MTS Supports 2030 Challenge for Products
January 2013 | 2030 Challenge for Products
Architecture 2030 welcomes The Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability, MTS, as a supporter of the 2030 Challenge for Products. Through their SMaRT Certification, MTS has long been a leader in the field of sustainable building certifications and in 2011 MTS started certifying SMaRT Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).
An EPD is a compliance path towards meeting the 2030 Challenge for Products as it allows manufacturers and architects to understand the carbon footprint of a building product and push towards reductions.
Through the SMaRT EPD program, manufacturers not only receive a type I ecolabel, the SMaRT certification, but they also receive a type III ecolabel, an EPD. The SMaRT EPD is cradle-to-grave and covers a wide array of 13 environmental impacts, more than the 6 specified by ISO.
One of the initial adopters of the 2030 Challenge for Products, CalStar Products, developed their SMaRT EPD through MTS. CalStar bricks achieve an 84% lower carbon footprint than an average clay brick. Other SMaRT EPDs developed by MTS include the ReGeneration chair by Knoll.
SMaRT EPDs use one-size-fits-all Product Category Rules (PCR) written for the broad category of all products. This eliminates time and money spent on developing specific rules for individual product categories, but may not take into account industry and category norms. As always, it is critical to understand the underlying assumptions behind the calculations in an EPD and the best comparisons are made between EPDs conducted according to the same PCR.
Learn more about the SMaRT EPD program here.
Learn more about EPDs & PCRs here.
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Architecture 2030’s mission is to rapidly transform the built environment from the major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions to a central solution to the climate crisis.