Introduction.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are often conceived of as a mere formality, that is, as a technical document required in a tender that is drawn up, registered and filed away. This approach fails to make the most of the vast majority of their value.
A verified EPD is a high-performance asset which, when properly utilised, will contribute to the achievement of business objectives, the implementation of accurate ecodesign measures and the optimisation of the company's resource management.
In this article we examine the different value dimensions of an EPD and describe how to turn a compliance document into a business, eco-design and physical resource management tool for the company.
Credibility as a condition of value.
EPDs communicate a product's environmental performance values throughout its life cycle, verified by an independent entity and published within the framework of an internationally recognised programme, enabling public scrutiny and comparison on an equal footing.
Independent verification is the condition that distinguishes an EPD from a self-declaration. The proliferation of rapid embodied carbon calculators has introduced figures to the market that, without verified data to support them, do not withstand rigorous scrutiny. A declaration that has not been reviewed by an accredited verifier has diminished value in the marketplace and may expose the organisation to a risk of greenwashing.
The credibility provided by independent verification is what allows specifiers, clients and regulators to accept the declared data without reservation, or with minimal reservation.
The commercial value of PrEP and PEP.
In a growing number of construction and infrastructure projects, the availability of an EPD constitutes a condition of access: without it, the product may be excluded from the tender. A verified declaration turns that requirement into an advantage by providing commercial teams with verified evidence and helping clients obtain credits in building certification systems (Breeam, Leed, Verde, etc.).
Another decisive mechanism also operates: default data displacement. When a specifier uses a carbon calculation tool for a work or building and the product lacks verified proprietary data, the tool applies conservative default values that penalise its embodied carbon. An EPD ensures the use of the product's actual figures — frequently more favourable ones — which improves its relative standing.
This latter point is evident in the drafting of the project to amend the Technical Building Code (CTE), within the regulatory framework of the EPDB, which contemplates the penalisation of non-specific product carbon footprint data compared to specific values as set out, for example, in EPDs.
In addition to the demands of projects with Breeam, Leed, Verde or similar certification and the considerations of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), there is a clear market preference for products that feature verified environmental information and products with a lower impact.
This is why companies that have an individual EPD for their products are in a more advantageous market position than those that do not.
EPD and ecodesign: objective information for the R&D team.
Beyond its commercial function, an EPD serves as a diagnostic tool for the environmental design of the product. By being based on a life cycle assessment, it breaks down impacts by stage—production, transport, use and end-of-life—and by indicators such as global warming potential or primary energy consumption. This breakdown makes it possible to identify the product's hotspots, such as whether the greatest contribution lies in the extraction of a specific raw material or in energy consumption during the manufacturing stage.
With this diagnosis, the design team can prioritise actions where they truly reduce impact, such as substituting a material, redesigning to facilitate disassembly or optimising the packaging system, rather than where it is irrelevant.
When recalculating the EPD following the modifications, the improvements in the environmental indicators can be verified and the progress of the product's environmental performance measured. This provides a high degree of certainty for the product design and R&D teams, who have a tool to measure and report with confidence the performance and success of the actions implemented.
LCA and improvement of management processes.
A substantial part of the value of an EPD lies in the LCA preparation process, which requires the collection and refinement of data from across the entire value chain. The development of LCAs can facilitate the identification of areas for improvement in industrial processes, as well as in environmental and even economic data capture and management processes.
Furthermore, the hotspot analysis that takes place during the LCA will aid dialogue on very specific issues with suppliers and provide additional, highly valuable sustainability indicators, such as the use of renewable energy, the use of secondary materials or the use of freshwater throughout the product's life cycle.
The creation of an EPD also produces a knock-on effect along the value chain. Requesting environmental data from suppliers encourages them to develop their own declarations, which improves the quality of the information available and contributes to decarbonisation as a whole.
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