Speira introduced Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for all major product categories in its Specialties business. “Choosing the most sustainable aluminum should be as easy as possible for our customers,” said Peter Basten, head of Specialties & New Business Development at Speira. “EPDs are an important tool for achieving this, making our efforts for sustainability transparent, accountable and comprehensive. With these certifications, we are purposefully stepping up our game especially in the sustainable construction segment,”
The verifications were carried out according to ISO 14025:2006 by Tetis Institute, a spin-off from the University of Genoa in Italy. They cover all major cold- and hot-rolled, as well as coated products from Speira’s Specialties busines, which are primarily used for transport applications and shipbuilding, for mechanical engineering and energy technology, and most of all, for functional and aesthetic applications in architecture.
EPDs are an important tool for architects, planners, and engineers to compare the environmental impact of products in concrete terms and optimize the sustainability of their projects. In particular, in the construction sector, EPDs are required for sustainability standards, such as BREEAM, LEED, and DGNB, the world’s leading voluntary certification systems for sustainable construction and operation.
Low-carbon aluminum from Speira can be used in façade elements, as well as in roofing, windows, and shading technology and, thus, contribute to “green buildings.” For Speira, it is particularly important to use a proportion of recycled material as high as possible in order to minimize the ecological footprint of its aluminum. This is because recycling requires up to 95% less energy than primary production and therefore generates correspondingly lower CO2 emissions.
Speira’s EPDs follow the cradle-to-gate approach and consider the use of primary metal, internal and external scrap and alloy surcharges, as well as the composition, melting and casting, rolling, and cutting. The life cycle assessments included were carried out by Alea Design, a spin-off from the University of Modena in Italy.
“This results in a transparent overview of the environmental impacts along the entire value chain, from the material and its origin to when it leaves the factory grounds,” said Dorothea Flockert, head of Group Sustainability & ESG Reporting at Speira.