What is an EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)?
What You Specify Matters
|
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a third-party verified document which reports the environmental impacts of a product from a full lifecycle perspective. |
 |
 |
What Does a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) Evaluate? • The environmental footprint of raising livestock, including land use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions. • Energy use, water consumption, and chemicals used in tanning, dyeing and finishing the leather. • The emissions and energy used to ship leather from the tannery to warehouses, clients, or finished product destinations. • What happens to leather after use —recyclability, biodegradability, landfill impact. |
 |
Based on LCA results, an EPD includes results of environemtal performance indicators such as: • Global Warming Potential (Carbon footprint). • Total water consumption, including tanning, dyeing, and finishing. • The amount and type of energy used in production. • Raw material sourcing transparency — where and how materials are sourced. • Functional lifespan and durability — which matters when comparing materials (Leather has a longer useful life than synthetics). |
 |
Why This Matters To You As sustainability becomes more important to clients and project goals, an EPD empowers you to: • Meet client expectations for transparency and sustainability. • Make informed choices based on third-party data. • Earn points toward certifications such as LEED, WELL, Living Building Challenge and LBC Red List. • Make side-by-side comparisons with other materials (such as PU, PVC, fabric, etc.) |
Leather & Sustainability
With an EPD, you gain access to clear insights to help you balance beauty, durability and sustaianbility for your projects. Explore our EPD library here.
Have more questions about our EPDs?
Reach out to our expert team by contacting your local Garrett Leather Account Executive.
Have a leather topic you would like us to address as part of our “Ask The Experts” series?
Send your questions to [email protected].
