[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