EPD types & their uses

International standards governing EPDs

The International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) creates the standards that govern the creation of EPDs, with additional standards on how to perform the underlying life-cycle assessment issued by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), and more detailed rules set by individual EPD Program Operators, whose duties are set out in the ISO 14025 standard.

For construction product manufacturers, the two most relevant ISO standards are:

• ISO 14021 Environmental labels and declarations — Self-declared environmental claims (Type II environmental labelling)

As the name suggests, ISO 14021 is a standard for claims made by the manufacturer. It defines those as “environmental claim that is made, without independent third-party certification, by manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers or anyone else likely to benefit from such a claim”.

• ISO 14025 Environmental labels and declarations — Type III environmental declarations — Principles and procedures

ISO 14025, on the other hand, requires independent verification, which is to a very large extent applied as being third-party verified. ISO 14025 sets the following criteria for verification and the verifier: “Verifier: person or body that carries out verification”, “Independent verification of data from LCA, LCI, and information modules” and “Independent verifiers… shall not have conflicts of interests resulting from their position in the organization.”

Read more on why EPD verification transparency matters.

Determine how your EPD will be used

Different countries use different regulatory systems and requirements and not all EPD types are appropriate for every market and every purpose. For manufacturers, the primary concern is to understand your client’s needs by identifying how your EPD will be used and therefore which standard it needs to comply with. This then determines the level of verification and publication required and, as a result, the time and cost needed to create the EPD.

Types of EPDs & environmental statements

Third-party verified EPD — any purpose

Third-party verified EPDs are the most widely recognized type of EPD,  they are required by many regulations and certification schemes and accepted by almost all. As well as being third-party verified in compliance with ISO 14025, they are published by an EPD program operator and can be used for almost any purpose. A third-party verified EPD is valid for 5 years unless the parameters change. If there are significant changes in key parameters—such as raw materials used, manufacturing processes, supply chains, or energy consumption—the EPD may no longer reflect the product's true environmental impact. If these parameters change during the 5-year period, the EPD would need to be updated and potentially re-verified to ensure it remains accurate. This is to prevent outdated or misleading information from being used after significant changes to the product.

Some EPD program operators offer Variant EPDs that are based on an already published third-party verified EPD. Variant EPDs must be similar to the third-party verified EPD they’re based on; they must be manufactured using a similar process, from similar raw materials, and for a similar function This type is also in compliance with ISO 14025.

Project EPDs — contracts & tenders

Project EPDs are created for a specific project or contract. They are non-published documents verified internally by designated qualified personnel or through a company’s established quality management processes, rather than being reviewed by external program operators or made publicly available. Project EPDs are crucial for companies aiming to manage the environmental impacts of specific projects or tendering processes internally. Project EPDs facilitate the scaling of EPD adoption without the expenses associated with third-party verification for each declaration. Although Project EPDs comply with ISO 14025, they are distinctly marked as “Internally Verified” to clarify their verification status. Some program operators assign shorter validity for Project EPDs.

Self-declared environmental claims — other transparency requirements

A self-declared environmental claim, according to ISO 14021,  is an environmental statement made by a company about its product without third-party certification. The claim must be truthful, verifiable, and not misleading, with evidence available to support it to ensure transparency, consistency, and accuracy in environmental marketing claims.

In One Click LCA you can create self-declared environmental claims as an unverified and unpublished LCA dataset, used to support transparency requirements in tenders or projects. The environmental data can be sent to another LCA user in the form of a report, ILCD+XML file or spreadsheet. With One Click LCA, you can use the Send Private Data feature, which allows designers to use the data in their BIM plugins. Private data of self-declared EPDs can be sent and received between holders of appropriate One Click LCA licenses instantly and without cost.

System Verified EPDs — for EPDs at scale

System verified EPDs are automatically generated EPDs for a large number of products which are generated by a system on-demand, meaning the individual documents themselves are not subject to direct verification, but the process or system generating them has been verified. The verification is done on the system that produces the EPDs, ensuring that it meets certain criteria. However, this means the final document itself is not necessarily individually checked or verified. The need for scalable EPD solutions, such as system verified EPDs, has arisen due to the growing demand for environmental documentation in the construction industry. However, system verified EPDs raise concerns around transparency since these automated systems don’t always provide the same level of scrutiny as traditional, manual verification processes. These documents are widely used in building LCAs for certain product categories, such as ready-mix concrete.

Are they considered third-party verified EPDs? 

For an EPD to qualify as third-party verified, the verification process must clearly indicate that the final EPD document has been reviewed and approved by an independent verifier. System verified EPDs don’t always meet this criterion, which could be an issue for certain certifications or standards that require explicit third-party verification. To ensure your EPD is third-party verified make sure to always check that the verification statement clearly mentions that the final document has been viewed and verified by a verifier. In traditional third-party verified EPDs, a third-party verifier confirms that the life-cycle assessment (LCA) and the EPD document conform to standards (ISO 14025, EN 15804). 

Always note the verification statement. In system verified EPDs, only the generation process or method will be noted as verified, as shown in the example below:

Scope of EPDs — lifecycle stages

An EPD document can cover different scopes based on the the different stages in the lifecycle of a construction product:

• Cradle-to-gate (A1-A3): These cover the product lifecycle from raw material extraction (A1) to the factory gate (A3) before the product is transported to the consumer. This is the minimum scope required for an EPD. 
• Cradle-to-gate with options, modules C & D: These extend beyond the basic cradle-to-gate scope to include end-of-life stages, meaning disposal or recycling (C1-C4), and additional optional modules such as A4, A5, B.
• Cradle-to-grave: The most comprehensive, covering the entire product lifecycle, including usage, maintenance, and the end of life, meaning disposal or recycling phases (A to D). 

How can One Click LCA help you create EPDs?

One Click LCA can help manufacturers and sustainability managers meet strict emissions regulations by measuring and publishing your product's carbon footprint. The EPD Generator enables users to create compliant environmental product declarations (EPDs) for all product categories at scale. One Click LCA experts help you create and publish EPDs, but equally importantly, they educate you and teach you how to leverage your EPDs to win more contracts.