The increasingly international role of EPDItaly

In April a delegation of ICMQ, with the participation of its President and General Manager (Eng. Lorenzo Orsenigo) undertook a business trip to China at the city of Shanghai, the world financial center, and the capital Beijing where they met with representatives of the main Chinese manufacturers’ associations some major consulting companies, operating in the field of software development for the calculation of environmental impacts of products, and other international certification bodies.

With a population of 1.426 billion, China is the world’s largest manufacturing economy and exporter of goods, as well as the largest country for international trade, and, according to Forbes, by 2030 Chinese consumption will account for 35-40% of the global market.

Of significant importance was the meeting held in Beijing on April 12 at the headquarters of the “China Electricity Council,” during which EPDItaly made its contribution by participating at the working table along with the general secretaries of the China Industrial Association of Energy Sources, the Metal and Steel Association, the Nonferrous Metals Association, the Construction Products Association, and the General Manager of Shanghai E-Carbon Digital Technology Co. LTD.

During the meeting, participants clearly expressed the importance of being able to rely on the EPDItaly Program Operator as a reference point for reliable reporting of the countless products that China brings to the European market.

With more than 540 EPDs and 35 PCRs (Product Category Rules) published, EPDItaly has become the international benchmark for publishing EPDs, especially for electrical and electronic products from China.

There are already 21 countries in the world that publish Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) of their goods/services on the Italian Program and China accounts for 13% of the total publications, preceded only by Italy (74%) and followed by Brazil and Germany (3%) and Spain (2%).

Regarding the type of products published we can say that there are 79 types of products: transformers (8%), insulators (8%), switches (6%), photovoltaic modules (6%), concretes (4%), thermal insulation products (4%), steel products (4%) and cables and wires (4%).

And it is because of this strong and growing interest in EPDItaly, and with the aim of increasing its cooperation, that on June 3 a Chinese delegation of senior representatives from China State Power Investment Group visited ICMQ headquarters in Milan.