Silver Spring, MD – July 21, 2026, The Gypsum Association (GA) has released two revised and updated environmental product declarations
(EPDs) for ½” lightweight and ⅝” type X North American gypsum boards. Following the standards set in the Association’s Smart EPD product category rules (PCR) for gypsum panel products, the EPDs provide vital environmental performance information addressing energy consumption, water consumption, global warming, waste, air emissions and other metrics related to production, installation, and end of life.
Steve Meima, executive director of the Gypsum Association, noted, “The Gypsum Association has an ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship. The development and release of these ISO 21930 compliant, Type III, cradle-to-grave EPDs demonstrates our member companies’ continued efforts to transparently report environmental impacts as a means of contributing to sustainable design and construction.”
Lightweight gypsum board (½”) is the standard choice for interior walls and ceilings in most residential construction and many non-fire-rated commercial applications, while type X gypsum (⅝”), valued for its enhanced fire-resistance properties, is typically specified in commercial, institutional, and multifamily buildings where fire-resistance-rated wall and ceiling assemblies are required.
The Association’s life cycle assessment tools are available at gypsum.org to aid design and construction teams as they strive to meet the sustainability standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. Under LEED v5, USGBC’s current rating system, project teams can apply these EPDs toward the Materials and Resources credit for Building Product Selection and Procurement, which consolidates the former EPD, sourcing and material ingredient credits into a single multi-attribute framework. Projects still registered under LEED v4 or LEED v4.1 can continue to use the EPDs to achieve points under the Materials and Resources Credit: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization – Environmental Product Declarations, as well as the Whole-Building Life-Cycle Assessment credit, which awards up to four points for demonstrating a minimized embodied environmental footprint in new construction. The newly released Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) Report, A North American Industry Average Cradle-to-Grave Life Cycle Assessment of ½” Lightweight and ⅝” Type X Conventional Gypsum Board, provides the data necessary for those credit calculations.
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About the Gypsum Association
The Gypsum Association, founded in 1930, is a not-for-profit trade association representing manufacturers of gypsum panels in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It serves as the technical, promotion and information center of the gypsum industry and is based in Silver Spring, MD.
Contact: Brooke Fishel (bfishel@gypsum.org)