Europe on the radar: sustainability drives a new strategy for the Brazilian natural stone sector
With shifts in traditional markets, Europe emerges as a strategic destination — and sustainability, via the EPD, becomes the sector's new competitive edge.
The international landscape has been undergoing important changes that directly impact the natural stone sector. With geopolitical conflicts and instabilities affecting traditional markets such as the United States and the Middle East, Brazilian companies are beginning to broaden their horizons toward new opportunities — and Europe is emerging as one of the most strategic destinations in this context.
More than a new market, the European continent presents a more demanding consumption profile, especially when it comes to sustainability. In several countries, builders and specifiers already prioritize — and in some cases require — materials that hold internationally recognized environmental certifications.
This movement reinforces the importance of initiatives such as the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), which transparently communicates the carbon footprint across the natural stone production chain, from extracting the block at the quarry, through transportation and every processing stage.
Attentive to this global demand, Centrorochas, in partnership with IFES of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, is leading a project in Brazil aimed at implementing the EPD in the natural stone sector. The initiative allows participating companies to record production data and obtain their certification in a simplified way.
How the EPD project works
Companies taking part in the project fill in, through a system developed by IFES, a series of information related to the life cycle of their products, including:
- Water consumption
- Energy use
- Production volume
- Emissions generated
- Inputs used
- Transportation
Based on this data, it is possible to generate a robust, internationally recognized Environmental Product Declaration.
Beyond meeting the requirements of the European market, this process enables something even more important: proving, with data, that the natural stone sector is highly sustainable — especially when it comes to CO₂ emissions.
Companies interested in joining the EPD project can contact Centrorochas through the following channels:
📧 planejamento@centrorochas.org.br 📱 +55 27 99754-2172
More information is also available at: epdbrasil.com.br