About the FHWA Climate Challenge
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) can be used to communicate environmental impacts and quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from materials and practices for the design, construction, and maintenance of pavement1. Use of EPDs is not a Federal requirement.
Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) provides a comprehensive approach for evaluating the total environmental burden of a product by examining all the inputs and outputs over the life cycle, from raw material production to the end-of-life. For pavements, this cycle includes the material production, design, construction, use, maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R), and end-of-life stages2.
Intended Outcome
This challenge will quantify GHG emissions from construction pavement materials by encouraging the use of sustainable pavement practices and encouraging quantification of the impacts of those practices.
The FHWA Climate Challenge:
- Aligns with and supports activities related but not limited to the Executive Order 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability.
- Directly addresses related concerns from agencies and industry, including data gaps and the need for more implementation assistance.
- Encourages the use of LCAs and EPDs.
- Highlights existing resources from the FHWA Sustainable Pavements program. Examples include the new FHWA LCA Pave Tool and documents such as the Emissions from Highway Transportation Systems, and the Environmental Product Declaration Tech Brief.
1 Source: FWHA-HIF-25-025, Tech Brief: Environmental Product Declarations
2 Source: FHWA-HIF-16-014, Definition of LCA