PCI POSITION PAPER: EPD Requests for Precast Concrete: What Is Valid, What Is Not, and Why It Matters

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EPDs are becoming a common specification requirement, but not every EPD request can be met for precast concrete. This Board-approved PCI position paper explains why concrete mix-only EPDs and "verified" project-specific EPDs prior to fabrication do not conform to ISO standards or the Product Category Rule (PCR) for Precast Concrete. It also outlines standards-conforming alternatives that project teams can request instead. Precast producers may cite this paper when responding to non-conforming EPD specifications.

The following are industry-wide cradle-to-gate Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for precast/prestressed products manufactured by producer members of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI).

These include May 2025 published Regionalized Industry Average EPDs for Architectural Precast Concrete, Insulated Precast Concrete, and Structural Precast Concrete, as well as an industry-wide average EPD for Glass-Fiber Reinforced Concrete published March 2023.

These declarations have been prepared in accordance with ISO 14025 and ISO 21930, ASTM international’s EPD program operator rules, and the following product category rules for precast concrete:

PCR for Precast Concrete
(Adobe PDF File)

Note regarding data submittals: LEED v4 allows the submission of industry average EPDs to meet the requirements of MR Credit Building Product Disclosure and Optimization—Environmental Product Declarations. The credit explicitly states, however, that EPDs must “conform to ISO 14025, 14040, 14044, and EN 15804 or ISO 21930 and have at least a cradle to gate scope.” In addition, products may use industry-wide EPD if “the manufacturer is explicitly recognized as a participant by the program operator.”

A note of caution: According to ISO standards, unless EPDs are “prepared from cradle-to-grave life-cycle results and based on the same function, reference service life (RSL) and quantified by the same functional unit,” they are not to be compared. EPDs also should not be compared unless developed using the same PCR.