Environmental product declarations (EPDs) are now an essential requirement for manufacturers operating in construction. They provide transparent, third-party verified data about the environmental performance of materials and products throughout their lifecycle, enabling architects, engineers, and contractors to make informed decisions that support low-carbon construction.
But while EPDs are becoming increasingly mandatory, creating them can often be complex, costly, and time-consuming. One Click LCA offers a set of purpose-built tools that make the EPD journey not only feasible but efficient, scalable, and automated. Whether you’re new to environmental declarations or managing a large portfolio of products, this guide will walk you through the EPD journey using One Click LCA’s software solutions.
An EPD is a standardised document that communicates the environmental impact of a product across its full life cycle — from raw material extraction to end-of-life. Based on reliable product LCA (life-cycle assessment) data, EPDs follow established standards including EN 15804, ISO 14025, and ISO 21930, making them internationally recognised and comparable. According to One Click LCA’s 2025 Carbon Experts Report, based on survey data of 150 qualified experts, 83% of AEC respondents reported that EPDs influence material selection in building projects.
For manufacturers, EPDs:
In the United Kingdom, EPDs support whole-life carbon assessments following RICS WLCA (2nd edition) and the London Plan WLC guidance for referable schemes. For certification, BREEAM UK awards Mat 01 credits when you complete a building LCA and use third-party-verified EPDs. Infrastructure clients increasingly reference PAS 2080:2023. In Ireland, requirements align with EU law — the 2024 EPBD recast phases in life-cycle GWP disclosure from 2028 for large new buildings and from 2030 for all new buildings — alongside the updated CPR and the ESPR. Projects and housing certifications use the EPD Ireland programme and the Home Performance Index.
For manufacturers keen on decarbonising their entire product portfolio and expanding their products’ reach, the creation and publication of EPD documents is not the final frontier. EPDs can serve as powerful tools to identify carbon hotspots, open new avenues in manufacturing processes, provide deeper insights into how these documents influence their buyer base, and connect them with a broad network of AEC professionals seeking lower-carbon solutions. This is where One Click LCA comes in, offering solutions and features tailored to support you throughout your entire EPD journey, from creation to analysing their impact and reach.
One Click LCA’s EPD Generator is the starting point for most manufacturers. It lets you model your product’s life-cycle impacts and create verified EPDs with accuracy and speed.
Key features:
This tool handles the technical LCA modelling behind the scenes while offering transparency and flexibility where needed.
One Click LCA’s EPD Generator includes pre-verification by an independent program operator, meaning the underlying data structures and calculation methods have already been reviewed and approved. This significantly reduces the workload for third-party verifiers and accelerates the overall approval process. The tool is fully compliant with EN 15804+A1+A2, ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14067, ISO 21930, and ISO 14025.
One Click LCA EPD experts are available to support users throughout the process, helping resolve issues early and increasing the chance of a smooth third-party verification. Once finalised, the EPD is sent directly from the platform to third-party verifiers and publishers, no manual steps needed.
For manufacturers dealing with hundreds or thousands of products, manual entry isn’t an option. That’s where One Click LCA’s API-based automation comes in.
With the API, you can:
This is especially useful for industries like HVAC, lighting, or precast concrete where product variants are numerous and frequently updated. Automation reduces errors and saves significant time and resources.
One Click LCA simplifies LCA modelling by offering a wide range of ready-to-use resources:
One Click LCA’s end-to-end EPD tools — tailored for concrete, luminaires, electrical, HVAC products — include automated end-of-life scenarios, waste treatment flows, and Module D benefits, ensuring your EPDs are robust and fully aligned with applicable standards.
Before submitting your data for verification, One Click LCA helps you identify and fix potential issues with its EPD Quality Checker. This tool helps you spot missing inputs and unusual results before submission. It checks your LCA data for completeness and consistency, making sure your EPD is accurate, aligned with standards, and ready for verification.
The EPD Quality Checker:
By catching issues early, you improve your chances of obtaining third-party verification the first time.
In many cases, manufacturers need EPDs fast in order to respond to tender requirements or demonstrate sustainability credentials to clients. One Click LCA allows you to generate internally verified Project EPDs, which are suitable for use in procurement and bidding processes.
The feature allows you to:
This flexibility supports agile business operations without compromising data integrity or methodological consistency.
Finally, One Click LCA helps you promote your EPDs and other sustainability certifications directly to decision-makers in the AEC industry through Manufacturer Pages, featured in Materials Compass, the world’s largest curated construction LCA database, used by thousands of AEC professionals every week.
By claiming your Manufacturer Page, you can:
Claiming your Manufacturer Page not only improves discoverability but also ensures your product information is accurate, up to date, and presented in the context of low-carbon decision-making.
Once your EPDs are published, how can you measure their reach?
EPD Usage Analytics offers exclusive insights into how your data is being used by specifiers and buyers. You can:
The tool’s dashboard offers clear, visual summaries and advanced filtering options for analyzing product performance over time.
This is the first tool of its kind that turns your environmental data into strategic intelligence, helping you optimise your marketing, sales, and R&D decisions.
Creating high-quality EPDs doesn’t have to be a burden. With One Click LCA, manufacturers gain access to a structured, streamlined process that balances automation with flexibility, and precision with user-friendliness.
From LCA modelling to verification, from real-time analytics to market visibility — every step of the EPD journey is supported.
Whether you are just starting or looking to scale your EPD production, One Click LCA offers the tools and expert guidance to make the process feasible, transparent, and automated.