August 2025 Roundup: EPD Headlines Around the Globe
Carbon metrics never sleep. From Caltrans doubling down on Buy Clean to Beijing’s new digital passport framework, August served a full buffet of policy tweaks and milestone EPDs. Here is the month’s need-to-know in one quick lap around the map.
North America: Agencies shove embodied carbon into bid specs
California kept the spotlight. Caltrans quietly updated its EPD implementation page on 21 August, confirming that asphalt, concrete, and CMU declarations are now mandatory for every bid opened after 1 February 2025 (Caltrans, 2025). Up the Rockies, Colorado’s Office of the State Architect posted its first hard GWP limits for asphalt mix (85 kg CO₂ e per ton) and readymix concrete (232–440 kg CO₂ e per m³ depending on strength classes) and opened comments on steel thresholds (OSA, 2025). If you sell into DOT or higher-ed jobs in either state, you’re in the hot seat.
Europe: Databases and directives tighten the screws
Plastic packaging steals headlines, but the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) entering force this summer also pushes data pipelines that mirror EPD workflows, from material composition to recycled content targets (European Commission, 2025). Meanwhile the Dutch National Environmental Database issued Amendment 6: from 1 July all uploads must shift to EN 15804 +A2 datasets based on Ecoinvent 3.9.1, killing the six-month grace period that let A1 rules linger (NMD, 2025). Veteran LCA teams saw this coming, newcomers felt the whiplash.
Asia–Pacific: Digital Product Passports get a demo tape
Beijing hosted the launch of the MA-DPP Universal Framework on 5 August, touted as the first open global schema for Digital Product Passports across full life-cycles (ICA, 2025). Early partners range from heavy steel to electronics, signalling that Asian supply chains plan to leapfrog straight into QR-based traceability rather than retrofitting older EPD formats. Expect PCR writers to watch this pilot closely.
Latin America: One miner, all products, every EPD
Brazilian industrial minerals group Jundu announced that every SKU it sells now carries a registered EPD as of 8 August (Jundu, 2025). The move covers silica sand, lime, dolomite, and specialty blends. It is the first portfolio-wide declaration set in Brazil’s Program and quietly sets a bar for cement and aggregate peers eyeing regional LEED and EDGE projects. Pretty impresive.
Middle East & Africa: South Africa drafts its first carbon budgets
Johannesburg may still be prepping Net Zero codes, but Pretoria grabbed August headlines by publishing draft Carbon Budget Regulations on 1 August under the 2024 Climate Change Act (DFFE, 2025). Large emitters must register and report from 2026 using company-level carbon caps. While not an EPD rule per se, the draft uses life-cycle data structures familiar to LCA teams and hints at product-level disclosures down the road.
Quick take for manufacturers
- Public buyers keep sliding EPD checkboxes into bid portals. If a spec feels optional today, assume it will be mandatory by next season.
- Databases are standardising around EN 15804 +A2 and the latest Ecoinvent chops. Legacy datasets are becoming junk food for reviewers.
- Digital Product Passports are no longer EU-only; Asia has fired its starter pistol.
Stay nimble, keep your raw data clean, and dont wait for the RFP panic email. The EPD treadmill just picked up another notch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the MA-DPP framework replace traditional PDF EPDs?
Not yet. The Beijing launch positions it as a complementary digital layer that could eventually store module-level impacts. Conventional EPD PDFs remain the compliance document for now.
About the Author
With a passion for sustainability and a love for complex data, Toby helps manufacturers efficiently collect data from across their organization and get their EPDs done right. He’s especially interested in how AI can support human expertise, helping R&D and factory teams work faster, smarter, and with less friction.
