The EPD is a comprehensive publication disclosing the lifecycle environmental impacts of Holcim’s ViroDecs™ product range, designed to minimise embodied carbon emissions and drive sustainable construction.
Holcim’s ViroDecs™ also have the potential to challenge views on environmental sustainability, by supporting the standardisation and transparency of environmental claims. The ViroDecs™ EPD meets strict international (ISO) and European (EN) standards, is independently verified, and registered by EPD Australasia and the International EPD System.
How will ViroDecs™ drive sustainable construction?
The development of a concrete EPD was a critical “missing” piece to having all key infrastructure and building products represented by an EPD in Australia. Its publication will support designers and developers to drive improved sustainable procurement and materials selection.
By bringing concrete products on board to the EPD program in Australia, Holcim’s ViroDecs™ vastly increase the accessibility of lifecycle data for construction materials and thus the speed of lifecycle assessments, enabling greater depth of analysis in the same timeframe. Going from generic environmental information to product, company and geographically-specific information will allow for deeper, broader and more customised analysis with greater confidence in the results.
Beyond providing greater transparency, Holcim’s ViroDecs™ also provide a rigorous, science-based framework for driving environmental improvement throughout Holcim’s sites and supply chains. It will lead the way for other concrete providers to follow suit, fostering a whole-of-life approach in the Australian building products sector.
Benefits for Holcim Customers
Holcim’s ViroDecs™ will offer an advantage to customers wanting to be leaders in the sustainable infrastructure and building industry, currently led by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA), & Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).
Holcim’s ViroDecs™ can be directly taken up by a range of existing tools and rating schemes. The data can be imported into digital industry tools such as eTool - a web-based Lifecycle Design app for the built form used by ESD designers and developers and the IS Materials Calculator, used to assess a project’s embodied GHG emissions from materials use and their Mat-1 IS points.
EPDs can also be used to gain points under the Mat-2 credit of the IS Rating scheme and Credit 21 of the Green Star As Built rating scheme, which Holcim’s ViroDecs™ has now made possible as an industry first for ready-mix concrete.
