The Mineral Products Association (MPA) Precast has released five new sector Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for precast concrete cladding products, revealing notable reductions in embodied carbon across the industry.

The new EPDs cover architectural grey precast cladding panels, architectural white precast cladding panels, precast concrete sandwich panels, brick-faced precast concrete cladding and stone-faced precast concrete cladding.

According to MPA Precast, the latest declarations demonstrate significant progress compared with the previous sector EPDs published in 2017. The embodied carbon (A1 to A3) of architectural white precast cladding has decreased by 23.6%, falling from approximately 95 kg CO₂e/m² to 72.6 kg CO₂e/m².

The reduction is the result of several factors, including the increased use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in concrete mixes, a 20% drop in the embodied carbon associated with white cement, lower embodied carbon from reinforcing steel, and a substantial rise in the use of renewable electricity during manufacturing.

MPA Precast reported that the proportion of green electricity used in production increased from 0% to 73% by 2023, helping to drive down the carbon figures outlined in the new declarations.

Environmental Product Declarations provide independently verified data on the environmental impacts of construction products and are playing an increasingly important role in helping architects, designers and contractors support low-carbon specifications and whole-life carbon assessments.

For the UK precast sector, the publication of these new EPDs offers updated benchmark data that demonstrates progress towards decarbonisation while enabling specifiers to make more informed material selections.

The latest declarations also underline the industry’s broader commitment to reducing embodied carbon through enhanced mix designs, increased use of lower-carbon materials and cleaner manufacturing processes.