Establishment of EPD Programme in Latvia:: case of construction industry

Abstract

Environmental assessment, reporting and documentation are becoming increasingly important. A central tool for this is product labelling, including environmental product declarations (EPDs).While some countries have been using EPDs for several years already, other have not yet applied this tool and methodology of life cycle assessment (LCA). The purpose of this thesis is to to investigate the feasibility of the establishment of an EPD programme in Latvia by mapping and analyzing the current conditions (gaps, barriers and opportunities) and suggesting a solution for an EPD programme that complies with the current requirements and practices elsewhere in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA).Construction industry, in particular, production of building materials, is used to illustrate the steps towards an integrated system for development and verification of EPDs.