The Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions for Construction Materials and Products grant program will advance the goals of EPA’s Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Assistance Program as follows:

• Increase the robustness of greenhouse gas emissions data associated with the production, use, and disposal of construction materials and products;
• Assist businesses in disclosing and verifying these data via robust EPDs, as well as states, Indian tribes and non-profit organizations that assist these businesses; and
• Spur market demand for construction materials and products that have lower embodied greenhouse gas emissions.

Applicants interested in applying for funding under this grant program should describe in their project narratives how projects will advance these goals.

As more businesses develop and improve EPDs, they will gain a better understanding of key contributors to the embodied carbon of construction materials and products and be better positioned to drive reductions of GHG emissions and other pollutants that are often co-produced with GHG emissions. Thus, it is an aspirational goal of this grant program that businesses will take steps to lower their GHG emissions and reduce emissions of hazardous and other locally impacting pollutants. Such reductions have the potential for significant positive impacts in disadvantaged communities, and the Territories, as many construction material manufacturers are in or near these communities.

Funding from this program may also help U.S. businesses better compete in supplying federal and other institutional construction projects, creating jobs and other economic opportunities, and furthering the development of a workforce educated in embodied carbon skills (e.g., life cycle assessment, GHG measurement, data standardization, and industrial decarbonization).

This grant program will prioritize—but not limit—assistance to small businesses, business who are producing EPDs for the first time, and to projects that focus on materials that have greatest potential to support lower embodied carbon construction (e.g., concrete, asphalt, steel, glass, salvaged materials and other materials with one or more attributes described in Section V.A., Merit Evaluation Criteria 1.d.).

Scope of Work and Eligible Projects

The Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products grant program will advance standardization and transparency in EPDs, which will support procurement decisions accounting for embodied carbon of construction materials and products. Applicants should demonstrate how they will invest in projects and activities that provide support for industry data preparation, reporting, and analysis; provide financial and technical assistance to develop, update, digitize, and verify EPDs; improve standards and verifications for PCRs and EPDs; provide financial support for mid-cycle updates to PCRs to reflect new datasets/guidance; and amplify EPD educational resources.

EPA envisions funded projects to fall under five broad categories:

• Robust Data for EPDs: Projects that contribute new and/or improve critical data, analysis, or feedback for producing robust EPDs.
• Robust Product Category Rule (PCR) Standard Development, PCRs, and Associated Conformity Assessment Systems: Projects that encourage the development of robust, standardized PCRs, including identifying what data needs to be collected for EPDs, how that data should be collected, how it should be reported in EPDs, and what transparency and verification needs to be in place to ensure credible EPDs.
• Robust Tools & Resources to Support & Incentivize Development and Verification of EPDs: Projects that contribute to the development of tools and resources to make it easier, faster, and more cost effective to produce and disclose robust EPDs.
• EPD Development and Verification: Projects that offer construction material and product manufacturers assistance in producing robust EPDs, or in which a construction material or product manufacturer is producing robust EPDs.
• Robust EPD Data Platforms and Integration: Projects that support EPD reporting, availability, and verification; support the standardization of disparate EPD systems; and support future EPD integration into construction design and procurement systems.

An applicant may focus on one or more projects within each application. The list of project examples is not exhaustive – projects that do not fit into one of these categories may be considered and will be subject to the same merit evaluation criteria.