The American Wood Council (AWC) has released a new Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for U.S. softwood lumber in the Northern region. This EPD rounds out the U.S. wood products industry’s first regional softwood lumber EPDs. Previous industry EPDs had been North American in scope, and last year, AWC released the first regional U.S. EPDs for softwood lumber in the Pacific Coast, Inland Northwest and Southern regions.
“AWC, driven by member feedback, recognized that the market wanted more granular data for our products’ environmental impact, and the publication of this final, regional EPD demonstrates our industry’s commitment to transparency and further shows the sustainability of U.S. wood products,” said Rachael Jamison, AWC’s Vice President of Markets and Sustainability.
To develop the four regional EPDs, AWC partnered with the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM) and the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement. The data was gathered from AWC’s annual Life Cycle Survey which collects mill-level data before being aggregated and analyzed in Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs). These LCAs then form the base of the EPDs. Once completed, the EPDs went through third-party verification by the American Society for Testing and Materials.
All four regional EPDs (Northern, Pacific Coast, Inland Northwest and Southern) are available to view online, along with other AWC-managed industry EPDs including Softwood Plywood and OSB.