Composites manufacturers are better prepared to address customer demands for information on the climate and other environmental impacts associated with production and use of their products. Many have attended ACMA-sponsored tutorials on sustainability, lifecycle assessment (LCA) and related topics. Others are participating in committees developing product category rules (PCR) for utility poles, rebar, industrial stairway and platforms and other products.
The industry will take a major step forward when ACMA’s LCA/EPD generator launches in early 2025. Manufacturers of composite construction products will use the generator to cost effectively prepare reliable LCA and the environmental product declarations (EPD) needed for construction products that present LCA data in a standardized format. A subsequent implementation of the generator, planned for later in 2025, will prepare LCAs and EPDs for non-construction products.
ACMA has lifecycle inventory (LCI) data for production of common resins and reinforcements that composites manufacturers can use to identify carbon emission hotspots and to prepare valid LCA for their products.
We have carefully prepared evaluations of the emission of climate warming gases associated with the manufacture and use of standard steel construction products and with the functionally equivalent composite products. And an EPA grant under the Inflation Reduction Act will allow us to commission universities to develop this kind of information for other types of composite products.
We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time, and we’re better positioned than many industries. So why am I worried?
Too many composites industry suppliers and manufacturers have not yet allocated the needed resources to compete in sustainability driven markets. Companies need trained employees to manage internal programs to assess and reduce environmental impacts and to explain what this means to senior managers and external stakeholders, such as company owners and customers. ACMA’s tools and resources are extensive and helpful, but success depends on companies bringing their own expertise and strategic thinking to make the most of them.
Manufacturers are increasingly expected not just to assess but also to reduce the environmental impacts associated with production of their products. I‘m concerned we lack the appropriate level of urgency for what will be an arduous task.
The growth of customers’ needs for both the assessment of product-related environmental impacts and the ongoing reduction of those impacts is outpacing our industry’s increasing abilities. Major corporations are pushing their climate pledges up through their supply chains. Larger companies are required to report supply chain emissions to California regulators starting in 2026. And product specifiers and material system influencers are anxious for their work to be perceived as sustainable and contributing to the mitigation of climate change.
We need tools that can be used now to provide useful estimates of climate and environmental impacts, to give us time to fully develop our generator and for companies to become more adept at collecting the raw material and operational information needed to inform LCAs.
We’re proud of the undeniable environmental benefits of composite products that last much longer without needing extensive maintenance. And we’re working to quantify these use-phase benefits. But in the face of what’s perceived to be a global climate emergency, I’m concerned these benefits come too late to gain much advantage in the marketplace.
Companies should be working now to reduce the carbon emissions associated with their raw materials and manufacturing processes. And we should better describe the short-term reductions in carbon emissions arising, for example, because our lightweight products are easier to transport and install.
Finally, we – and our customers and other stakeholders – risk the consequences of not understanding that there are likely significant levels of uncertainty in the results of our LCAs and carbon footprint assessments. I see this as a serious challenge for all industries.
Today, material systems and products are being deselected because of insignificant differences in CO2e emission estimates. Correcting this requires a change in the standards for preparing LCAs, but in the meantime we shouldn’t contribute to the problem by thinking that the results of our impact assessments are somehow definitive values accurately portraying the underlying physical reality.
We still have a lot of work to do. ACMA will continue to convene industry members to develop tools and resources and promote the necessary actions to overcome these challenges. Together, we will face and navigate these obstacles, but it’s important to understand the challenges before us.
John Schweitzer is vice president of EH&S and sustainability at ACMA. Email comments to jschweitzer@acmanet.org.
