EPD certification

As part of the conformity assessment against the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products (ESPR) – which on 18 July 2024 replaced the previous Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC (and the original Directive 2005/32/EC) – the environmental impacts of specific electrotechnical, mechanical engineering and construction products are also assessed in the form of an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) in accordance with ISO 14025, alongside the assessment of environmental management systems according to EN ISO 14001:2015 (as amended by A1:2024) and the validation of the EMAS environmental statement under Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as amended.

What is an Environmental Product Declaration?

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a set of measurable information about the environmental impact of a product (goods or a service) throughout its entire life cycle (e.g. energy and water consumption, waste generation, impact on climate change, eutrophication, ozone layer depletion, etc.). This information is determined using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method in accordance with the standards EN ISO 14040 and EN ISO 14044, and may be supplemented by further data considered relevant. The EPD document must be publicly accessible and the data it contains must be verifiable. It is therefore a detailed record of a product’s impact on the environment.

The entire process – from preparing the EPD through its verification to its registration – is defined by the international standard ISO 14025. The EPD itself is developed on the basis of so-called Product Category Rules (PCR); for construction products, the European standard EN 15804+A2 applies.

A completed Environmental Product Declaration must also undergo independent verification confirming that its content and format comply with the applicable methodology. It can then be officially registered in one of the EPD programmes (e.g. the international programme The International EPD System), with the right to use the relevant EPD logo, and is listed in a publicly accessible online database, which thus serves as a source of scientifically verified information on the environmental impacts of products and makes it possible to compare them with one another.