Wood cladding & FDES: an essential Pair for sustainable construction

As the environmental performance of buildings becomes an essential criterion, professionals are increasingly turning to low-carbon solutions such as wood cladding. But they still need to be able to rely on reliable data.

This is precisely the role of FDES (Environmental and Health Declaration Sheets): these regulatory documents have become essential for designing, comparing, and optimizing a building’s environmental footprint.

At Sivalbp, FDES play a central role in our commitment to transparency and environmental performance. This article explains everything you need to know about FDES for wood cladding: their role, how to interpret them, the differences between collective and individual FDES, and why our individual FDES make a difference in your AVC calculations.

An FDES is a regulatory document that presents, in a standardized format, the environmental and health impacts of a construction product throughout its entire life cycle, from raw materials to the end of the product’s life.
In France, FDES for wood cladding are established in accordance with:

• Standard NF EN 15804+A2,
• Standard NF EN 15804/CN,
• And supplemented with health information specific to the French market.

For wood cladding, this translates into reliable, standardized indicators covering:

• Greenhouse gas emissions (kg CO₂ eq.)
• Energy consumption,
• Air and water pollution,
• Waste generated throughout the life cycle
• Contribution to biogenic carbon sequestration, a major advantage of wood.
• The product’s health performance.

An FDES is structured around modules corresponding to the stages of a product’s life cycle, as defined by the NF EN 15804+A2 standard. To properly interpret an FDES for wood siding, the most important indicator to analyze is the Global Warming Potential (GWP), often expressed in kg CO₂e. This indicator allows for comparing the carbon footprint of different materials and assessing their contribution to global warming over their entire life cycle.

For professionals (architects, thermal engineering firms, project owners), here are the essential modules to know:

• A1–A3: Production

Extraction of raw materials, transportation, manufacturing. → This is where a large portion of the GWP is concentrated.

• A4–A5: Transportation to the construction site and installation

Impact related to distance, type of transportation, and installation operations.

• B1–B7: Use phase

Maintenance, potential replacement, energy or water consumption associated with the product.

• C1–C4: End of life

Demolition, transportation, waste treatment (recycling, landfilling, incineration).

• D: Benefits and costs beyond the system

Recycling, energy recovery, or material recovery. This module can reduce the overall impact if the material allows for substitution of another product or energy recovery.

Compliance with RE2020 Requirements

RE2020 is based on the building’s Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
FDES are therefore the official and mandatory data source for performing environmental calculations.
Without FDES, it is impossible to quantify the carbon impact of cladding in the building’s overall assessment. The FDES for softwood cladding updated by the FCBA confirm that wood is one of the most effective materials for reducing the carbon footprint of new buildings.

Facilitating comparison and optimizing design choices

FDES enable:

• Objective comparison of multiple materials (wood, aluminum, composite, etc.)
• Evaluation of different wood grades or species against one another
• Justification of technical choices in the context of public or private tenders
• Feeding into LCA calculation configurators used by architects and engineering firms

They are particularly useful for architects, engineering firms, and project owners, especially through their use in configurators during the preliminary design and detailed design phases, when material choices still have a significant impact on the project’s RE2020 assessment.

Wood cladding plays several key roles in a building’s overall performance:

• Weather protection,
• Effective thermal insulation thanks to the air gap,
• High mechanical strength,
• Durability, depending on the wood species and treatment,
• Aesthetics, adaptable based on profiles and finishes.

Sivalbp technical documents emphasize the importance of installation in compliance with DTU 41.2, mandatory ventilation, and the quality of stainless steel fasteners to ensure the cladding’s longevity and stability. For more information on installing our wood cladding, please consult our Technical Data Sheets and Technical Guide in the Documentation section. 
 

There are two types of FDES for wood cladding in the wood industry:

• Collective FDES, based on a weighted average from multiple manufacturers,
• Individual FDES, produced by a single manufacturer for its specific products.

Collective FDES, such as those developed for softwood cladding, are based on average data derived from surveys of multiple manufacturers and compiled into a single standardized report. They provide an overview of the market but do not reflect the specific characteristics of each manufacturer.
Conversely, a Sivalbp individual FDES is calculated based on:

• Our actual production data,
• Our industrial processes,
• Our specific sourcing,
• Our energy consumption,
• Our logistics distances,
• Our finishes and treatments.

The BoisDeFrance configurator confirms that the purpose of creating an individual FDES is to produce a profile that accurately represents a specific product from a manufacturer, as opposed to a collective FDES based on sector averages.
A major asset for your RE2020 projects
Thanks to their precision, Sivalbp’s individual FDES:

• Improve the reliability of LCA calculations and prevent biased estimates
• Reduce the risk of over- or underestimating carbon impact
• Enhance the project’s environmental traceability
• Enable us to best highlight the actual performance of our products

In summary : 

Based in the heart of the Alps, we design and manufacture cladding:

• 100% French,
• Sourced from sustainably managed forests (PEFC, Bois de France),
• Environmentally friendly,
• Wood species suitable for RE2020 projects: Douglas fir, Larch, Spruce, Pine, Red Cedar, etc.

This responsible approach is accompanied by comprehensive documentation, including our individual FDES, accessible via our documentation section.

• Download our individual Sivalbp FDES
• Direct access to our official FDES on the INIES database (Search for “Sivalbp” in the INIES catalog.)