Reminder: Register for EPA’s Webinar on Proposed Product Category Rules Criteria to Improve Carbon Emissions Reporting of Construction Materials Under New Label Program
Released March 14, 2024
Join the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 21, 2024, from 1-2 p.m. ET, for a webinar on the Agency’s draft criteria for Product Category Rules (PCRs) that will support a new label for more climate-friendly construction materials and products as part of the $100 million Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials created under the Inflation Reduction Act.
On March 5, EPA announced the publication of a Notice of Availability to seek public input on the draft PCR criteria that serve as guidelines for developing Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) which communicate climate and other environmental impacts of products, and will be used to determine a product’s eligibility for the new label. The draft PCR criteria will improve PCRs by establishing consistent requirements for data quality and transparency in EPDs.
The draft criteria were developed with input from stakeholders, including in response to a Request for Information that was issued last year, and the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, the General Services Administration and other federal agencies.
This announcement follows the release on Feb. 15, 2024, of the draft approach for the implementation of the broader Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials that EPA is currently seeking input on. The draft approach proposes how the label program would define what constitutes low embodied carbon construction materials in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s landmark Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages the Federal Government’s power as the world’s largest purchaser to spur demand for low embodied carbon materials made in America.
As it develops the new label program, EPA plans to award $100 million in grants to support businesses that manufacture construction materials and products to develop and verify EPDs, and to states, Indian Tribes, and nonprofit organizations that will support such businesses. The EPDs generated through this grant program will make it easier for interested purchasers to ensure the construction projects they fund are using lower embodied carbon construction materials. The PCR Criteria will support both grantees and the broader marketplace in developing more robust product EPDs.
Written comments should be submitted to docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2024-0075 on regulations.gov by April 4, 2024.
Learn more about EPA’s label program for low embodied carbon construction materials.