EPA Rolls Out Label Program to Define ‘Clean’ Construction
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a plan to implement a new label program that it expects will help federal purchasers and buyers find and choose more climate-friendly construction materials.
Under the label program, which stems from “extensive public input,” the EPA will initially focus on asphalt, concrete, glass, and steel products with “lower embodied” greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production stage, which includes raw material extraction, transportation, and manufacturing. These materials represent “the vast majority of construction materials and products that government agencies purchase with federal funds,” the agency said.
The EPA said the program, unveiled on Aug. 7, supports the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Section 60116. The law has provided the agency with $100 million of funding until fiscal year 2026 to develop and carry out a program to identify and label construction materials associated with all relevant stages of production, use, and disposal of materials and products.
Under the program, the EPA will offer labels for specific construction materials and products based on the Global Warming Potential (GWP) value provided on “robust” environmental product declarations (EPDs). Labeled materials and products will meet or fall under specified thresholds within a tiered rating system. In July, the EPA selected 38 organizations to collectively receive nearly $160 million to help businesses develop EDPs. “EPDs provide quantified environmental data related to the life cycle stages of specific products or materials,” it explained. “EPDs are developed using [product category rules (PCRs)], which provide a set of specific rules, requirements and guidelines for developing EPDs for one or more products.”
The EPA intends to implement the label program in a phased approach to ensure its longevity and replicability. That will allow additional materials to be included over time, it noted. The first phase will seek to standardize data quality used to calculate embodied carbon associated with construction materials. The second phase will involve threshold setting, and the third phase will label construction materials and products that meet EPA thresholds. The agency anticipates that initial products could be labeled by the end of fiscal year 2026 (by the end of September 2026).
“Labeled materials and products will meet or fall under specified thresholds within a tiered rating system. Thresholds will be informed by a public input process before being finalized and will be periodically reviewed and updated to encourage continuous improvement and to help users meet sustainability objectives,” the agency said. “The top threshold tier will be designed to help recognize and reward deep reductions in the embodied carbon associated with construction materials and products.” The label program is intended “to assist with material/product selection after a decision on material type has already been made, and to complement a whole construction project approach,” it said.
The label program is meant to provide guidance, but its most prominent immediate impact will be on federally spearheaded construction projects. The December 2021-promulgated Executive Order 14057 directs the federal government to achieve net-zero emissions procurement by 2050. In addition, the EPA noted on Wednesday that the program will support 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.”
The IRA also provides more than $2 billion to the General Services Administration, incentivizing the use of “clean” materials in the construction and renovation of federal buildings, and $2 billion to the Federal Highway Administration for 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,” the EPA said.
So far, at least nine states have passed policies related to embodied carbon, including Buy Clean and procurement-type policies, building code amendments, and specifications. Policies addressing embodied carbon are also gaining ground on the local and regional levels.
The EPA, however, also developed the program with the private sector in mind, considering the latent construction boom as the nation gears up to improve its infrastructure. “The U.S. industrial sector is linked to nearly a third of annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (U.S. EPA, 2024), and the production of construction materials and products accounts for about 15% of annual global GHG emissions,” it said in a whitepaper associated with the label program.
While the labeling program has no specific implications yet for the power sector, as POWER has reported, the program could support private sector procurement based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives. According to the Sustainable Supply Chain Alliance (SSCA)—an organization of utilities and suppliers that work together to advance sustainable supply chain practices—utilities are leveraging ESG data to better inform engagement strategies and risk assessment capabilities. So far, the organization has gained membership from 30 leading utilities and more than 80 suppliers.
The SSCA, notably, offers an annual supplier assessment, the TSP, a platform for utility supply chain ESG data collection. The assessment essentially serves utilities by collecting valuable information from their supply chains while allowing suppliers to better understand utility expectations, it says.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).