Case Study: Confindustria Ceramica achieves automated sector-wide EPDs and faster, compliant green procurement with Sphera

An Environmental Product Declaration for the Italian Ceramics Industry

Confindustria Ceramica, the trade association representing roughly 166 Italian ceramic tile manufacturers, faced the challenge of creating an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) project covering 82.6% of Italian tile production, transparently communicating environmental performance, qualifying for green building schemes (LEED, DGNB, BREEAM) and Italian public procurement (CAM), and supporting members in product-level reporting. To meet these needs they engaged Sphera, leveraging thinkstep consultancy services and the GaBi / GaBi Envision software and databases to develop sector and company-level EPD tools.

Sphera implemented an automated, verified EPD Creator and an Eco‑Design Tool that generate an average sector EPD and optional specific EPDs for individual companies, plus monitoring of environmental performance. The solution enabled coverage of 82.6% of national production, delivered significant cost and time savings in EPD generation, opened new communication opportunities, helped fulfill green building and CAM criteria, and improved the environmental profiles of the sector and its member companies.

Confindustria Ceramica

Andrea Contri

Sustainability Manager