Analysis of Environmental Impact Variations in 24 MPa Ready‐Mixed Concrete: A Study Based on Korean EPDs

Abstract

This study analyses Korean Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) data for 24 MPa ready‐mixed concrete certified in 2024 to examine variations in environmental impacts under the same design strength. The products were divided into four regional groups: Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 and Group4 and seven impact categories including carbon footprint were addressed. The carbon footprint ranged from 175.9 to 387.3 kg CO ₂ ‐eq/m ³ , showing more than a twofold difference among products with the same strength. Group 1 and 2 showed low and stable distributions, whereas Group3 included low values and high outliers. Group 4, an island region, showed relatively high values in several categories. These results show that concrete environmental performance cannot be explained by compressive strength alone.