The ATIBT and its partners have initiated the "Dryades" project, which aims to enhance the value of tropical wood products in the construction sector by providing Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) from Africa for a range of eco-certified products in the Congo Basin, and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD).
The life cycle assessment project is led by the ATIBT and is mainly funded by the Programme for the Promotion of Certified Logging (PPECF), and by ATIBT member companies and federations such as Le Commerce du Bois (LCB).
In 2022, the ATIBT carried out 12 life cycle inventories (LCI) for the main wood products from the Congo Basin manufactured by its members who are certified forest managers.
You will find 12 sheets that offer a simplified reading of the results of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of certified wood products from the Congo Basin available in a port on the West African coast with 2 key indicators: the Global Warming indicator and the Quantity of Biogenic Carbon Stored.
ATIBT and its partners are implementing the “Dryades” project, which aims to enhance the value of tropical wood products in the construction sector by providing pre-product Life Cycle Analyses (LCAs), Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for a range of eco-certified products from the Congo Basin.
As a reminder, in France, according to the RE 2020 regulation (to be published in January 2022), construction products that do not have an FDES (Fiche de Déclaration Environnementale et Sanitaire) will be assigned penalizing environmental data by default (multiplied by a factor of 3 to 10).
At European level, as part of the reinforcement of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), the European Commission has drafted a delegated act to make environmental declarations mandatory as part of the CE marking of construction products.
In addition, there is a structuring trend towards products with EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) in the European construction market.
Direct beneficiaries :
First and foremost, SFM-certified forest managers (FSC or PEFC/PAFC certification) and eco-manufacturers who responded to the data collection and who will have privileged access to the results of the study and the possibility of obtaining recommendations to guide their environmental strategy.
Importers of eco-certified wood from the Congo Basin and traders and distributors of eco-certified wood from the Congo Basin will also benefit, and will be able to promote these environmental data on the construction market.
Designers will be able to integrate these environmental data into their building life-cycle analysis. Certified tropical wood products will therefore be able to gain a competitive edge in the construction market.
Stakeholders :
Prime contractor: PPECF
Delegated project manager: ATIBT
Project owner: COMIFAC / KFW
Industry expertise :
Project management expertise :
FSC or PAFC-certified wood products from the Congo Basin covered by collective LCIs (life cycle inventories) from African ports : logs, unseasoned sawn timber with sub-families according to section, seasoned sawn timber, hydraulic timber and sleepers, profiles (deck boards, joists, panelling, mouldings), glued laminated beams, veneers, plywood.
The 12 ICV are available on the ATIBT website : https://www.atibt.org/fr/resource-categories/28/analyses-
cycle-de-vie-des-bois-du-bassin-du-congo
These ICVs are intended for distribution :
Who are the rightful owners of these EICVs ?
All ATIBT member companies producing wood products made from Congo Basin wood from sustainably managed forests (certified wood). Customers of ATIBT members will be able to use these EICVs to make their environmental declaration (EPD / FDES or other LCA).
It should be noted that these sheets can also be used by companies managing forests certified as
certified forests (FSC / PAFC) who are not ATIBT members. A written request for authorization must be sent
to ATIBT (info@atibt.org)
FSC or PAFC-certified wood building products from the Congo Basin covered by collective FDESs and EPDs (life-cycle analysis up to the end of the product's life) :
Thus, 3 collective FDESs and 3 EPDs are to be envisaged. After third-party verification, the 3 FDESs will be registered on the French INIES platform, and the 3 DEPs on the European ECOPLATEFORM platform (April 2023). They will comply with ISO 14 040/44 and NF EN 15 804+A2.
The geographical scope of this project is the entire Congo Basin for producing countries, and the European market for consuming countries.
The focus will be on France and the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, a cooperation agreement has been signed between Centrum Hout (PB) and ATIBT to share Life Cycle Inventory data from the DRYADES project so that Centrum Hout can register EPDs in the Netherlands.
We look forward to further collaboration with European wood trade federations.
LCAs are used in the certification of sustainable buildings and in the development of environmental product declarations (EPDs) for materials used in construction.
There is also a growing tendency to use them during project development as a decision-making tool.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an environmental evaluation method that quantifies the impact of a product, service or process over its entire life cycle, from the extraction of its raw materials to its end-of-life treatment, including the implementation and life-cycle stages.
A standardized and recognized tool (ISO 14040 series of standards), LCA is the most advanced method in terms of global, multi-criteria assessment, resulting from the interpretation of the quantified balance of material and energy flows in and out at each stage of the product's life cycle.
To express the results of the analysis, and to reason on the basis of identical service rendered, we define the functional unit.This is a measurement element that quantifies the function fulfilled by the product under study.
The results of an LCA are expressed in the form of a series of environmental indicators, presenting both potential impacts (e.g. X kg of CO2 equivalents for the greenhouse effect) and physical flows (e.g. y kg of hazardous waste).
Standards NF EN 15804, NF XP C08-100-1 and NF EN 15978 are sector-specific versions of ISO 14040, applied respectively to construction products, equipment and buildings.
Source INIES : https://www.inies.fr/faq/les-produits-de-construction-qui-sont-dans-inies-sont-ils-bons-pour-
lenvironnement/
The life cycle assessment methodology is based on four stages:
These four stages are both distinct and interdependent, as frequent feedback is required throughout the study, making the overall approach iterative. The four stages of LCA are based on ISO standards 14040 and 14044.
The Life Cycle Inventory is therefore part of the second stage of the LCA methodology.
It consists of drawing up an inventory of material and energy flows, both incoming and outgoing, associated with the various stages of the life cycle, in relation to the functional unit selected. The inventory is therefore an analytical accounting of flows.
Two types of data are collected: activity factors (kWh consumed, km traveled, tons transported, etc.) and emission factors (g of NOx emitted to air, g of PO4 emitted to water, etc.).
These specific (or primary) data can be supplemented by generic (or secondary) data, derived from bibliography or calculations, when the former are insufficient or unavailable.
Source ADEME : https://www.ademe.fr/expertises/consommer-autrement/passer-a-laction/dossier/lanalyse-
cycle-vie/comment-realise-t-acv
Any player responsible for marketing a building product or equipment whose communication “includes environmental claims or uses the terms sustainable development or its synonyms”, must draw up an environmental declaration covering all the environmental aspects of this product.
Since July 1, 2017, French regulations have made it mandatory for environmental declarations to be verified by an independent third party. This verification stage consists of certifying that the values of the environmental indicators present in the declaration have indeed been established in accordance with standard NF EN 15804+A1 and its national supplement NF EN 15804/CN.
These declarations will also constitute major input data for calculating the impact on climate change of buildings and their constituent products, in line with the future Environmental Regulations for New Buildings (RE2020). If your product does not have an EHDS, its impact on climate change will be taken into account using default environmental data.
These default data are made available by the Ministry. They include safety coefficients and will make it more difficult
carbon thresholds for buildings incorporating them. Having an FDES will therefore enable you to enhance the environmental performance of your product in the future RE2020.
Source : https://evaluation.cstb.fr/fr/declarations-environnementales/
The new environmental regulations for new buildings in France (the “RE2020”) have been provided for in the “Evolution du Logement, de l'Aménagement et du Numérique” (ELAN) law, to come into force from 2022.
The major challenge is to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the building industry. To achieve this, it is based on a gradual transformation of construction techniques, industrial sectors and energy solutions, in order to keep construction costs under control and ensure that professionals' skills are upgraded.
This future regulation will use data from environmental and health declaration sheets (FDES) to calculate the environmental impact of new buildings throughout their life cycle.
For construction products, the standard used to produce EHSFs is the current European standard NF EN 15804 and its national supplement NF EN 15804/CN.
Source : https://www.inies.fr/faq/
The INIES database is the national reference database for environmental and health data on construction products and equipment.
INIES makes available Environmental and Health Declaration Sheets (Fiches de Déclaration Environnementale et Sanitaire - FDES) for construction products supplied by manufacturers or trade associations in the format of European standard NF EN 15804 and its national complement for construction products, and standard NF XP C08-100-1 and PCR ed.3 for equipment.
The INIES database is managed by a supervisory board and a technical committee. The supervisory board, chaired by the Alliance HQE-GBC, oversees the ethical operation of the INIES database. The technical committee is responsible for data collection and processing, and for updating the content of the database.
Source : https://www.inies.fr/faq/
An EHDS is an Environmental and Health Declaration Sheet. This declaration is drawn up under the responsibility of the product's manufacturer (or trade association).
This data is then qualified as specific. Standard NF EN 15804+A1 and its national complement (and in compliance with standard NF P01-010 previously) provides the method for obtaining and the format for declaring environmental and health information.
Completing an EHDS requires a life-cycle analysis (LCA) of the product (a highly detailed environmental balance sheet) and health information, often resulting from specific tests.
Source INIES : https://www.inies.fr/faq/
EHDSs provide multi-criteria, objective, quantitative and qualitative information relating to a product's function and lifespan within a structure.
The main role of EHDSs is to provide necessary and useful information to those who wish to add environmental and health criteria on an unbiased basis to their usual selection criteria (technical, economic and aesthetic).
They are an irreplaceable tool for assessing the environmental performance of buildings.
Collective EHDSs cover the same product type manufactured by several manufacturers.
Individual EHDSs relate to a product manufactured by a single manufacturer. Last but not least, there are also “customized” EHDSs, based on configurators that can be used to calculate an EHDS tailored to the product being used in the structure being assessed.
EHDSs must be verified by an independent third party accredited by a program.
Each EHDS contains :
The most important phase in the production of an EHDS is the collection of the product's environmental and health data.
The quality of the data depends on the quality of the LCA and, consequently, the quality of the EHDS.
Some data are directly linked to the manufacturing stage, while others come from upstream (energy suppliers, raw materials, components, etc.) and downstream (transport, implementation, etc.) stages.
The LCA software chosen by the manufacturer processes all these data to calculate the product's environmental indicators in accordance with European standard NF EN 15804 and its national complement.
At the same time, the manufacturer carries out the laboratory tests needed to supply the information required by the standard to produce the health and comfort data.
An EHDS can be produced either on the initiative of a manufacturer, or on the initiative of a professional organization when a sector has opted for collective EHDSs.
EHDSs are valid for 5 years.
Since July 1, 2017, all EHDS must be verified by an independent third party (cf.: ISO 14025 standard) recognized by a verification program agreed by the State.
The INIES program benefits from this agreement.
As part of the work on the environmental performance of new buildings, and with a view to the RE2020 environmental regulations, default environmental data has been developed for construction or decoration products and equipment.
They are made available by the French Ministry of Construction. In the absence of specific data, these default environmental data are intended to enable the most complete possible calculation of a building's LCA.
of a building.
These default environmental data must be used in the absence of an environmental declaration for the construction or decoration product, or for the equipment chosen (they always include a safety coefficient to cover uncertainty about the environmental performance of the product installed in the absence of specific data).
Source : https://www.inies.fr/faq/
EPD is an environmental study of a product based on life-cycle analysis. The aim is to understand the product's impact on the environment.
Recognized throughout Europe, the EPD is drawn up in accordance with standard EN 15804. As such, it is similar to the FDES except that it does not take into account the health aspect imposed by the French complement to the European standard.
It is a declaration, and its implementation is governed by standards ISO 14020 and ISO 14025.
Terminology
The Environmental Declaration (ED) corresponds to the terminology used in French regulations.
At European and international level, the term EPD or Environmental Product Declaration is used.
Its literal translation into French is DEP (Déclaration Environnementale de Produit).
Source : https://evaluation.cstb.fr/fr/declarations-environnementales
Environmental declarations provide comprehensive, reliable information on building products and equipment:
Source : https://evaluation.cstb.fr/fr/declarations-environnementales
