An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) reports a product's environmental impacts across its life cycle, verified by an independent third party so that buyers can compare products directly. Due to regulation and demand, EPDs are becoming a condition of market access. The revised Construction Products Regulation has applied since January 8, 2026, and makes environmental performance part of the declaration of performance and conformity, one product family at a time, starting with precast concrete, structural metals, and cement. From January 2028, energy performance certificates must also state the life cycle global warming potential of new buildings over 1,000 m², extending to all new buildings from 2030, calculated from manufacturer data.
Customers are asking even earlier than regulations. In the 2026 Carbon Experts Report, 90% of AEC professionals said they prefer products with EPDs, and 65% require them for all or most projects. The right EPD and LCA software answers both demands: it holds your product data to the standards the regulation requires, and it puts verified EPDs in front of the specifiers who ask for them.
Below is a comparison of the leading EPD and product LCA software solutions for 2026, highlighting their product category specializations, supported standards, and regional scopes.
When selecting an EPD and product LCA software, consider:
Information accurate as of September 17, 2026, based on publicly available vendor documentation. One Click LCA publishes this comparison and is one of the tools included. If you believe something here is inaccurate, contact us at info@oneclicklca.com.
| Capability | One Click LCA | SimaPro | Sphera | Ecochain | openLCA | Makersite | Emidat | Climate Earth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent reviews from G2 and Capterra | G2 4.5/5 · Capterra 4.6/5 (Total reviews: 118) | G2 4.3/5 · Capterra - not available (Total reviews: 2) | G2 4.0/5 as provider, no rating for tools · Capterra - not available (Total reviews: 11) | G2 5.0/5 · Capterra 4.0/5 (Total reviews: 2) | No rating published | No rating published | No rating published | No rating published |
| Best for | Construction EPDs at scale plus specifier reach | Science-based comparative modeling | Enterprise supply chain modeling | High-volume EPDs from few plants | In-house expertise with no license budget | Large bills of materials and PLM data | Automating plant and ERP data collection | Ready-mix and concrete EPDs at plant scale |
| Product focus | Construction products, MEP, infrastructure | Chemicals, food, apparel, medical & pharmaceutical, technology | Chemicals, automotive, electronics, packaging | Construction products, asphalt, metals, coatings | Sector agnostic | Electronics, automotive, industrial, chemicals | 10+ construction product categories | Concrete value chain: ready mix, cement, aggregates, CMU, precast |
| Standards stated by vendor | EN 15804+A1 and +A2, ISO 14025, 14040, 14044, 14067, 21930 | ISO 14040, 14044, 14067, and EN 15804+A2 indicators | ISO 14040, ISO 14044 | ISO 14040, 14044, 14067, EN 15804+A2 | ISO 14040, ISO 14044, EN 15804 | ISO 14025, 14040, 14044, 14067, 21930 | EN 15804, ISO 21930, ISO 14040 | ISO 14025, ISO 21930, EN 15804+A2, ACI 323 |
| Verified EPD publishing | ✔ 8 program operators, including EPD Hub, the International EPD System, IBU, INIES, and UL Solutions | Calculates EN 15804+A2 indicators; publishing handled elsewhere | EPD creation supported; no program operators published | ✔ 5 program operators: NMD, MRPI, EPD Global, EPD International, IBU | EPD import and creation; publishing handled elsewhere | EPD automation advertised; no program operators published | States EN 15804+A2 compliance; names no program operators | ✔ Managed third-party verification; names NRMCA, IBU, ASTM, Kiwa, and Smart EPD |
| Pre-verified tool route | ✔ Pre-verified EPD Generator; verifiers review your product inputs only | Not available | Not published | ✔ 5 program operators | Available for GreenDelta’s onlineLCA, not openLCA itself | Not published | Verification route not published | EPD generator tools certified via ASTM; vendor frames it as managed verification |
| Automation and AI | ✔ AI material mapping, AI data integration, AI-assisted quality checks, EPD documentation, and more | Upcoming AI features | LCA Automation and bill of materials import; no named AI feature | Automated data matching; no AI features advertised | No AI features advertised | ✔ AI-automated LCA generation and supplier data enrichment | ✔ Automated data collection, matching, and recommendations | ✔ AI mix design, automatic spec review, batch and QC data integration |
| Data coverage | 500,000+ qualified LCA datasets, plus ecoinvent and other LCI bases | 250,000+ datasets, ecoinvent, around 40 impact assessment methods | Around 20,000 DEKRA-verified datasets and 1,000 pre-built models | ecoinvent, PEF, worldsteel, and NMD; no count published | Databases sold separately through openLCA Nexus; no count published | 36,000+ processes, 100,000+ materials, 140+ sources | Plant and ERP data with background datasets; no count published | Not disclosed |
| Region | Global, 170+ countries | Global | Global | Europe | Global | Global | Europe and some global coverage | North America primary, 19+ countries |
One Click LCA is the world’s largest life cycle assessment platform, with 500,000+ LCA datasets, 140+ standards and methods, 20+ integrations, and users in 170+ countries. For manufacturers, it runs the EPD Generator and the Pre-Verified EPD Generator, which carry product data through modeling, compliant reporting, verification, and publishing in one guided workflow, without an in-house LCA team. Templates cover 22 product categories aligned to EN 15804+A2 and ISO 21930, from cement and concrete to facades, HVAC, and flooring.
Best for: construction product, MEP, and infrastructure manufacturers who need verified EPDs at portfolio scale, seen by specifiers.
Consider: for peer-reviewed academic studies or fully flexible process-level modeling, SimaPro and openLCA give more granular control.
SimaPro has been the reference tool for science-based, industry-agnostic LCA modeling for more than 35 years, and became part of One Click LCA in September 2025. Both products continue separately. With both Cloud and Desktop software versions, it serves chemicals, food, apparel, medical, and technology rather than construction, with 250,000+ datasets, around 40 impact assessment methods, and EN 15804+A2 indicators available through a dedicated ecoinvent add-on.
Best for: practitioners running comparative, peer-reviewed, or methodologically demanding studies in any sector.
Consider: SimaPro calculates results. It does not publish or verify EPDs directly.
Sphera renamed GaBi to LCA for Experts. It targets chemicals, automotive, electronics, and packaging, backed by Managed LCA Content with more than 20,000 DEKRA-verified datasets and around 1,000 pre-built models, alongside LCA Automation and a calculator for non-experts.
Best for: enterprise teams modeling industrial supply chains.
Consider: Sphera's LCA software product pages list ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 as supported standards and, as of September 2026, do not list EN 15804+A2 or any program operators. EN 15804 datasets and methods are available in LCA for Experts, but EPD verification and publishing are handled through Sphera's consulting services rather than in the software.
Ecochain consolidated its former Mobius and Helix products into one platform for manufacturers, stating ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14067, and EN 15804+A2 compliance. It publishes through NMD, MRPI, EPD Global, EPD International, and IBU, and reports 450+ manufacturers.
Best for: European manufacturers producing high EPD volumes from a small number of plants.
Consider: its headline claim of 50 euros per EPD at scale is a software cost on higher tiers, with EPD generation sold as an add-on, and it advertises no AI features.
openLCA, from GreenDelta, is free and open source, and it ships 43 impact assessment methods with some free databases and others sold separately through openLCA Nexus.
Best for: research teams, consultancies, and manufacturers with in-house LCA expertise and no software budget.
Consider: the license is free, but total cost is not. Specific databases, expertise, and verification are separate, and EPD generation with a pre-verification option sits in GreenDelta’s companion onlineLCA tool rather than in openLCA itself.
Makersite models large bills of materials with AI, integrates with PTC Windchill and other third-party software, and acquired Siemens' SiGREEN platform effective June 2026, since renamed Mattermaps. It reports 36,000+ industrial processes and 100,000+ materials drawn from 140+ sources.
Best for: electronics, automotive, and industrial manufacturers with mature PLM data.
Consider: construction products are not a primary focus, it names ISO standards, including ISO 21930, but not EN 15804+A2. Makersite states it can “generate pre-verified EPDs ready to be published”, but it does not claim to issue, publish, or register EPDs itself, and it states no program operator relationship.
Emidat, based in Munich, positions itself as an AI-ready product information platform for construction and building material manufacturers, turning product and environmental data into EPDs, LCAs, and Digital Product Passports across 10+ product categories. It states EN 15804+A2, ISO 14040, ISO 14044, and ISO 14025 compliance, and reports 200+ customers.
Best for: manufacturers who want environmental data structured alongside the rest of their product data.
Consider: Emidat sits upstream of publication and does not publicly name the operators it works with, so confirm the verification route directly.
Climate Earth is a concrete specialist rather than a general product LCA tool. Its Ready Mix Platform generates plant-specific and mix-specific EPDs from batch and quality control data, and the company reports more than 100,000 EPDs generated. It states ISO 14025, ISO 21930, EN 15804+A2, and ACI 323, names NRMCA, IBU, ASTM, Kiwa, and Smart EPD among its verification partners, and manages the verification and publication process.
Best for: ready-mix producers and concrete manufacturers issuing mix-specific EPDs at plant scale.
Consider: coverage stops at the concrete and cement value chain, and Climate Earth publishes no background database or dataset counts, so ask what its LCA data rests on.
Manufacturers rarely stall on EPDs because the standards are unclear. They fall behind because the work is manual, the data sits in a dozen places, and the cost per EPD does not scale past a few flagship products. One Click LCA's EPD Generator takes product data through modeling, compliant reporting, verification, and publishing in one workflow, across all product categories, without hiring an LCA team.
A six-step workflow handles project setup, data mapping, life cycle modeling, hotspot analysis, EPD generation, and verification preparation, so one person can run a program that used to take a consultant per product. Templates cover 22 product categories aligned to EN 15804+A2 and ISO 21930, so most of the modeling is finished before you start.
Blue Marble condensed 5,500 components into five EPDs, and Glob-el covered 417 products with a single Sustainability Manager, meeting direct EPD requests from eight customers. Direct integration with EPD Hub brings verification down to as little as two weeks, and published EPDs stay in one place to update rather than being rebuilt each time a product changes.
Supplier data rarely arrives clean, and chasing it is where manufacturers lose most of their time. One Click LCA's AI-assisted tools take that work out of the critical path:
AI-assisted report drafting then pre-fills EPD descriptions from project data and modeling assumptions, leaving you the final wording. None of this replaces your judgment; it removes the slow manual work. Bills of materials transfer by spreadsheet or API, and 20+ integrations connect One Click LCA to the design tools you already run, so EPD work fits your systems rather than running beside them.
An EPD pays back when a specifier finds it and selects your product. Manufacturer Pages place your products in Materials Compass, a database of 500,000+ LCA datasets used by teams at Skanska, AECOM, WSP, and Foster + Partners. You control the page: brand visuals, EPD, carbon footprint, and TM65 sheets, technical datasheets, a "verified by manufacturer" badge, and a contact form that sends enquiries straight to your sales team.
EPD Usage Analytics show which products get viewed, where demand sits, and which EPDs approach expiry. In the 2026 Carbon Experts Report, 90% of AEC professionals said they prefer products with EPDs, and 65% require them for all or most projects.
One Click LCA publishes this comparison and is one of the eight tools in it. SimaPro is also part of the One Click LCA group. This is not a ranking and the tools are listed in no particular order. Every entry uses the same criteria: product focus, supported standards, database scope, verification and publishing route, automation, integrations, and regional strength. Competitor information comes from public vendor documentation reviewed in September 2026.
EPD software calculates a product's life cycle impacts against the relevant product category rules and generates a declaration that an independent third party can verify. LCA software calculates the impacts; EPD software adds product category rule compliance, the verification workflow, and publishing through a program operator.
Yes. Pre-verified tools let in-house teams produce compliant EPDs without external LCA support, because a program operator has already approved the calculation method and background data. One Click LCA's Pre-verified EPD Generator works this way. Independent third-party verification stays mandatory whichever tool you use.
openLCA is free and open source, but commercial databases, in-house expertise, and third-party verification are not, so a free license lowers software spend rather than total cost. Compare the cost per published EPD instead. One Click LCA combines data, automation, and publishing into a single route.
Five years under ISO 14025 and EN 15804, after which the EPD needs updating and re-verification. Material changes to the product or its manufacturing process require an earlier update. One Click LCA's EPD Usage Analytics flags products approaching expiry, so renewals do not lapse unnoticed.
A pre-verified tool is one whose calculation method and background data a program operator has already approved, so verification covers only your product-specific inputs and assumptions. One Click LCA's Pre-verified EPD Generator publishes through eight program operators, including EPD Hub and the International EPD System.
EPDs are not mandatory, but they align with the same standards as the CPR. Regulation (EU) 2024/3110 requires environmental sustainability information in the declaration of performance, phased in one product family at a time as each harmonized technical specification takes effect, starting with precast concrete, structural metals, and cement. One Click LCA generates EPDs aligned to it.
A traditional single EPD runs to tens of thousands of euros once LCA work, third-party verification, and program operator fees are counted. One Click LCA cuts the cost per EPD through pre-verification and batch publishing across a portfolio, which is why cost per EPD, not license price, is the number to compare.