EPD: what an environmental product declaration is and how to get one
ISO 14025, EN 15804 and PCR explained simply: what an EPD contains, how long it lasts, who verifies it and how to produce EPDs at scale with an EPD tool.
An EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) is a document that reports the environmental impacts of a product over its life cycle, calculated with an LCA and verified by an independent body. It follows ISO 14025 and, for construction products, EN 15804. It does not say whether a product is “green”: it provides comparable data, increasingly requested in tenders and by designers and large customers.
What an EPD is
An EPD is a type III environmental declaration: a public document that quantifies the impacts of a product using rules common to its entire category. It is verified by a third party and published by a programme operator, the organisation that runs the declaration scheme.
Precisely because it is not a label that rewards the best products, an EPD is useful even when the figures are not outstanding: it gives buyers and designers verified data to use in their own calculations.
| Tool | What it communicates | Reference standard |
|---|---|---|
| EPD | Multiple environmental impacts over the life cycle, with verified data | ISO 14025, EN 15804 for construction |
| Product carbon footprint | Greenhouse gas emissions only | ISO 14067 |
| Type I label | Compliance with excellence criteria, as with the EU Ecolabel | ISO 14024 |
The reference standards
- ISO 14025: defines type III environmental declarations and the rules of the programmes that publish them;
- ISO 14040 and ISO 14044: the principles and requirements of life cycle assessment on which the calculation is based;
- EN 15804+A2: the common rules for construction products, with mandatory modules and indicators;
- PCR (Product Category Rules): the specific rules for a product category, which make different EPDs comparable.
What an EPD contains
- description of the product and the company, including the production site;
- declared or functional unit, for example one cubic metre of concrete or one square metre of panel;
- system boundaries: the life cycle stages included, shown as modules A1 to D;
- impact indicators: total, fossil, biogenic and land use GWP, ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication, resource use and water use;
- information on data and scenarios: reference year, sources, assumptions on transport and end of life;
- verification statement, registration number and validity period.
For construction products, EN 15804+A2 requires declaring, with few exceptions, at least the product stage (A1-A3), end of life (C1-C4) and benefits beyond the life cycle (D).
How to get an EPD, step by step
- Choose the programme operator and the PCR. In Italy the most used are EPDItaly and The International EPD System.
- Collect primary data for one year of production: raw materials, energy, water, packaging, transport and waste.
- Build the LCA model according to the PCR, adding data from suppliers and recognised databases.
- Prepare the project report and the draft EPD with results and assumptions.
- Have a third party verify the model, the data and the document.
- Register and publish the EPD with the programme operator. It is usually valid for five years, unless there are significant changes to the product or process.
The longest part is almost always data collection: utility bills, purchase invoices, supplier data sheets and waste registers hold most of the information you need.
EPD tool: how to generate EPDs at scale
A company with dozens of product variants, for example different concrete mixes or different panel thicknesses, cannot run a full project for each one. There are two main solutions:
- EPD tool: a parametric LCA model verified once by a third party. Once you enter the data for a new variant, the tool generates the EPD with simplified verification, within the limits set by the programme operator;
- average or group EPDs: a single declaration for several similar products or several plants, with average values and the declared variability.
An EPD tool takes more work at the start, but it reduces the time and cost of later declarations. It makes sense when there are many variants and production data is well organised.
What an EPD is for
- public procurement: the Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM) accept environmental declarations as a means of verification, as explained in the guide on tenders and environmental criteria;
- design: EPDs feed into building LCA and rating systems such as LEED;
- CE marking: with the new Construction Products Regulation, GWP enters the declaration of performance and conformity;
- customers: verified data lets customers calculate their own Scope 3 with specific values instead of industry averages.
An EPD turns a product’s LCA into a public, verified document, usually valid for five years. It does not reward the best products: it provides comparable data. With tenders, building LCA and the new CPR it has become a commercial tool, and an EPD tool lets you extend it to many variants without starting from scratch.
