PCI Clarified Standards for Concrete Environmental Reporting
The institute released guidance to address common inaccuracies in how project teams specify embodied carbon data for precast components.
Updated on Sept. 29, 2026 in Environmental
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The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Board of Directors has approved a new position paper outlining how to correctly request Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). The guidance addresses industry-wide confusion by clarifying that concrete mix-only EPDs do not accurately represent finished prefabricated products.
Why it matters
Specifiers increasingly demand EPDs to track embodied carbon, but requests often include requirements that manufacturers cannot feasibly meet. This guidance provides standardized language to ensure carbon data is both reliable and technically accurate.
The paper titled EPD Requests for Precast Concrete: What Is Valid, What Is Not, and Why It Matters establishes that project-specific EPDs are unverifiable before fabrication occurs. It distinguishes these from mix-only declarations that fail to account for the full prefabricated assembly.
The players
Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute
A technical institute representing the precast concrete industry that sets standards for construction, engineering, and manufacturing practices.
The details
The guidance explains that an Environmental Product Declaration — a standardized document disclosing the environmental impact of a product over its life cycle — must reflect the final component rather than just raw material inputs. By addressing specification requirements that producers cannot currently meet, the paper offers alternatives that align with existing material and manufacturing standards.
Timeline
September 29, 2026: The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute published its guidance on EPD requests.
The Tech Race
This guidance marks a shift in the ongoing struggle to harmonize carbon reporting across the construction sector. It directly challenges the prevailing trend of applying simple mix-based metrics to complex engineered assemblies.
Architects and engineers drafting project specifications should review the new language to avoid requesting impossible or invalid carbon data. This change helps prevent procurement delays caused by asking for EPDs that cannot be generated for components before they are manufactured.
The takeaway
Reliable carbon accounting requires aligning data requests with the physical realities of the precast fabrication process. Watch for how the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute updates its model specification templates following the release of this paper.
Further reading
For more on evolving standards in sustainable building, see the Environmental section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Building Enclosure.
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Should construction industry standards prioritize data accuracy in environmental reporting over simplified specification requirements?
