Kick-off Event — Sources & Glossary

02

Jordan and Europe

Germany is Jordan's largest EU trading partner and its second-largest bilateral donor. In 2025, German exports to Jordan amounted to €899.3 million and German imports from Jordan to €134.5 million.

Largest EU destinations, H1 2026

• Netherlands≈ JD 87 M+88%
• Belgium≈ JD 66 M+45%
• Italy≈ JD 50 M+12%

• The three largest exports to the EU in the first half of 2026 were gold jewellery (≈ JD 136 million), potash salts (≈ JD 110 million) and knitted garments made from other textile materials (≈ JD 98 million), alongside food and chemical products.
• The Jordan Chamber of Industry highlights the need for industrial companies to be ready for growing European requirements on sustainability, environmental standards, traceability and carbon footprints.
• Jordan–EU Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership (signed January 2025); €3 billion EU support package for 2025–2027; Jordan–EU Investment Conference, 19 November 2026.

Currency: € values are approximate, converted at ≈ 1 JD = €1.23.

03

Sustainability requirements and Jordan's key products

Fertilisers & chemicals

Jordan ranks #5 in phosphate rock and #8 in potash (USGS, 2024) and was among the top three exporters of potassium nitrate in 2022 (UN Comtrade via Data México). Nitrogen-fertiliser exports grew 11.1% in 2025. CBAM covers nitrogen-containing fertilisers (e.g. DAP, NPK, potassium nitrate); potash and phosphate rock are outside its scope.

Textiles & garments

Garments are Jordan's largest export product; knitted garments to the EU were worth about JD 98 million in the first half of 2026. EU ecodesign rules for textiles are expected in 2027, with Digital Product Passports realistically around 2028–2029; the ban on destroying unsold apparel has applied to large companies since 19 July 2026.These obligations fall on EU brands and importers — Jordanian producers will receive them as data requests from customers.

Construction materials

• The construction industries sector contributes 2.2% of Jordan's GDP, with an annual production capacity above JD 1.7 billion (> €2 billion).
• Local producers supply 82% of domestic consumption — particularly cement, steel, building stone, marble and gypsum; the sector also produces insulation materials and pipes.
• Construction-industry exports reached JD 136 million in January–September 2025, up from JD 72 million a year earlier (≈ +89%), to 32 countries — mainly Syria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.
• EPDs are relevant for all construction products. The EU CBAM currently covers cement and clinker, iron and steel, and aluminium (plus fertilisers, hydrogen and electricity) —not concrete, stone, gypsum or ceramics.
• Jordan is also a leading world producer of bromine (#2), phosphate rock (#5) and potash (#8) (USGS, 2024 data).

04

Circular economy: from direction to evidence

The circular economy aims to keep products and materials in use longer, recover value and reduce waste and virgin resources. EU product rules translate this into requirements such as recycled content, durability and recyclability. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and EPDs provide the evidence: they show whether a circular solution actually reduces environmental impacts across the life cycle — including trade-offs.

Circular does not automatically mean lower impact.

05

What is an EPD?

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is the environmental data sheet of a product. Like a technical data sheet or a Declaration of Performance shows strength or fire behaviour, an EPD shows environmental performance.

What it shows

Several environmental indicators — climate impact (global warming potential, GWP), water use, resource use and more. Not only carbon.

Per what

A declared or functional unit, for example 1 tonne of cement.

Based on

A life cycle assessment (LCA) carried out according to product category rules (PCR). For construction products the core rules are set in EN 15804+A2.

Who checks it

An independent third-party verifier; it is then registered and published by a programme operator.

Validity

Set by the programme rules, commonly five years.

What it is not

A certificate, a “green” label, a pass/fail rating or a marketing claim.

Time

A first EPD typically takes 3–6 months; the biggest variable is how ready the company’s data is.

Standards — ISO 14025 (environmental declarations), EN 15804+A2 (construction products), ISO 14040/14044 (LCA), ISO 14067 (product carbon footprint).

06

One EPD — many systems it supports

• Green building systems (LEED, BREEAM, DGNB …)

  What the EPD contributes

  Product-specific EPDs earn credits and provide evidence

  Important to know

  Each scheme has its own criteria

• EU buildings: life-cycle carbon (EPBD)

  What the EPD contributes

  Product carbon data for whole-building calculations (EN 15978)

  Important to know

  Life-cycle GWP of new buildings: from 2028 for buildings over 1,000 m², from 2030 for all new buildings

• EU construction product rules (CPR, Reg. (EU) 2024/3110)

  What the EPD contributes

  Declared environmental performance based on the EN 15804 method

  Important to know

  Introduced product family by product family through delegated acts

• Digital Product Passport (DPP)

  What the EPD contributes

  Structured environmental data for the passport

  Important to know

  Obligations follow product-specific rules and transition periods

• Carbon at the EU border (CBAM)

  What the EPD contributes

  The same factory data (energy, fuels, precursors, production volumes)

  Important to know

  CBAM has its own installation-level method and accredited verification — an EPD is not a CBAM report

• Tenders & customer requests

  What the EPD contributes

  Verified, comparable evidence

  Important to know

  Requirements differ by tender and customer

EPD and CBAM compared

• Rules

  EPD

  EN 15804+A2, ISO 14025, PCR

  CBAM

  Reg. (EU) 2023/956 and implementing acts

• Scope

  EPD

  Multiple impacts, including greenhouse gases

  CBAM

  Greenhouse gases: embedded emissions

• Unit

  EPD

  Per declared or functional unit

  CBAM

  Per tonne of goods

• Boundary

  EPD

  Life-cycle modules per PCR

  CBAM

  Installation level, including precursors

• Verification

  EPD

  Independent third party

  CBAM

  Accredited verifier for actual data

• Output

  EPD

  Verified declaration for the market

  CBAM

  Declaration linked to CBAM certificates

Shared factory data: production volumes, electricity and heat, fuel consumption, material inputs and precursors, process emissions, allocation to products, metering records and evidence.

07

Timeline: voluntary, mandatory, coming

Status legend used on the slide — already active (CBAM); rolling implementation, product family by product family (Construction Products Regulation); product-specific requirements coming (ESPR / Digital Product Passport, EPBD building carbon). The ban on destroying unsold apparel and footwear (ESPR, since July 2026 for large companies) is part of the circular-economy agenda but does not concern product data; it is therefore not on the slide.

Note for textiles — ESPR obligations fall on companies placing products on the EU market (brands, importers). Suppliers will receive data requests from their EU customers. The calculation method for textiles will be set in the delegated act; whatever the method, the foundation is the same life-cycle data.

08

CBAM is active today — what if there is no data?

The slide shows one example: grey clinker, 2026 rules and prices. Without your own data a generic EU value applies — fixed, assumed, and impossible to influence. Jordan has no country-specific EU value for grey clinker, cement or rebar, so the generic “other countries and territories” value is the one that applies.

• Grey clinker

  CN 2523 10 00 90

  1.41 t CO₂e/t

• Grey Portland cement

  CN 2523 29 00

  1.44 t CO₂e/t

• Rebar

  CN 7214 20 00

  4.00 t CO₂e/t (blast-furnace route assumed)

Illustrative CBAM cost per tonne

• Grey clinker, EU default value

  2026

  ≈ €68

  2030

  ≈ €112

  2034

  ≈ €138

• Grey clinker, producer data 0.88 t CO₂/t

  2026

  ≈ €17

  2030

  ≈ €40

  2034

  ≈ €66

• Rebar, EU default value

  2026

  ≈ €231

  2030

  —

  2034

  —

The 0.88 t CO₂/t case is reported by Turkish clinker producers and is used only to show the size of the gap.

09

Glossary

CBAM — Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

EU mechanism that puts a carbon price on the embedded emissions of certain imported goods (cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, hydrogen, electricity).

CPR — Construction Products Regulation

EU rules for placing construction products on the market; the new CPR (Reg. (EU) 2024/3110) adds environmental performance to declared product information.

DPP — Digital Product Passport

Digital record of product information, accessed via a data carrier such as a QR code.

EPBD — Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

EU buildings directive; requires life-cycle GWP of new buildings to be calculated and disclosed from 2028/2030.

EPD — Environmental Product Declaration

Verified, LCA-based environmental data sheet of a product (ISO 14025; EN 15804 for construction).

ESPR — Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation

EU framework setting product requirements (durability, recycled content, footprint, information) product group by product group.

GWP — Global Warming Potential

Climate-change indicator, expressed in kg CO₂-equivalent.

LCA — Life Cycle Assessment

Method to assess environmental impacts across a product's life cycle (ISO 14040/14044).

PCF — Product Carbon Footprint

The climate-change result of a product's life cycle (ISO 14067).

PCR — Product Category Rules

Rules that define how the LCA and EPD are done for a product category.

Programme operator

Organisation that registers and publishes EPDs (e.g. International EPD System).

Verifier

Independent third party that checks the LCA and EPD against the rules.