The Dutch Environmental Database (NMD)

The Dutch Environmental Database (NMD) is filled with product cards that contain general information about products, including name, service life and functional unit. They also contain environmental information that has been obtained via a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The Assessment Method states which environmental information a product card should contain when this is entered into the NMD.

Shaping circular construction with a level playing field requires transparent and comparable circular performance of building products and building installations. This is where the Bepalingsmethode Milieuprestatie Bouwwerken and the Nationale Milieudatabase (NMD) play an important role. With the NMD's new structure, the NMD has recently taken important steps again to increase its use as a national transfer point and to properly facilitate its growing use.

Besides data on environmental impacts of building products (environmental performance), from 1 January 2021 the NMD will also include data on the underlying parameters from an LCA report such as material flows in kg (a.o. secondary material input, secondary material output, material for recycling, material for reuse), the amount of renewable energy used and water consumption in the chain. It takes hardly any extra time to indicate these specifications when supplying data for inclusion in the NMD.