LCA should ideally be conducted by an independent third party because there is too much scope for manufacturers to favour their own products. LCA involves a number of assumptions, such as the scope, the actual functional unit to compare, or the useful life of a product, that influence the results if not approached objectively.

To be comparable LCAs need to be conducted using a common methodology. That’s what Product Category Rules (PCRs) are for. There are several efforts to produce European-wide PCRs on many product categories. IBU, the Institute for the Built Environment, has contributed to develop PCRs for many materials in the building industry.

http://bau-umwelt.de

Environdec is developing PCRs for many different product categories as well.

http://www.environdec.com

Please find below the PCR that we used at InterfaceFLOR for producing our European EPDs.

InterfaceFLOR PCR