While the concrete industry has been leading the way in developing environmental product declarations (EPDs), it has also been keenly aware of its limitations as a tool for material transparency. That is, EPDs and its base methodology, Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), do not require disclosing key environmental impacts such as land use, biodiversity and ecotoxicity. In the past few years, NRMCA along with industry allies have attempted to include such measure in the international green standards such as LEED, ASTM and the International Green Construction Code only to be blocked by heavily-funded wood interests.

Now, a few environmentalists are beginning to understand as well. In a recent article, Jason Grant, director of Greenwash Action, is communicating how the timber and vinyl industries are exploiting this reporting limitation and calls for reforming the underlying rules so that EPDs can truly be a comprehensive tool (read more). NRMCA has developed a number of tools to support the comprehensive sustainability agenda of the industry that can be found at www.nrmca.org/sustainability.