Communicating the environmental characteristics of products: the use of environmental product declarations in the building, energy and automotive industries

Environmental policy is shifting the focus from production processes to product-related issues. The provision and use of environmental information is generally considered an essential element in addressing the environmental impacts associated with the life cycle of products. Environmental product declarations (EPD) are one of the much promoted informative instruments. A wide range of self-declarations as well as third-party certified EPDs have accordingly been established on a voluntary basis by various industries. This dissertation contains a review and analysis of the current development and use of environmental product declarations in business-to-business communication.The analysis focuses on the use of EPD in the building,energy and automotive industries. In order to utilise the potential of EPD to influence the awareness and behaviour of anufacturers and customers, a number of obstacles need to be overcome. Identified obstacles include the complexity of the information in its current form, as well as a lack of commitment among the actors to the overall goal of promoting design of, and shifting consumption to, environmentally preferable goods and services.