EPD water metrics explained, without the jargon
Understanding water use and water scarcity metrics within Environmental Product Declarations
Event Type: Webinar
Date: April 22, 2026
Start Time: 12:00 pm AEST / 2:00 pm NZST
Location: Online Zoom webinar
Cost: Free
With competition for water resources increasing globally due to population growth, climate change, and rising industrial and agricultural demands, verified data on a product’s embodied water use and impact is becoming increasingly important.
But how is water use accounted for in a product’s Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)? And what do indicators such as Water depletion potential (WDP) and Net use of fresh water (FW) actually mean?
This webinar will explain how EPDs can be used as a practical tool for manufacturers and specifiers to understand water usage across a product’s life cycle, and disclose the impacts of that use within the catchments from which water is sourced.
Hear from experts Paul-Antoine Bontinck, Senior LCA Consultant at Lifecycles; Laura Guccione, Senior Technical Advisor – Sustainability at BlueScope; and Steve Mitchell, Director at EPD Australia.
What we’ll cover:
- A plain English overview of water metrics in EPDs and what they mean
- Examples of how these metrics can be used to measure and reduce the impact of water use
- How water indicators are considered within broader market frameworks and sustainability rating tools
- Live audience Q&A
If you have questions you’d like addressed during the session, we encourage you to submit them when you register.
The webinar will be useful for:
- Sustainability and infrastructure professionals
- Green building practitioners
- Business with registered EPDs
- Business considering EPDs
- ESD consultants with an interest in water use and impact reduction
Date and times:
Wednesday 22 April 2026
- 2:00pm NZST (Auckland, Wellington)
- 12:00pm AEST (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane)
- 11:30am ACST (Adelaide)
- 10:00am AWST (Perth)
Meet our speakers
Paul-Antoine Bontinck, Senior LCA Consultant - Lifecycles
Paul-Antoine is a senior environmental engineer at Lifecycles, specialising in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and complex, large-scale modelling. With 15 years’ experience across research, consulting and industry, he is a trusted technical expert known for his rigorous and detail-oriented approach. In 2021, he published updated water scarcity factors for Australia in the International Journal of LCA, which are now widely used by practitioners to assess the impacts of water consumption on local freshwater resources. More recently, he has focused on the development of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), alongside delivering LCA projects across a range of industries.
Laura Guccione, Senior Sustainability Technical Advisor - BlueScope
Laura specialises in the development and governance of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for its Australian steel products. She has extensive experience in LCA and product sustainability disclosure and works to ensure BlueScope’s EPDs are technically robust and standards aligned. BlueScope is one of the longest standing publishers of EPDs in Australia, with over 10 years of experience in EPD development and disclosure. Laura is also a member of the GBCA Responsible Products Expert Reference Panel and previously served as a Board Director of the Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS)
Steve Mitchell, Director - EPD Australasia
Steve is a sustainability professional with over three decades of experience working with community organisations, state government and industry. He is a specialist in sustainable constructions products, waste recovery, and LCA-based environmental declarations for building and construction products. Steve has been a Director of EPD Australasia since 2015.