unit, BFU), and systems in which dairy calves are fattened on growing units, with calves either from Spain (dairy national, DN) or from farms located abroad (dairy abroad, DA). Primary data were obtained from representative surveys of farmers and slaughterhouses, and allocation between co-products was performed according to the updated guidelines of Environmental Product Declarations and the Product Category Rules for meat. Seven environmental impact categories were assessed: climate change, marine eutrophication, freshwater eutrophication, stratospheric ozone depletion, terrestrial acidification, photochemical ozone formation on ecosystems, and photochemical ozone formation on human health. The results indicate that meat production from BSF and BFU has greater environmental impacts than that from DN and DA systems, primarily due to the lower environmental burden allocated to dairy calves, whereas the contribution of slaughterhouse activities to the environmental impacts was minimal. This study highlights the importance of mitigating the environmental impacts associated with feed production, enteric fermentation, and manure management in beef systems. Future studies should consider potential environmental benefits of grazing animals such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity promotion.

Sensitivity analysis of the impact of environmental product declaration values on whole life carbon assessment: A case study using expanded polystyrene insulation for the retrofit of a building in Turkiye

Until recently, reducing the energy required to service a building (the operational energy) was the main aim of controlling carbon emissions from the built environment. It is now recognised that the energy required to make a building (the embodied energy) also has a crucial role in creating a net zero carbon future. The methodologies for quantifying embodied carbon are less developed than those for operational carbon, and more research is required to refine the embodied carbon metrics used when a building’s whole-life carbon emissions are calculated in a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). One such metric is the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), a document which can be used in different countries to quantify a product's environmental performance. EPDs are crucial data for conducting an LCA study of a building. However, despite recent efforts to standardise them, there are still inconsistencies between EPDs produced by different countries or manufacturers, even for materials with similar thermal and physical properties. This study considered some of the reasons for variations in EPDs for one product type, expanded polystyrene insulation (EPS). Factors such as (i) the LCA databases and software generators used for the EPDs, (ii) material mixes and manufacturing methods, (iii) country energy production mixes, and (iv) transportation distance from material source to the factory were considered in the analysis. As a case study, this paper examined the effects of selecting different EPDs for expanded polystyrene insulation on the final LCA results from the retrofit of a mid-rise residential building in Turkiye. Differences in EPDs demonstrated a fourfold difference between the highest and lowest upfront carbon impact results of building retrofit. This size of discrepancy indicates the need to choose the most appropriate EPD for a building/location when performing an LCA. Practical Applications Selecting an EPD when conducting an LCA for a new building or retrofit is generally left to the assessor’s judgment and knowledge, which varies greatly depending on the assessor’s background, especially in the construction sector. This study suggests an informed decision-making method over an example of EPS insulation material when the EPD options were none or limited to building locations like Turkiye.