5 Reasons to be Transparent about our Environmental Impacts with EPDs
Our verified EPD brings to light the environmental impacts of its Niro Granite & Portino porcelain tile, particularly our climate emissions. Click here to view the EPD.
What is an EPD?
EPD stands for Environmental Product Declaration – an objective, multi-faceted document that gives transparency to what products are made of, how they’re made, and what environmental impacts the product has, such as greenhouse gas emissions. Think of it like a nutritional label for the green building industry!
“The EPD will help inform our choices going forward and enable us to make data-driven improvements to our materials, manufacturing processes, sourcing, and other operational efficiencies,” said Ian Kok, Managing Director of Niro Ceramic Group. “We are proud to have achieved a verified EPD with a trusted and reliable independent certifier SCS Global Services.”
Here are 5 reasons why EPDs are a reliable way we’re communicating our environmental impacts and climate emissions:
1. Niro Ceramic Group’s EPD demonstrates our commitment to sustainability
EPDs are the most comprehensive assessment of environmental impacts that a company can achieve. The EPD required us to obtain a cradle-to-grave life cycle analysis (LCA) of our tile produced in Malaysia and Indonesia, which gives insights into every step of the product life cycle, from raw material extraction all the way to disposal at the end of its life, and every stage in between. Our investment in this type of analysis shows that our focus is on collecting accurate data that will help us make decisions to improve our processes and products. Our goal is to make products that are more environmentally sustainable. Tracking this data is just the beginning for us, as we continue to develop better practices.
2. An EPD enables visibility into our products and processes
An important part of sustainability is allowing transparency into your products and processes. At Niro Ceramic Group, we want to build trust and confidence with our customers, and that starts with us being open about what goes on behind the scenes. The EPD provides the highest level of transparency for the green building industry and will be used by architects, designers and specifiers to make better choices for environmentally sustainable products going into their buildings.
3. The EPD identifies ‘hot-spots’ along our supply chain and manufacturing
One huge advantage of our EPD is that it helps us identify problem areas to address. Our EPD has helped us discover that most of our climate emissions are derived from energy used in the manufacturing stage of our porcelain tile. Tile manufacturing has high energy impacts due to electricity used for facilities and natural gas used for firing of the tiles. Other impacts recognized from the EPD are emissions during transportation of tile products internationally. These are all opportunities to develop efficiencies and will help us navigate a more sustainable path for our future. Better for the environment, and better for people.
4. An EPD help to examine cost-effective, environmentally efficient improvements
Creating efficiencies is a win for everyone. With our EPD, it provides the data for us to look at ways to reduce environmental impacts and make adjustments in places where we have control – such as manufacturing, sourcing, transportation, etc. Environmental improvements such as using more renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency at our facilities, or sourcing more local materials – this can reveal cost savings.
5. Our EPD substantiates our consumer-facing environmental claims
Our LCA was independently conducted by leading sustainability and environmental certification body SCS Global Services, and verified by an independent 3rd party, ensuring that our data is reliable and legitimate. Any company can make a claim for themselves, but when it is independently verified, that is the greatest level of accountability and transparency. While the EPD is not an environmental claim in itself, the EPD has measured all of our baseline data for environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions. Now, we can demonstrate improvements over time by benchmarking against our current EPD. Our sustainability journey is well on its way!
View the EPD of Niro Granite and Portino porcelain tiles on the SCS Green Products Guide.
