Understanding PCI’s 2025 Regionalized Industry Average EPDs-Understanding PCI's 2025 Regionalized Indusrty Average EPDs

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The PCI webinar, presented by Thomas Ketron, Director of Sustainability, focuses on the 2025 Regionalized Industry Average Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for precast concrete. The session highlights the importance of sustainability and transparency amid evolving market and regulatory demands, including buy-clean policies. EPDs are third-party verified reports based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), measuring environmental impacts from raw material extraction through manufacturing (cradle-to-gate, A1–A3 stages). The new PCI EPDs are regionalized to reflect variations in energy sources, materials, and production practices across the U.S., providing more accurate data versus prior national averages. These EPDs capture metrics like global warming potential, energy use, water consumption, and waste generation, focusing mainly on cement and steel impacts. They serve as tools for benchmarking, internal improvement, green building certifications (e.g., LEED), and regulatory compliance. While industry-average EPDs provide valuable baseline data, product-specific EPDs may be necessary for stricter project requirements. The webinar clarifies differences between EPD scopes, emphasizing that cradle-to-gate data represents only part of precast’s full lifecycle benefits, such as durability and thermal efficiency. PCI plans ongoing EPD updates, enhanced benchmarking tools, and expanded reporting to support producers in reducing embodied carbon and competing in low-carbon markets. Resources and EPD documents are available to PCI members. The session concludes with a Q&A addressing EPD usage, updates, and technical clarifications.

Keywords

PCI webinar

Thomas Ketron

sustainability

Environmental Product Declarations

precast concrete

Life Cycle Assessment

regionalized EPDs

green building certifications

embodied carbon