LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) are both created to assess the environmental performance of a product, but they differ in purpose and application.
1. LCA (Life Cycle Assessment)
An LCA is a scientific analysis that maps out the environmental impacts of a product or process throughout the different phases of its entire life cycle.
An LCA is conducted according to international standards such as ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, and can be used to compare products and support sustainable decision-making.
2. EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)
An EPD is a standardized document that summarizes and publishes the results of an LCA.
- An EPD is based on an LCA, but follows the ISO 14025 and EN 15804 standards for transparency and comparability.
- It contains environmental data on, for example, CO₂ emissions, energy consumption, and water use of a product.
Key Difference Between LCA and EPD
- An LCA is a comprehensive analysis method that evaluates the environmental impacts of a product across its full life cycle.
- An EPD is a standardized report that communicates the environmental performance of a specific product based on LCA data.
The actions IKO takes to reduce CO₂ emissions during each phase of the life cycle of an IKO Atelia product can be found on our Atelia website, which follows the EPD format.