MPG-scores, sustainable building and the standard.
In the Netherlands, new residential and commercial buildings must comply with a series of laws and regulations. As of January 1, 2021, new buildings must be nearly energy-neutral (BENG). Additionally, the environmental impact of the materials used must be taken into account. This impact is expressed in the Environmental Performance of Buildings (MPG). The MPG indicates the environmental burden of the materials used in a building and is mandatory for every building permit application.
Since July 1, 2021, the MPG requirement for new residential buildings has been tightened from 1.0 to 0.8. Experts now argue that an MPG score of 0.8 does little to make new housing construction more environmentally friendly. Minister De Jonge agrees and plans to raise the bar further in 2025, setting the standard at 0.5.
To calculate an MPG score, a calculation is made based on data from the National Environmental Database (NMD). The Environmental Cost Indicator (MKI) is used as the basis, which is then divided by the floor area and the lifespan of the building. This results in the MPG value, expressed in euros per square meter per year.
The MKI consists of the shadow costs of all products used in a construction project. These shadow costs can be found in the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) of a product or material.
An EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) contains tables with the environmental performance of a product across its lifecycle phases. These figures are derived from the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), an analysis that must be conducted for a product or material to be included in the National Environmental Database.
This analysis is performed according to the ISO 14033 standard, resulting in an environmental profile. This profile consists of 19 environmental impact categories, each expressing the burden in its respective area. Monetary values are assigned to each category, which are then combined into a total cost value—the shadow costs per unit of the product.
The current standard for the allowed MPG value is 0.8, and it is expected to be further reduced in the future. This makes it even more important to choose sustainable building materials and products.
MAGOXX has an MKI of €0.91/m², meaning our boards have a relatively very low environmental impact. Alternative boards often have at least double the MKI. This is because MAGOXX boards are produced at an extremely low temperature (35°C), whereas the production of other boards requires significantly more energy.
Want to learn more about all 19 environmental impact category scores of MAGOXX? Download our Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) via → Technical Data.