EPD Australasia and GECA Announce Agreement to Support Businesses
EPD Australasia and GECA are pleased to announce an agreement to support Australian businesses obtaining ISO compliant ecolabels and environmental product declarations (EPDs) for their products.
The agreement provides a mutual discount for GECA licensees registering an EPD with EPD Australasia and an EPD owner applying for GECA certification for their product.
“This mutual discount agreement recognises the benefits both our organisations make available to businesses in providing credible environmental declarations and ecolabel certification to the market,” said Stephen Mitchell, Chair of EPD Australasia.
Type 1, otherwise known as lifecycle ecolabels, are voluntary labels that signify the overall environmental preference of a product or service based on multiple criteria across the entire lifecycle, from raw materials to end of life, as per ISO standard 14024.
Type 3 environmental product declarations are voluntary declarations of a product’s environmental impact based on multi-criteria lifecycle assessment – including a carbon footprint, following ISO standard 14025.
Both GECA certification and EPDs registered with EPD Australasia require third-party verification.
According to GECA’s CEO, Michelle Thomas, “GECA and EPD Australasia have a mutual goal to support businesses on the pathway to more sustainable practices. Many specifiers, architects, and green building programs ask manufacturers for EPDs and incorporate EPD information into specifications. Having an EPD provides transparency and comparability among products in the same category.”
“Whereas products or services certified by an ecolabel must demonstrate that they have a reduced environmental impact during their production, consumption, and end of life compared to similar products or services, making them a more sustainable choice. By combining the transparent and comparable data of an EPD with the rigour and robustness of the GECA ecolabel, which includes environmental, health, social and fit for purpose criteria, you have the best of both worlds.”
This reciprocal discount is available for existing licensees of GECA and businesses with an EPD registered with EPD Australasia.
GECA licensees can obtain $500 off the registration of their first EPD with EPD Australasia and 10% off the first year’s annual fee.
Businesses with an EPD registered with EPD Australasia are entitled to a waiver of the $800 application fee for GECA certification and 10% off the annual license fee.
For more information, contact us or visit www.epd-australasia.com.