[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15868-15870]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04593]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPPT-2024-0075; FRL-11746-01-OCSPP]
Draft Criteria for Product Category Rules To Support the Label
Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials; Notice of
Availability, Webinar and Request for Comment
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the
availability of and seeking public comment on a draft document titled
``EPA Criteria for Product Category Rules to Support the Label Program
for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials'' (PCR Criteria) and is
announcing a webinar on March 21, 2024. The Inflation Reduction Act
(IRA) authorized $100 million to EPA to develop a program to identify
and label construction materials and products that have substantially
lower embodied carbon, in coordination with the General Services
Administration (GSA) and the Department of Transportation's Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA).
DATES:
Webinar: March 21, 2024, 1-2 p.m. EST.
Registration: To receive the webcast meeting link and audio
teleconference information before the meeting, you must register by 12
p.m. on March 21, 2024.
Special Accommodations: To allow EPA time to process your request
for special accommodations, please submit your request to EPA by 5 p.m.
EST on March 7, 2024.
Written comments: Submit your comments on or before April 4, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Webinar: Register online at https://www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_wE6i2h3qQc6WghXIDu7WFg.
Special Accommodations: Please contact the person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Written comments: Submit your comments, identified by docket
identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2024-0075, through https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to
be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Additional
[[Page 15869]]
instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along with more
information about dockets generally, is available at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Bacas, Data Gathering & Analysis
Division (4410G), Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington,
DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (202) 566-0549; email address:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Executive Summary
A. Does this action apply to me?
This is directed to the public in general. This notice may be of
specific interest to Product Category Rule (PCR) Program Operators, PCR
Committee members (trade associations, NGOs, material producers), Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) community members and PCR review panels. EPA
will use this document to determine if PCRs are eligible to be used
under EPA's Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction
Materials. Other interested stakeholders may include manufacturers of
construction materials and products, Federal purchasers, institutional
purchasers, private sector entities with large real estate portfolios,
State and local governments and Tribal Nations purchasers, real estate
developers, architects and engineers, standards development
organizations, and construction trade groups and construction
professionals.
B. What is the Agency's authority for taking this action?
IRA section 60116, 26 U.S.C. 55 et seq., authorized $100 million to
EPA to develop a program to identify and label construction materials
and products that have substantially lower embodied carbon, in
coordination with the GSA and the FHWA.
C. What action is the Agency taking?
The Agency is requesting comment on the document titled ``Criteria
for Product Category Rules to Support the Label Program for Low
Embodied Carbon Construction Materials'' (PCR Criteria), which is
available in the docket. EPA is requesting feedback on the PCR
Criteria, which will enable the development of robust Environmental
Product Declarations (EPDs) to be used for setting thresholds for the
label program. EPA is also announcing a stakeholder engagement
opportunity through a webinar. During the webinar EPA will give an
informational presentation on the PCR Criteria.
D. What should I consider as I prepare my comments?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit CBI to EPA through https://www.regulations.gov or email. If you wish to include CBI in your
comment, please follow the applicable instructions at https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets#rules and clearly mark the
part or all of the information that you claim to be CBI. In addition to
one complete version of the comment that includes information claimed
as CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket.
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2 and/or 40 CFR part 703, as
applicable.
2. Tips for preparing your comments. When preparing and submitting
your comments, see the commenting tips at https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.html.
II. Background
An increasing number of U.S. Federal, State, and local government
procurement policies, as well as large institutional procurement
policies, are aimed at driving down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
related to construction materials. These policies often require
manufacturers to disclose the embodied carbon of the materials and
products they produce to be eligible for procurement. Embodied carbon
refers to the amount of GHG emissions associated with the extraction,
production, transport and manufacturing of materials and products.
The IRA, passed by Congress and signed into law in August 2022,
leverages Federal procurement and funding of buildings and
infrastructure to catalyze markets for American-made construction
materials and products with lower embodied carbon (also known as
embodied greenhouse gas emissions). IRA section 60116 provided EPA with
$100 million to develop and carry out a program to identify and label
construction materials and products that have substantially lower
levels of embodied greenhouse gas emissions associated with all
relevant stages of production, use, and disposal, as compared to
estimated industry averages of similar materials or products. EPA is
committed to developing a label program that creates an easy and
reliable way for purchasers to identify and procure such lower embodied
carbon construction materials and products. Standardizing and improving
the quality of data provided in product Environmental Product
Declarations (EPDs), including by establishing consistent PCR criteria,
is an essential step in the development of the label program. An EPD is
a disclosure document that discloses key environmental impacts of a
product's life, as outlined in a PCR. A PCR is a set of guidelines that
determine what data should be gathered and how it will be evaluated
when conducting the life cycle analysis used to create the EPD. PCRs
act as the guardrails by providing specific rules, requirements, and
guidelines for calculating and reporting environmental data for a
product.
Current data quality requirements and PCR process development
approaches lack the consistency, transparency and oversight measures
required by the Federal Government. Therefore, EPA's PCR Criteria
document builds on existing standardization efforts in order to ensure
high quality, consistent and transparent data and processes are used to
develop the documents which will ultimately be used to set thresholds
and certify products under the label program. Existing documents used
to create EPA's PCR Criteria include the Agency's ``Framework for the
Assessment of Environmental Performance Standards and Ecolabels for
Federal Purchasing'' (https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2022-02/updated-framework_020222.pdf), The ``Product Category Rule
Development Initiative's Guidance for PCR Development'' (https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_record_report.cfm?dir;EntryId=259406&Lab=NRMRL) and the
American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA) guidance titled
``2022 ACLCA PCR Guidance--Process and Methods Toolkit, Version May
2022'' (https://aclca.org/wp-content/uploads/2022-ACLCA-PCR-Guidance_v1_Introduction_05252022.pdf) (``ACLCA PCR Guidance of
2022'').
Much of EPA's PCR Criteria document is based on the 2022 ACLCA PCR
Guidance, primarily focusing on the second checklist at the data source
level of conformance. However, the 2022 ACLCA PCR Guidance published
prior to a Federal mandate to develop an embodied carbon label. As
such, EPA's PCR Criteria document includes additional information
needed to support EPA's Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Materials
and Products given the Federal Government's needs associated with
public procurement, data specification, and other related items.
EPA received public feedback on actions needed to improve PCRs and
[[Page 15870]]
EPDs in response to a request comment on a document titled ``Request
for Information (RFI) to Support New Inflation Reduction Act Programs
to Lower Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Construction
Materials and Products (January 19, 2023)'' (https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OPPT-2022-0924/document), as well as
Federal subject matter feedback and support from the Department of
Transportation's Federal Highways Administration, the General Services
Administration, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce's
National Institute of Standards and Technology, and others. See 88 FR
5002, January 26, 2023 (FRL-10439-01-OCSPP).
III. Request for Public Comment
A. What feedback does EPA hope to gain from the public comments?
EPA seeks feedback on whether the draft PCR Criteria adequately
addresses existing gaps in data quality and standardization related to
the PCRs to ensure robust, consistent, and representative EPDs are
available to support the label program. EPA is also seeking input on
the level of effort needed for PCRs to conform. EPA also welcomes
specific input on each draft PCR criterion.
B. What is the request for information?
EPA encourages all potentially interested parties, including
individuals, governmental and non-governmental organizations, non-
profit organizations, academic institutions, research institutions, and
private sector entities to comment on the PCR Criteria. To the extent
possible, the Agency asks commenters to please cite any public data
related to or that supports responses, and to the extent permissible,
describe any supporting data that is not publicly available.
Authority: 26 U.S.C. 55 et seq.
Dated: February 29, 2024.
Jennie Romer,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2024-04593 Filed 3-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P