A Message from the CEO: Reflecting on 2024

10th Dec 2024

As we approach the end of 2024, Kelly Taylor, CEO of EPD Australasia, shares her reflections on the year’s achievements and challenges. In this end-of-year message, Kelly highlights the milestones reached by EPD Australasia, the growing impact of EPDs, and the collaborative efforts that continue to drive progress.

Read on to discover how EPD Australasia is shaping the future of environmental transparency and what lies ahead in 2025.

What a remarkable year 2024 has been! EPDs remain the most trusted source of environmental impact information for products, with a surge in both interest and publication. EPDs registered with EPD Australasia now cover over 6,500 products across our region.

Recent regulatory developments in the European Union prompted several updates to our program rules over the past year and we extend our sincere thanks to all EPD owners, consultants, and verifiers for their patience as we navigated these changes. Aligning our practices in Australia and New Zealand with the global EPD community is crucial, and these changes have also enabled the digitalisation of our EPDs into the International EcoPortal EPD database through EcoPlatform.

EPDs are increasingly recognised as the most reliable source of embodied carbon data for products. This recognition extends across the EU, North America, and closer to home with initiatives like the Green Star Responsible Products Framework, the NABERS embodied carbon tool, and the BRANZ/Masterspec partnership in New Zealand to develop a carbon database for building products.

On the international stage, EPD Australasia continues to be one of the most active and successful regional hubs of EPD International, contributing significantly to both technical and operational aspects, as well as publishing high volumes of EPD publications.

Over the past 12 months, we have made several improvements to our processes. Notably, all construction product EPDs are now entered into the international digital EPD database via EcoPlatform. Additionally, we’re seeing a growing trend of EPD data being integrated into other databases and systems, paving the way for more informed decision-making.

2025 is shaping up to be an exciting year, with further developments in digitalisation of EPDs and continued growth and recognition of EPDs. We anticipate an over 100% increase in EPD publications during the year.

As the year draws to a close, we extend our warmest wishes for the holiday season to all our EPD owners, LCA consultants, verifiers, and stakeholders. We look forward to an exciting and successful 2025.

Kelly Taylor
CEO, EPD Australasia

Please note: The EPD Australasia Secretariat will be closed from 12pm Friday, 20th December, until Monday, 6th January. The final day for submitting EPDs for publication will be Monday, 16th December.