LG's refrigerator receives Int'l EPD certification

LG Electronics Inc. has announced that its high-end refrigerator, the Objet Collection, has become the first in the home appliance industry to receive both the International EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) and EPD Norway certifications.

In Nov. 2022, the South Korean electronics giant became the first in the home appliance industry to receive EPD Norway's certification, and it has now additionally obtained the EPD certification from EPD International in Sweden.

While EPD International and EPD Norway had previously recognized each other's certifications, the process was complicated. LG Electronics' pioneering approach involved obtaining EPD certification from EPD Norway and then subsequently obtaining certification from EPD International, streamlining the certification process and shortening the time to achieve both certifications.

LG Electronics obtained overseas EPD certification as part of its efforts to comply with the "Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation" (ESPR) established in the EU in Mar. 2022. The introduction of "Digital Product Passports" (DPP) was one of the measures to address ESPR.

ESPR is a regulation that requires consideration of environmental sustainability, such as resource circulation and energy efficiency, from the product development stage. DPP is a system that digitizes and provides environmental information throughout a product's entire lifecycle, including its production, use and recycling history, as well as compliance with environmental regulations. Notably, environmental information includes carbon footprint information from all stages of the product's lifecycle.

Write to Ye-Rin Choi at rambutan@hankyung.com