Innovation, aesthetics and environmental responsibility are the key words in Viero Decoratives corporate path. On this note, EPD certification (Environmental Product Declaration) arrived for nine lime-based products in December 2024. An important milestone that highlights the company’s commitment to maintaining a reliable and transparent approach towards international stakeholders.
What is EPD certification?
What does EPD certification entail? How can it be of use to architects, designers and creative professionals in designing spaces? And why are we so proud as a brand to have this certification?
An explanation is provided by Marco Demi, Technical Office Coordinator for Cromology Italia, who is in charge of guiding and overseeing the technical office that manages all the certifications of all the products belonging to the various Cromology brands, including Viero Decoratives.
“EPD is an acronym for Environmental Product Declaration,” Demi tells us. “It is a document in which the environmental performance of a product is described in the form of standardised and objective data. It allows the amount of energy and natural resources used by the production and distribution processes, CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, types of materials used for packaging and amount of waste generated, to be duly analysed and quantified. In the construction field, EPDs provide an essential basis for professionals, such as architects and designers, when they are making an overall plan and assessment of the work to be carried out. EPDs, created on a voluntary basis, must be prepared with reference to the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), an analytical and systematic methodology that assesses the environmental significance of a product or service throughout its life cycle. LCA is the method that is used as the technical basis for a wide range of possible actions generated with the aim of increasing the sustainability of products, since it helps us understand the environmental impact of these products. The PCRs (Product Category Rules) provide the instructions for how the LCA should be conducted, which must also comply with EN 15804, the international standard for construction products.”
Why is the EPD reliable and how does it show the company’s commitment?
What else does this certification entail? “The EPD,” continues Demi, “is a type III environmental label. It is, therefore, certified by a third party that carries out an audit in the company once a year. It is not, therefore, a self-certification. The scope of the EPD is based on the LCA analysis (Life Cycle Assessment). In practice, it means that the environmental impacts of each production stage are examined in detail, from the use of the product to its disposal. Once the company has a photograph of its impact, it can then decide to implement a development plan over a certain number of years and set itself the goal of reducing or improving specific parameters. In this case, a new study at a later date will then be able to ascertain whether the goal was, in fact, achieved. If the goal were achieved, the result would be communicated with a new EPD, clearly showing the decrease in the environmental impact by a specific percentage. The interesting thing is that the EPD certification is a public document and can be consulted by anyone. For Cromology Italia and, in this specific case, for Viero Decoratives, therefore, obtaining the EPD is way of setting itself apart and demonstrating its commitment to sustainability in black and white. The photographs of the environmental impact are, in fact, published in ‘The International EPD System’ operated by the Swedish programme, including the main ones for building products.
While Cromology already has as many as 125 EPDs, Viero Decoratives has only recently embarked on the path, focusing on the lime-based range. The aim is to certify most of the products in the range within 3 years.”
It is clear, therefore, that EPDs are highly valued by Italian and international designers as Type III environmental labels certified by third-party bodies under the ISO 14025 standard. Their objective value helps designers make informed decisions aligned with the sustainability criteria required in numerous public and private tenders.
An ongoing commitment
Viero Decoratives continues to invest in R&D to improve production processes and gradually reduce the environmental impact. This is confirmed by the implementation, this year, of a voluntary emissions certification process to highlight the safety and value of our products.
If you would like to know more about our range of EPD-certified, lime-based products, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
