Vicinity Centres' circular economy strategy boosts ESG performance through co-design and evidence-based approaches.

Supporting Vicinity Centres' journey towards a circular future

We set out to unpack the nature-related impacts and dependencies through UNSW’s supply chain.

UNSW’s supply chain reliance and impact on nature

An industry-led approach to cutting emissions while ensuring prosperity for grape growers and winemakers.

Wine Australia's Emissions Reduction Roadmap

Viña Concha y Toro partnered with Edge to assess climate risks and meet TCFD requirements.

Supporting Viña Concha y Toro’s Decarbonisation Journey

Tyre Stewardship Australia partnered with Edge to model tyre-derived products, assessing impacts and market benefits.

The Environmental Impacts of Waste Tyre Recovery

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Auckland, New Zealand

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Discover how Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) can boost your business's sustainability efforts. Learn about their benefits, including market differentiation, compliance with Green Star and NABERS, and improved decision-making for long-term value.

The Business Value of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for Sustainable Growth

Roanna Jones, Consultant, Lifecycle & Material Flow Assessments

The Business Value of Environmental Product Declarations for Sustainable Growth

In today’s competitive market, businesses are increasingly expected to not just talk about sustainability but to show their commitment through measurable actions.

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) provide a clear, independently verified way to communicate the environmental impact of your products.

By offering detailed, transparent data about a product’s lifecycle, EPDs allow companies to not only meet growing sustainability expectations but also gain a competitive edge, build trust with customers, and differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace.

Upcoming Workshops: Elevate Your Product Transparency

In line with the critical role of transparency in environmental claims, we’re hosting two upcoming workshops in New Zealand with Eco Choice Aotearoa.

These sessions will empower professionals in the built environment to deepen their understanding of product transparency and its real-world applications.

1. Product Transparency Unpacked: A Workshop for Leading Manufacturers

2. Transparency in Practice: A NZIA Approved Workshop for Architects and Specifiers

What is an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)? 

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a third-party verified document that offers transparent, comparable data on a product's environmental impact across its life cycle.

These documents enable engineers, architects, and procurement specialists to evaluate the embodied carbon of materials in their projects.

Additionally, EPDs help customers select products aligned with sustainability certifications, such as NABERS and Green Star ratings.

Commissioning an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for your product or service presents a range of benefits, such as: 

Leverage EPDs to set your products apart. By showcasing your verified sustainability efforts, you can attract clients who prioritise environmentally responsible partners and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

EPDs are recognised by major sustainability frameworks like Green Star, NABERS, and the Infrastructure Sustainability Council Rating Scheme. This recognition provides a strategic advantage in sectors where environmental performance is highly valued. 

EPDs provide comprehensive data on the environmental footprint of your products, offering full transparency. Demonstrating this level of disclosure not only builds trust but also enhances your corporate reputation by showcasing your commitment to responsible business practices. 

With EPDs, environmental claims are backed by third-party verified data. This helps reduce the risk of greenwashing, ensuring your sustainability claims are credible and reliable. 

5. Improved Decision-Making for Sustainability 

The business-specific data within EPDs helps identify environmental hotspots across the product life cycle. By leveraging these insights enables organisations to make data-driven decisions, optimise resources, and drive targeted sustainability improvements. 

By committing to environmental transparency through EPDs, businesses can elevate their brand image, positioning themselves as leaders in sustainability. This can also foster long-term loyalty with environmentally conscious clients.

Designing for Engagement: Create EPDs that promote your products' sustainability credentials. Use infographics and visualisations to make technical data digestible and accessible.

This approach highlights the environmental benefits of your products and fosters confidence in your communications, helping you avoid greenwashing. 

At Edge Impact, our creative team transforms complex sustainability data into visually engaging reports. From digital campaigns to brand strategy, we assist organisations in embedding sustainability authentically into their narratives. 

Learn more about our Brand and Communications Services here.

Unlocking Business Insights with Lifecycle Assessments (LCA) 

An EPD includes a detailed lifecycle assessment (LCA), offering insights that go beyond standard requirements.

The LCA reveals environmental hotspots and areas for optimisation, enabling better decision-making on where to allocate resources for maximum environmental impact. Additionally, it helps identify “quick wins” where sustainability improvements can be easily implemented within your product systems. 

Recent Regulatory Developments: Preparing for 2025 and Beyond 

From 2025, the Australian National Construction Code (NCC) will introduce voluntary reporting for embodied carbon in commercial buildings using the NABERS framework. 

By 2028, a mandatory minimum standard for embodied carbon may be introduced, covering both residential and non-residential buildings. Companies with Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) will be better positioned to meet these evolving compliance requirements. 

Reference: Australian Government Industry News 

With growing regulatory pressure and consumer demand for sustainable practices, EPDs are more than just compliance tools—they are strategic assets for future-proofing your business.

By adopting EPDs now, companies can demonstrate leadership in sustainability, enhance product offerings, and prepare for future regulations that will demand increased transparency in environmental impact reporting. 

Edge Impact has supported leading organisations in maximising the value of their EPDs, turning technical documents into strategic assets that communicate sustainability effectively. 

Contact us to explore how our expertise can help you on your sustainability journey. 

As experts in the full spectrum of sustainability topics, we are here to guide you through the complexity. We combine global expertise with the knowledge and experience of the local Aotearoa NZ context. Our team includes specialists from across the globe; from strategists to economists, engineers to creatives. Since 2008, we have been helping businesses, organisations, industries and societies make transformation happen.

Our areas of expertise are focussed around the following areas:

Leadership and Transformation
ESG and Strategy
Decarbonisation and Climate Resilience
Circular Economy and Lifecycle Thinking
Procurement and Supply Chain
Built Environment
Nature and Biodiversity
Brand, Communications and Creative

We have a number of exciting projects in the works and are rapidly expanding our team of consultants. Below are our latest job openings across our global offices. 

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This pathway is designed to give property and construction businesses and their suppliers practical and actionable steps for respecting human rights and tackling modern slavery, no matter the size of business or level of experience.

How to use the PCA Pathway document to drive industry-wide change

Nick Dexter, Principal, Human Rights & Social Impact

With the release of the "Pathway to Respecting Human Rights and Addressing Modern Slavery Risks," developed in partnership with the Property Council of Australia (PCA) and Edge Impact, there's a new blueprint for action. 

The Property Council of Australia is on a mission 

The Pathway document is not just a tool for internal use; it's a bridge for inter-business collaboration that amplifies collective capacity to make a difference.

The Pathway outlines ten clear steps towards respecting human rights, providing a common framework and language that all businesses, regardless of size or sector, can understand and rally around. This shared understanding is the first step towards effective collaboration. 

By discussing the various aspects of the Pathway, businesses can identify common goals and areas where joint efforts can lead to greater impact. Whether it's improving supply chain transparency, implementing grievance mechanisms, or enhancing worker conditions, the Pathway helps align efforts towards shared objectives. 

The document is rich with links to 58 free online resources, case studies, and practical examples. Businesses can come together to explore these resources, sharing insights and learning from each other's experiences. This collaborative learning approach accelerates progress and innovation. 

Regularly engaging with other businesses to discuss progress on the Pathway's steps creates a sense of accountability. These partnerships can drive continuous improvement and help maintain momentum towards respecting human rights and eliminating modern slavery. 

By sharing the Pathway with suppliers, clients, and the wider industry, they foster a culture of responsibility and ethical practice across the entire sector. 

Start by downloading the Pathway. See where you stand and where you can join forces with others. 

To discuss how we can support your journey towards respecting human rights and addressing modern slavery risks, get in touch with Nick Dexter at nick.dexter@edgeimpact.global. 

Here's how the Pathway document can serve as a tool for facilitating conversations between businesses: 

Download the Pathway to Respecting Human Rights and Addressing Modern Slavery Risks here

Eco Choice Aotearoa has partnered with Edge Impact to seamlessly integrate your ecolabel and EPD requirements, ensuring a smooth transition towards developing your EPD.

Eco Choice Aotearoa Expands Services Through Partnership with Edge Impact

Edge Impact, Australasia’s leading provider of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) is proud to announce a new partnership with Eco Choice Aotearoa, the official ecolabel trademarked by the Ministry for the Environment. 

This collaboration will enhance sustainability initiatives by offering comprehensive Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and EPDs to businesses across New Zealand.  

Eco Choice Aotearoa has been a pioneer in sustainability for over three decades, providing trusted ecolabel certifications. Now, in collaboration with Edge Impact, ECA is expanding its services to deliver deeper insights and actionable business intelligence through LCAs and EPDs. 

Edge Impact, known for completing 40% of Australasia’s EPDs, brings a wealth of expertise and a nuanced understanding of the opportunities and challenges within various industries. Their experience ensures that businesses receive robust, transparent, and credible environmental impact data. 

Transitioning to Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) builds on Eco Choice Aotearoa’s foundation by providing detailed, verified data on environmental impacts. This partnership with Edge Impact supports businesses in this transition, offering enhanced credibility and market differentiation. 

David Maucor, Regional Principal - New Zealand

Partnering with the Eco Choice label makes a lot of sense for us. We’re committed to helping product manufacturers understand their product impacts and communicate this effectively to their clients. 

Eco Choice already assists many New Zealand based businesses through its Eco-label program. Together, we can offer more options and guide them on their product certification and transparency journey.

The partnership combines the assurance of a Type 1 ecolabel, the detailed business intelligence of an LCA, and the transparency of an EPD, all under one trusted provider with a 30-year legacy. 

This integration will simplify the process for businesses striving for sustainability, who can build on the work already completed through their Eco-label certification with Eco Choice, to progress towards an LCA or EPD.

Eco Choice Aotearoa and Edge Impact are committed to helping organisations minimise their environmental impact, to ensure a thriving motu for future generations.

There’s no one-size fits all approach when it comes to sustainability, and by expanding our services, we’re now able to support businesses at each step of their journey - providing honest advice on what they need, and what they don’t.

To learn more about the partnership and how it can benefit your business today. Click here.

Edge Impact is a global impact consultancy that combines science, strategy, and storytelling to reimagine sustainability for positive impact. With a diverse team of specialists from strategists to economists, engineers to creatives, Edge Impact has been helping businesses, organisations, industries, and societies achieve transformative change since 2008. 

Eco Choice Aotearoa is the country’s official ecolabel for products and services, trademarked by the Ministry for the Environment. For the past 30 years, the ecolabel has provided comprehensive assurance of environmental preferability, ethical sourcing, health and safety and performance. Eco Choice Aotearoa is committed to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and draws inspiration from the concept of kaitiakitanga.

As experts in the full spectrum of sustainability topics, we are here to guide you through the complexity. We combine global expertise with the knowledge and experience of the local Aotearoa NZ context.

Our team includes specialists from across the globe; from strategists to economists, engineers to creatives. Since 2008, we have been helping businesses, organisations, industries and societies make transformation happen.

Our areas of expertise are focussed around the following areas:

Leadership and Transformation
ESG and Strategy
Decarbonisation and Climate Resilience
Circular Economy and Lifecycle Thinking
Procurement and Supply Chain
Built Environment
Nature and Biodiversity
Brand, Communications and Creative

Discover how brands can transition to greater transparency. Learn what defines a transparent brand, explore real-life examples, and uncover five effective strategies to enhance your brand's transparency.

From meaningful and purposeful, to brand transparency

Written by
Jordan Stokes, Creative Director

Most if not all brand professionals are guilty of encouraging the use of positive buzzwords when developing strategy, tone of voice or brand personality in whatever form for their clients. It was very much ‘purposeful’ or ‘meaningful’ for a long time with ‘impactful’ having it’s own moment right now.

All brands are always looking to be authentic, mean what they say and not try to be something they’re not; Even if that thing is big, garish and in your face. Lot’s of brands are honest in the way they engage with their audiences and it usually comes through in the way they talk about themselves or present themselves, maybe more as an aesthetic or tone. These traits are often nuanced and can depend on a whole host of factors.

I believe that honesty means that when asked you answer truthfully and authentic just means you’re true to who you are.

But what if a brand’s customers or audiences don’t know what to ask, or understand specialist areas of the business (like sustainability)? Does this mean that brands don’t feel obliged to communicate what they’re doing? Feels a bit murky, right?

Transparency on the other hand is much more open. It’s brands saying ‘come and see for yourself’.

As the world of sustainability, action and brands actually doing the right thing very quickly moves into the mainstream, are we about to move away from brands having ‘meaningful’ conversations with their audiences and into them being more transparent and forthcoming with how they act behind the scenes?

What brands are doing from a sustainability perspective; setting targets, managing their resources, production and responsibilities by working to reduce any negative impact (and even positively impact in some cases) can often be quite technical, littered with caveats and very specialist at times.

Currently, when we do see it filter into the mainstream it often appears as something so lofty that you’ve lost all detail and the connection to the evidence. I think of it a bit like hearing politicians answering questions.

The information and results can also not look or sound great either. A lot of businesses are worried that they won’t hit the targets they set, which as reported by Accenture in November 2022 is most likely true for a vast majority of the major businesses setting targets.

Sometimes organisations can’t actually do enough because the systems they are a part of and the technology they use isn’t ready to support them, so in most cases they shy away from communicating outwardly.

However; organisations that understand the need for brand transparency are making this narrative a part of how they communicate with their stakeholders and audiences.

A good example of this has played out recently with Lego.

A brand loved by all who have been a sustainability leader for forever, recently announcing that they were needing to abandon one of their key initiatives to reduce emissions and the impact of their product because they physically couldn’t re-imagine their entire production process in time.

They have been both commended by some and slammed by others, but this act of brand transparency is just what more brands need to embrace if we want to inspire collaboration and action from both industry and consumers.

Another favourite example is Nudie Denim.

The global denim manufacturer has a strong sustainability approach, actively reports on their strategy and targets and engages consumers to make better choices; but, it’s their supply chain transparency activation that excites me the most.

On any product on their website, you can discover their entire supply chain, where the producer or production house is located, whether it has been audited and even download those reports. It’s a simple, but really impressive digital content piece that gives customers the ability to look under the hood at how their clothes are made in lots of detail.

These examples really highlight the difference (from a brand and communications point of view) between transparency and honesty.

Our services include brand strategy, identity creation and refinement, product and service design, graphic design and art direction, digital, campaigns and experiential. 

I’ve spent the last 16 months in a new world when you compare the first 15 years of my career. 

We moved from a more general brand and creative agency to be more specialist as part of a global impact consultancy. This new world has seen us working with new types of clients; not only in the businesses we work with but also the people within those businesess we engage.

In this new world we’re supporting amazing people who are doing amazing things to solve some of businesses most fundamental issues; and our role is to help them actually share what they’re doing with the world and be confident to share as much as possible, knowing they have the evidence to back it all up.

It takes a lot for brands to completely open their doors and windows to the world and let everyone see what they’re doing (in some instances, where reporting is concerned they may not have a choice in the near future).

If brands want to build, engage and educate the kinds audiences of that we need, to make the better choices that the world needs they have to start being braver in the way they set goals (and why) then communicate how they’re tracking against them.

In doing our work we apply our brand mantra in how we approach each project and what we need to ask from our clients.

We call it the ‘Edge Way’ and it quite simply combines science, strategy and storytelling to build the foundations a brand needs to communicate their purpose, their sustainability goals and their actions effectively.

Here are 5 strategies for brands to effectively transition to greater transparency

Understand what you need to be able to back up the work you’re doing and the goals you want to set. This could be through recognised certifications, life cycle analysis or establishing a carbon footprint.

One of the most interesting parts of this process, is when we are able to use this evidence base to develop brand and ESG strategy that truly connects and embeds sustainability into a brand at it’s core.

Bringing your internal and external audiences on the journey with you not only builds momentum behind your goals and actions, but it also helps communicate what needs to be done and why in a way that’s engaging, inspiring and people can connect with. By activating sustainability, you can make it a part of everyone’s role and something they can be a part of.

Most brands aren’t actually set up to communicate complex data, scientific evidence or multi-level sustainability stories on top of their day-to-day. By bolstering your brand asset library across data visualisation, imagery and language; to allow greater flexibility and focus on sustainability topics you can ensure messages cut-through and stay clear of feeling too ‘greenwashy’ and throw away.

By connecting sustainability teams, with marketing and brand teams and empowering those teams to communicate sustainability effectively; brands can keep an open channel with their audiences to continuously update on their goals and actions. Our work sees this come to life through training, workshops and the development of tools or functions that build on a businesses existing processes.

Sustainability reporting has traditionally been seen and felt by some as a resource drain, resulting in a fluffy marketing document that doesn’t disclose detail or drive any action. But by re-thinking how your brand reports on your goals, action and the impact you’re having on the world you can create a more engaging experience around how you bring brand transparency (and dislosure) to life within your customer experience and directly to your audiences.

As brands doing this well will know, it’s not just content and communications benefits that successful reporting can yield, but there are operational and strategic gains to be made too.

We unpack this more in our original discussion paper ‘How to Thrive In The New Era Of Disclosure’.

As with other branding trends that come and go, hopefully we’ll see a shift away from brand purpose and ‘honest’ brands, to more outright transparent brands in the near future.

Brands that build their strategies and communications on evidence, then openly share with the world how they are tracking against the commitments they have made. I hope this builds more confidence in consumers, customers and audiences of all kinds that they can trust the brands that they choose, because of the way they communicate.

Having worked on more traditional brand strategy for a number of years, I also feel excited by a different approach that could combine science, strategy and storytelling to create more progressive, sustainable and transparent brands.

To hear more about the work we do at Edge Impact to help businesses discover the power of brand transparency and creating truly sustainability focussed brands get in touch for a chat.

From brand strategy to digital campaigns, we help organisations of all sizes embed sustainability authentically. 

Learn more about our Brand, Communications & Creative Services.

As experts in the full spectrum of sustainability topics, we are here to guide you through the complexity. Our team includes specialists from across the globe; from strategists to economists, engineers to creatives. Since 2008, we have been helping businesses, organisations, industries and societies make transformation happen.

Our areas of expertise are focussed around the following areas:

Leadership and Transformation
ESG and Strategy
Decarbonisation and Climate Resilience
Circular Economy and Lifecycle Thinking
Procurement and Supply Chain
Nature and Biodiversity
Brand, Communications and Creative

Starting in February 2024, a pilot involving 120 cafes and restaurants across Auckland and the Bay of Plenty regions will get underway, run in two key stages and will help inform a nationwide programmer roll out.

Edge Impact and The Restaurant Association Launch Food Waste Programme

Each year, Aotearoa’s cafes and restaurants generate nearly 25,000 tonnes of food waste, and a shocking 61% of it is entirely avoidable.

When this food goes to landfill it’s a wasted opportunity to advance sustainability for the hospitality industry and improve financial outcomes for operators.

To tackle this pressing issue and provide the data insights to drive awareness and action across the industry, the Restaurant Association in conjunction with Edge Impact is launching Kai Keepers, a groundbreaking initiative aiming to change food waste monitoring and outcomes for cafes and restaurants throughout the Auckland and Bay of Plenty regions.

This two-and-a-half-year pilot programme involves 120 participants and is divided into two stages: a ‘baseline’ assessment to measure businesses’ food waste and a pilot to test various ‘interventions’ aimed at reducing food waste.

Participants will engage in a one-week pilot starting February 2024 to measure their food waste. The baseline assessments will be conducted at specific intervals: Baseline one at the end of February, baselines two and three in March, and baseline four at the start of April 2024. 

The second step involves participants taking part in a four-week food waste pilot, commencing at various intervals between July 2024 and February 2025. The pilots will trial different interventions to identify the most impactful strategies for reducing food waste. 

This structured approach ensures a thorough examination of food waste behaviours and the effectiveness of interventions across varying timeframes.

Edge Impact and The Restaurant Association have partnered to launch Kai Keepers: a groundbreaking pilot programme aimed at keeping food where it belongs.

Hannah Pennington, Principal Consultant, Circular Economy & Lifecycle Thinking

We're thrilled to unveil our year-long collaborative journey with The Restaurant Association, leading to the launch of a groundbreaking initiative that tackles food waste head-on in Aotearoa NZ. 

This program is a testament to the industry's ongoing efforts to minimise food waste, aiming to enhance these through rigorous behaviour change interventions and control trials. Our partnership is dedicated to developing practical solutions that not only uplift the economic health of our restaurants and cafes but also make a lasting positive impact on our environment.

To learn more about the programme, click here or get in touch with Hannah Pennington at: hannah.pennington@edgeimpact.global

“The main objectives of this project are to assess current food waste levels in the kitchens of Restaurant Association members, test behaviour change interventions, and identify the most effective strategies to reduce food waste. Findings from these pilots will not only provide critical insights but will also play a vital role in informing a nationwide rollout of a food waste reduction programme,” said Marisa Bidois, CEO of the Restaurant Association.

“This project represents a unique opportunity to increase our knowledge and understanding of the quantity and causes of food waste and for businesses to play a pivotal role in addressing the industry’s food waste challenges. 

The Restaurant Association, in collaboration with project partners Edge Impact, will provide support throughout the pilot, offering training and being available to address questions or provide on-site assistance.”

The financial impacts from avoidable food waste, combined with the real and present concerns from the industry around labour shortages, and the rising cost of food and labour, present a powerful reason for the industry to act. 

While the pilot is designed to minimise disruption to business operations, it promises to deliver invaluable insights into food waste and guidance on areas where businesses can make improvements.

The overwhelming support and interest from the members of The Restaurant Association and their staff to participate in this program highlight the collective drive towards setting new benchmarks in environmental stewardship.

Interested in this programme? Sign up for the Food Waste Behaviour Change Pilot here.

Launching A Food Waste Programme

David Maucor, Edge Impact's Regional Principal sits down with the New Zealand Construction News to break down everything you need to know about EPD's in the construction sector.

The Role of Environmental Product Declarations in the Construction Sector

David Maucor, Edge Impact Regional Principal, New Zealand

The construction sector plays a significant role in shaping our built environment. However, it also has a substantial environmental impact, using about 40% of extracted raw materials and contributing 40% of global carbon emissions.

Embodied carbon in the production of building materials is responsible for 28% of emissions from the building and construction sector globally, says David Maucor, Edge Impact Regional Principal, New Zealand.

“Between now and 2050 it is expected to account for almost half of total emissions from new constructions, with concrete, steel and aluminium considered some of the more challenging materials to decarbonise,” explains Maucor. 

“A key instrument to dramatically reduce this environmental impact is increased transparency and accurate information about the products and materials we use.

”This is where Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), compliant with the EN15804 standard, come into play. In this article, we will explore the role of EN15804 compliant EPDs in providing transparency and reducing life cycle carbon emissions in the construction sector.

EN15804 is the internationally adopted standard that sets the framework for the development of EPDs for construction products.

“EPDs are standardised and independently verified documents that provide transparent and credible information about the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle. They offer a comprehensive analysis of the product’s environmental performance, including carbon emissions, energy use, resource depletion, and waste generation. Importantly, the environmental data is presented in clearly defined stages, so you can compare step-by-step along the products’ life cycles,” says Maucor.

He says the number of published construction product EPDs have grown from a low base to mainstream over the last decade. According to international LCA and EPD expert Jane Anderson, there are likely 130,000 EPD for construction products globally, of which only 149 have been published through the EPD Australasia.

“EPDs are standardised and independently verified documents that provide transparent and credible information about the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle. They offer a comprehensive analysis of the product’s environmental performance, including carbon emissions, energy use, resource depletion, and waste generation.

Importantly, the environmental data is presented in clearly defined stages, so you can compare step-by-step along the products’ life cycles,” says Maucor.

Transform the built environment sustainably with our integrated services. From planning to deconstruction, we collaborate with clients for positive change. 

Learn more about our Built Environment Services.

EN15804 compliant EPDs play a crucial role in increasing transparency within the construction sector.

“They enable stakeholders, including architects, contractors, and building owners, to make informed decisions based on reliable and standardised environmental data.”

Maucor says that by providing a clear understanding of a product’s environmental footprint, EPDs allow for better comparison between similar products and support the selection of more sustainable alternatives.

One of the primary benefits of EN15804 compliant EPDs is their contribution to the reduction of life cycle carbon emissions in the construction sector. EPDs provide insights into the carbon emissions associated with each stage of a product’s life cycle, including raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, use, and end-of-life. Armed with this information, stakeholders can identify areas of high carbon intensity and implement strategies to minimise emissions.

“EPDs also foster innovation and encourage the development of low-carbon products and processes. By highlighting the environmental impact of construction materials, EPDs incentivise manufacturers to invest in research and development to create more sustainable alternatives. This drives the industry towards reducing carbon emissions and promoting the adoption of greener practices and technologies.”

Maucor says that leading organisations are increasingly combining the scientific backing of Life Cycle Assessment and EPDs with their corporate strategies and storytelling.

“A great example is the Holcim New Zealand launch of their new brand identity and lower carbon cement products, which coincided with the opening of their low-carbon cement replacement facility in Auckland.”

He says each year over 1.5 million tonnes of traditional cement is used in New Zealand, generating 1.3 million tonnes of CO2.

“By embarking on a transformation to provide lower carbon solutions for people and planet, Holcim New Zealand’s EcoPlanet can reduce embodied carbon by more than 30% compared to General Purpose (NZ) Cement resulting in a meaningful contribution to the carbon impact of construction in New Zealand.”

Holcim NZ used a science-backed rebrand journey, by helping to localise the global Holcim brand guidelines and make the Holcim New Zealand positioning, products and collateral tailored to the New Zealand market. The sustainability and creative experts at Edge Impact worked with the Holcim NZ team to rebrand, launch and create a new brand story, all backed by EPD to demonstrate how Holcim NZ is taking a meaningful science-based approach to reduce carbon emissions through lower carbon products.

“The development of the EPD was instrumental to the way we delivered on the rebrand and localisation project for Holcim. It gave us the evidence base to inform the positioning and messaging at a more general brand level, right the way through to the way we talk about products and services.

Jordan Stokes, Creative Director at Edge Impact.

“We leveraged the EPD in a way that made it more like a part of the brand strategy than a technical report, helping us shape the brand architecture and ultimately the final brand and marketing collateral. A true example of science, strategy and storytelling coming together to deliver more impactful results."

Supporting Sustainable Building Certifications

EN15804 compliant EPDs are closely linked to sustainable building certifications, such as our local Green Star and ISC Infrastructure Sustainability Rating Schemes, and international LEED and BREEAM. These ratings and asset certifications recognise and reward projects that prioritise environmental performance. “EPDs provide the necessary data to earn credits or points within these rating systems, encouraging the use of products with lower environmental impact and facilitating the achievement of sustainable building goals,” says Maucor.

The adoption of EN15804 compliant EPDs requires collaboration among all stakeholders in the construction sector.

“Manufacturers must voluntarily disclose their products’ environmental data and work with independent third-party verifiers to ensure the credibility of the information provided. Architects, engineers, and specifiers play a vital role in integrating EPDs into their decision-making processes and demanding transparency from manufacturers. Industry associations and governing bodies also have a responsibility to promote the use of EPDs and establish policies that incentivise their adoption.”

In the quest for a more sustainable and low-carbon construction sector, EN15804 compliant EPDs have emerged as a powerful tool.

“By increasing transparency and providing accurate environmental data, EPDs support informed decision-making, promote the use of low-carbon products, and drive innovation towards greener practices. As the construction industry continues to embrace sustainability, the widespread adoption of EN15804 compliant EPDs will be crucial in achieving significant reductions in life cycle carbon emissions and shaping a more sustainable built environment for future generations.”

As experts in the full spectrum of sustainability topics, we are here to guide you through the complexity.

Learn why Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is essential for substantiating green claims. Discover how LCA is integrated into global regulatory frameworks and why it’s considered the gold standard for environmental credibility.

The Role of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Validating Green Claims

Emma Green, Senior Consultant, Lifecycle & Material Flow Assessments

As consumers and regulators demand more transparency on sustainability, companies are under pressure to substantiate their environmental claims.

With the risk of greenwashing—misleading consumers about environmental benefits—becoming increasingly prevalent, businesses need credible, scientific methods to prove their sustainability commitments.