What is the INIES database?
Since 2004, INIES has been France's national reference database for environmental and health data on construction products and equipment.
What's its role?
Why is it important to provide a database of EHSFs and PEPs?
EHSFs and EPPs are the documents used to measure the environmental performance of a construction product. They are based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, and enable the carbon impact of a construction project to be assessed over 100 years, as required by the 2020 Environmental Regulations(RE 2020).
These factsheets help building and civil engineering professionals committed to sustainable construction to develop virtuous programs and projects, and to implementeco-design.
What programs and services does INIES offer?
INIES offers two environmental data verification programs under agreement with the French government:
- The INIES verification program: This is the French program for verifying environmental declarations, specific to construction products. It enables manufacturers to draw up and publish EHDSs and LCIs (Life Cycle Inventories). Within this framework, INIES draws up the rules of the verification program, authorizes verifiers of EHDSs and LCIs, and manages claims and the registration of these documents.
- The PEP ecopassport® verification program: This is the international program for verifying environmental declarations for electrical and HVAC products, enabling manufacturers to draw up and publish PEPs.
INIES also offers a webservice (an application for exchanging data with other web applications):
- The INIES webservice enables building LCA software to be fed with data digitized in INIES. Launched in 2013, the INIES webservice provides access to a large part of the content of environmental declarations in digital format.
Who owns INIES?
Alliance HQE-GBC: The alliance of professionals for a sustainable living environment. It brings together trade unions, professional federations, companies, local authorities and individual professionals from the building, development and infrastructure sectors. French member of the World Green Building Council (World GBC).
Who are the players involved in running INIES?
The database is managed by the Supervisory Board and the Technical Committee.
- The Supervisory Board, chaired by Alliance HQR-GBC, is the guarantor of the base's ethics and deontology. It defines general policy, approves changes to the base's operations and manages communication initiatives.
- Technical Committee: chaired by the AIMCC, this committee oversees data collection, processing and updating.
Who are the INIES members?
AFNOR (Association Française de Normalisation): An organization that leads and coordinates the standards development process and promotes their application.
AIMCC (Association française des Industries des produits de Construction): An association of unions and federations representing industrial manufacturers of products used in construction (structural and finishing materials, components, equipment and systems, etc.).
CAPEB: (Confédération de l'Artisanat et des Petites Entreprises du Bâtiment): Employers' union representing all building contractors.
CSTB (Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment): This public establishment carries out a wide range of missions, from research to assessment, concerning construction products, buildings and their integration in urban areas.
DHUP (Direction de l'Habitat, de l'Urbanisme et des Paysages)Within the Ministry of Housing and the Environment, this department draws up, leads and evaluates policies on urban planning, construction, housing, landscape, biodiversity, water and non-energy minerals.
EGF BTP (Entreprises Générales de France BTP): Union of French general contractors recognized for their comprehensive, innovative and sustainable approach to construction.
FFB (Fédération Française du Bâtiment): An organization that represents and supports building companies, more than half of which are craft businesses. The FFB is organized on a regional and departmental scale, as well as through trade associations.
Association PEP Ecopassport®: An association of manufacturers which is the international operator of the environmental declaration program for electrical, electronic and HVAC equipment, under agreement with the French government.
Qualitel: An independent non-profit association whose mission is to promote housing quality. To this end, Qualitel provides information for the general public, certification of housing, research, assessment and expertise, and professional training for building professionals.
USH (Union Sociale pour l'Habitat): brings together national federations and regional associations of low-cost housing. USH informs organizations and raises public awareness.
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