An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a third-party verified document. In practice, it has become a trusted way to present a product’s environmental performance in a clear, comparable, and verifiable format.
As regulations increase and require environmental data at the project level, our customers need verified product information to complete their calculations. To provide our customers with the right documentation, we at V.A.V. Group turned to Reforest Finland Oy for help.
Sustainability requirements are going through changes
According to Atte Borgenström, CEO of sustainability consultancy Reforest, the change in mindset over the past few years has been dramatic.
“We’ve worked with sustainability reporting and carbon footprint calculations for years – carbon footprint reporting has been the core of our work for a long time. But regulation is tightening fast, and requirements keep growing. As a result, companies now need much broader solutions than before.”
Reforest, founded in 2020 and located in Tampere, Finland, supports companies with sustainability reporting, carbon footprint calculations, EPDs, and other environmental assessments. While interest started off slowly, in recent years the demand has accelerated rapidly.
“The number of inquiries has increased massively. Around 2021, sustainability was still often seen as something close to charity. Today, decision-makers understand that it’s an essential part of doing business.”
A combination of EU regulation and market pressure drives this shift. Larger companies increasingly require verified environmental data from their suppliers, which means smaller and mid-sized manufacturers must also be able to provide credible, standardized information.
What the EPD covers
An EPD is based on a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a product. It usually applies to construction products, where environmental performance plays a key role in project-level calculations.
“An EPD shows the environmental impacts of a product across its entire life cycle – from manufacturing and use to end of life. That includes CO₂ emissions and other greenhouse gases, but also impacts on water and ecosystems,” Borgenström explains.
The result is a detailed document containing a large amount of quantified data. While this may seem complex at first glance, its value becomes clear at the project level.
“A building consists of many different components. By combining EPDs, you can calculate the total carbon footprint and environmental impact of the entire building.”
Because EPDs follow harmonized standards and are third-party verified, the data is consistent and comparable, something that unverified calculations cannot guarantee.
Why this matters to us
One of the key strengths of EPDs is that they are always produced according to the same rules. All assumptions must be justified, and nothing essential can be left out.
Once the calculations are complete, the EPD is reviewed by an accredited verifier, who checks the methodology, data sources, and results before approving publication. Verified EPDs are public documents and can be found in databases such as EPD Hub.
A verified EPD is valid for 5 years, provided the product’s composition does not undergo significant changes. If production methods, materials, or energy sources change during that time, updating the EPD can help reflect improved environmental performance.
This is the first EPD calculation for V.A.V. Group and, as such, a starting point for continuous evaluation and improvement of materials, production, and recycling processes to achieve even better results in the future.
What if a product has no EPD?
If a product does not have its own EPD, generic emission factors are typically used in building or project calculations. While this allows projects to move forward, the results are often less accurate and frequently less favorable than product-specific data.
“For manufacturers operating in Finland and other regions with energy-efficient production and low-carbon electricity, this can be a missed opportunity,” Borgenström notes.
EPDs make it possible to demonstrate real differences between products, especially when compared to alternatives manufactured under very different environmental conditions.
Ask our team for more details!
Reforest carried out the EPD calculations for V.A.V. Group’s products, supporting the process from life cycle assessment to third-party verification. For broad product portfolios, EPDs can often be created for product groups within defined variation ranges, making them a practical and scalable solution even when individual product variants are numerous.
You can now find EPD verifications for our silicone profiles and our TPE sealing profiles on EPD-Hub or by following the links below!
As sustainability expectations continue to evolve, EPDs offer a stable foundation grounded in data, verified by third parties, and increasingly essential for doing business in construction and industry. We at V.A.V. Group will continue to do our part in providing up-to-date documentation on our materials and products.
