What is an EPD?

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardized document that provides transparent, objective, and third-party verified data about a product's environmental performance throughout its lifecycle. It takes the full value chain into consideration, and requires programme operators to publish the programme instructions, product category rules and registered EPDs.

Core components

An EPD consists of two core components:

• LCA report: This holds Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data and is the foundation for the EPD. This assessment evaluates the product's environmental impact across its entire lifecycle, including material extraction, manufacturing, usage, and end-of-life stages.
• Public EPD document: A standardized report showing environmental impact data. It is a type III environmental declaration that follows ISO 14025 standards. All registered EPDs are publicly available through the EPD Library. The EPD document is the output of the EandoX EPD generator.

In EandoX, the LCA report is what you get after having created a product and filled out all of the product data. This LCA can then be used in the EPD generator module to create an EPD document, that can be sent for third-party verification and registration on EPD International.

Key benefits of EPDs

Standardized and transparent framework

EPDs are built on the foundation of ISO 14025, a globally recognized standard that ensures consistency in environmental reporting. This international framework is strengthened by Product Category Rules (PCR), which provide detailed methodologies for specific product types. Program operators publish these PCRs and calculation methods openly, creating a transparent system where all registered EPDs are publicly accessible, qualitative, and follow the same best practices.

Broad usage across industries

EPDs provide full lifecycle assessments across all sectors, from raw material extraction, to end-of-life stages. This flexibility makes them suitable for all types of product or service, and across different industries, without any minimum environmental performance requirements.

Verified and comparable results

Since EPDs are published openly, third-party verification is baked in to the system. When products use the same PCRs, their EPDs can be easily and objectively compared thanks to the standardized assessment methods and strict data requirements. This system of verification and standardization helps prevent greenwashing, and provides reliable environmental impact data.

Protecting business interests

The EPD format strikes a perfect balance between transparency and confidentiality. By focusing solely on lifecycle assessment results, EPDs protect sensitive business information such as manufacturing processes and supply chain details, while still providing comprehensive environmental impact data. This approach ensures that companies can maintain their competitive advantage while meeting environmental reporting requirements.