An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardised document that quantifies the environmental impacts of a construction product or service across defined life cycle stages. It is based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data and follows the Type III declaration principle set out in ISO 14025, meaning the data is verified by an independent third party but no pass/fail judgement on environmental performance is made.
Normative Basis
For construction products, the core rules are set by EN 15804 (Sustainability of construction works – Environmental product declarations – Core rules for the product category of construction products), currently applicable in its revised version EN 15804+A2. This standard works in conjunction with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 for the underlying LCA methodology and ISO 14025 for general Type III declaration requirements. Product-specific calculation rules are typically defined in Product Category Rules (PCR), which specify system boundaries, functional units and reporting formats for a given product group.
Life Cycle Stages
EN 15804 structures the assessment into modules: A1–A3 (raw material supply, transport, manufacturing), A4–A5 (transport to site, installation), B1–B7 (use phase, including maintenance, repair, replacement, refurbishment, and operational energy/water use), C1–C4 (deconstruction, transport, waste processing, disposal), and module D (benefits and loads beyond the system boundary, e.g. from recycling or energy recovery). An EPD may cover a cradle-to-gate scope (A1–A3 only) or a full cradle-to-grave scope (A1–C4, plus D).
Reported Indicators
EPDs report a defined set of environmental impact indicators, typically including Global Warming Potential (GWP, in kg CO2 eq.), Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP, in kg CFC-11 eq.), Acidification Potential (AP, in mol H+ eq.), Eutrophication Potential (EP, in kg N eq. or kg P eq.), Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP, in kg NMVOC eq.), and resource depletion indicators for abiotic elements (ADPE, in kg Sb eq.) and fossil fuels (ADPF, in MJ). Additional parameters cover resource use (e.g. use of renewable and non-renewable primary energy, in MJ) and waste categories (hazardous, non-hazardous, radioactive waste, in kg).
Programme Operators and Verification
EPDs are published through programme operators that administer PCR documents, verification procedures and public registries. Established operators in the construction sector include Institut Bauen und Umwelt (IBU) in Germany, EPD International (Environdec) in Sweden, and UL Environment, among others. Each EPD must be independently verified before publication, either by an individual verifier or a verification panel accredited by the programme operator.
Validity and Use
EPDs are typically valid for five years from publication, after which the underlying data must be reviewed and, if necessary, updated. They serve as the data basis for building-level LCA calculations required under certification schemes such as DGNB, BREEAM and LEED, and increasingly for compliance with public procurement criteria and national building regulations addressing embodied carbon. For planners and procurers, the declared unit, system boundary and underlying PCR should be checked carefully, since results from EPDs following different PCR versions or system boundaries are not directly comparable.