Ghella quantifies and certifies the environmental impacts of the Brenner CE Ring

Ghella has obtained an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for the Precast Concrete Ring used in the construction of the exploratory tunnel of the Brenner Base Tunnel (CE Ring).

Measure and communicate environmental impacts. The EPD is a voluntary certification used to communicate transparent, verified and comparable information on the environmental impacts of a product, including its contribution to Global Warming. It summarizes the results of an LCA study (Life Cycle Assessment) where material, energy and emissions flows associated with the different phases of the CE Ring life cycle have been quantified:  raw materials extraction and processing, transport to the construction site and manufacturing of the Ring at the Segment Factory.

Be pioneers. In a context where sustainability aspects are considered increasingly significant for the construction sector, the CE Ring is the first concrete ring on a global scale to have obtained an EPD certified and published on the International EPD System platform. This exercise has also produced certified and publicly available “emission factors”, hence contributing to enhance scientific information on the environmental impacts generated by the Construction Sector.

Identify improvement areas, based on objective data. Besides providing objective information on the impacts of the CE Ring, the study has also allowed the identification of the most significant contributions to the overall impacts (the so-called hotspots) and of specific measures that could potentially be implemented in order to improve performance over time.

Promote eco-design. The results of the study can be used as a yardstick to evaluate the impacts of the same product when manufactured in other projects, in an eco-design perspective.