Green Public Procurement and Construction Sector: EPD and LCA Based Benchmarks of the Whole-Building

Abstract

The paper discusses the possible use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in European and Italian Green Public Procurement (GPP) for the building sector, in order to define targets based on objective and reliable building environmental impacts information. The research objective is to define how to set LCA benchmarks towards the improvement of GPP requirements. The study analyses the GPP criteria based on LCA in Europe with a focus on Italy; it proposes LCA benchmarks for selected groups of construction materials and scenarios for the implementation of LCA benchmarks related to buildings elements and whole-buildings. It also illustrates how public administrations can verify the GPP criteria achievement using EPDs.