AWC debuts new environmental guidelines
The American Wood Council (AWC) has released regional industry average Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for the U.S. wood products industry. Historically, the industry average has been nationwide in scope. AWC has responded to the market’s request for more granular, specific data. The new, third-party verified EPDs demonstrate the sector’s continued commitment to radical transparency in describing the sustainability of U.S. wood products.
The U.S. wood products industry has published numerous EPDs over the past decade, though all previous EPDs have been North American in scope. With growing market interest in localized EPDs and an enhanced ability to capture mill data through the online data collection platform AWC has developed, the new regional EPDs provide consumers and regulators with robust, current, data-based indicators of the industry’s environmental footprint.
EPDs have been completed for three U.S. regions of softwood lumber production: Pacific Coast, Inland Northwest and South. An EPD for the North/Northeast region is forthcoming in early 2025. AWC worked with the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials to develop these EPDs, which were then submitted to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for third-party verification.
“These regional EPDs are a game-changer for our industry and demonstrate the sector’s responsiveness to market demands. They directly address the growing consumer and regulatory interest in data surrounding the environmental impacts of U.S. wood products and demonstrate the U.S. industry’s commitment to radical transparency. The new EPDs are something the entire U.S. wood products industry should be proud of,” said Rachael Jamison, VP of sustainability and markets at AWC.
AWC and CORRIM are also preparing to update engineered wood products EPDs for the U.S. wood products industry. Additionally, AWC’s expanded Life Cycle Survey is open for the 2024 collection cycle, marking the first time the data collection platform has been available to all U.S. mills, not just AWC member companies. The survey, which collects mill-level data from nearly 1,000 wood products mill in the U.S., is the foundation of the industry’s EPDs.
