On Aug. 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its plan for implementing a new label program to boost clean American manufacturing by helping federal purchasers and other buyers find and buy cleaner, more climate-friendly construction materials and products. The label program is made possible by a $100 million investment in the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and aims to cut climate pollution linked to the production of construction products and materials, which accounts for more than 15% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. The Inflation Reduction Act invests billions of dollars to reduce industrial emissions while supporting good union jobs, greater equity, and a strong manufacturing base, including $350 million to support EPA’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from construction materials.
“Thanks to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, America has an opportunity to lead the world in developing cleaner construction materials to cut climate pollution and reap unprecedented economic opportunities,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “By clearly labeling what ‘buy clean’ means for products like concrete, glass and steel, EPA will help accelerate demand for these materials and continue to build the clean energy economy.”
“The Inflation Reduction Act is the most significant carbon-cutting piece of legislation in history,” said Elliot Doomes, Commissioner of the Public Buildings Service at the U.S. General Services Administration. “GSA is proud to work with the EPA, other government agencies, and private industry to use our buying power to drive the development of more sustainable building materials, create good-paying jobs, and lower operating costs for the American taxpayer. This program will accelerate our efforts to achieve a net zero federal footprint and catalyze American innovation.”
“The use of lower carbon materials, that have the durability of conventional materials while lowering greenhouse gas emissions, is one pathway that FHWA is pursuing to help us achieve President Biden’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050,” said Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Associate Administrator for Infrastructure Hari Kalla. “EPA’s announcement today supports transportation agencies throughout the country with tools to ensure we are appropriately implementing low carbon materials.”
This announcement builds on EPA’s selection of 38 organizations in July to collectively receive nearly $160 million to help businesses develop Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which report climate pollution linked to the production of construction materials and products. These efforts will bolster the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers, which are among the cleanest in the world in key sectors.
The label program will define what constitutes “clean” construction materials in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which aims to grow the market and reward innovation for American-made, lower-carbon construction materials. EPA anticipates that labeling requirements for each product type will be periodically reviewed and updated every two to four years to respond to and drive market shifts and help users meet sustainability objectives. The Inflation Reduction Act also provides more than $2 billion to the General Services Administration to use clean materials in the construction and renovation of federal buildings and $2 billion to the Federal Highway Administration to incentivize or reimburse the use of clean construction materials in transportation projects. Federal purchasing plays a significant role in industries like concrete, as federally funded government purchases account for more than 50% of all concrete poured in the U.S. every year. Materials and products that earn the new label will be listed in a central, publicly accessible registry, making it easier to identify - and purchase - these materials.
EPA’s label program will prioritize steel, glass, asphalt and concrete, as there are significant opportunities to reduce climate pollution from these materials and they represent the vast majority of construction materials and products that government agencies purchase with federal funds.
EPA also issued several supporting documents to help implement the label program, including Product Category Rule (PCR) Criteria – guidelines for developing EPDs, the disclosures that communicate climate and other environmental impacts of products. Other documents published outline key remaining data gaps, provide a methodology for assessing life cycle data quality, and describe other federal data quality improvement activities.
EPA developed the Label Program Approach and PCR Criteria with input from stakeholders, including the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other federal agencies. The agency also considered public comments solicited through Notices of Availability published in the Federal Register earlier this year and a 2023 Request for Information.
EPA will continue to seek stakeholder input on the ongoing development and implementation of this program. Next, EPA will request input on the draft conformity assessment system, which is a rigorous process for verifying a product or material has earned the label. EPA will also request input on the first draft product type threshold(s), which will set standards to determine which construction materials and products will be eligible to carry the label based on information from EPDs and other data sources. Manufacturers that are planning to apply for EPA’s label and want guidance in measuring the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their materials and products can contact EPA at embodiedcarbon@epa.gov or visit our website.
Learn more about the label program.