(AGENPARL) – mer 07 agosto 2024 Issued: Aug 7, 2024 (9:00am EDT)
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Biden-Harris Administration Announces Label Program to Bolster U.S.
Manufacturing of Cleaner Construction Materials
Program will support the Administration’s initiative to “Buy Clean”
construction materials from U.S. manufacturers as part of the Investing in
America Agenda
WASHINGTON – Today, Aug. 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced its plan for implementing a new label program to boost clean
American manufacturing by helping federal purchasers and other buyers find and
buy cleaner, more climate-friendly construction materials and products.  The
label program is made possible by a $100 million investment in the
Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and aims to cut
climate pollution linked to the production of construction products and
materials, which accounts for more than 15% of annual global greenhouse gas
emissions. The Inflation Reduction Act invests billions of dollars to reduce
industrial emissions while supporting good union jobs, greater equity, and a
strong manufacturing base, including $350 million to support EPA’s efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from construction materials.
“Thanks to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, America has an
opportunity to lead the world in developing cleaner construction materials to
cut climate pollution and reap unprecedented economic opportunities,” said
Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “By clearly labeling what ‘buy clean’
means for products like concrete, glass and steel, EPA will help accelerate
demand for these materials and continue to build the clean energy
economy.” 
“The Inflation Reduction Act is the most significant carbon-cutting piece of
legislation in history,” said Elliot Doomes, Commissioner of the Public
Buildings Service at the U.S. General Services Administration. “GSA is proud
to work with the EPA, other government agencies, and private industry to use
our buying power to drive the development of more sustainable building
materials, create good-paying jobs, and lower operating costs for the American
taxpayer. This program will accelerate our efforts to achieve a net zero
federal footprint and catalyze American innovation.”
“The use of lower carbon materials, that have the durability of conventional
materials while lowering greenhouse gas emissions, is one pathway that FHWA is
pursing to help us achieve President Biden’s goal of net zero emissions by
2050,” said Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Associate Administrator
for Infrastructure Hari Kalla. “EPA’s announcement today supports
transportation agencies throughout the country with tools to ensure we are
appropriately implementing low carbon materials.”
Today’s announcement builds on EPA’s selection of 38 organizations in July
to collectively receive nearly $160 million to help businesses develop
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which report climate pollution
linked to the production of construction materials and products. These efforts
will bolster the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers, which are among the
cleanest in the world in key sectors.
The label program will define what constitutes “clean” construction
materials in support of 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. EPA anticipates that
labeling requirements for each product type will be periodically reviewed and
updated every two to four years to respond to and drive market shifts and help
users meet sustainability objectives. The Inflation Reduction Act also
provides more than $2 billion to the General Services Administration to use
clean materials in the construction and renovation of federal buildings and $2
billion to the Federal Highway Administration to incentivize or reimburse
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.
EPA’s label program will prioritize steel, glass, asphalt and concrete, as
there are significant opportunities to reduce climate pollution from these
materials and they represent the vast majority of construction materials and
products that government agencies purchase with federal funds.
EPA also issued several supporting documents to help implement the label
program, including Product Category Rule (PCR) Criteria – guidelines for
developing EPDs, the disclosures that communicate climate and other
environmental impacts of products. Other documents published today outline key
remaining data gaps, provide a methodology for assessing life cycle data
quality, and describe other federal data quality improvement activities.
EPA developed the Label Program Approach and PCR Criteria with input from
stakeholders, including the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway
Administration, the General Services Administration, the Department of
Defense, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other federal agencies.
The agency also considered public comments solicited through Notices of
Availability published in the Federal Register earlier this year and a 2023
Request for Information.
EPA will continue to seek stakeholder input on the ongoing development and
implementation of this program. Next, EPA will request input on the draft
conformity assessment system, which is a rigorous process for verifying a
product or material has earned the label. EPA will also request input on the
first draft product type threshold(s), which will set standards to determine
which construction materials and products will be eligible to carry the label
based on information from EPDs and other data sources. Manufacturers that are
planning to apply for EPA’s label and want guidance in measuring the
greenhouse gas emissions associated with their materials and products can
Learn more about the label program.
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