EPD Verification

What is an Environmental Product Declaration?

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardised set of verified environmental information about a product (a good or a service). This information relates to the product’s environmental impacts and other environmental aspects within the defined stages of its life cycle. It may include, for example, information on energy and water consumption, waste generation, contribution to climate change, eutrophication or ozone depletion.

The environmental information presented in an EPD is determined on the basis of a life cycle assessment (LCA) carried out in accordance with EN ISO 14040 and EN ISO 14044, and may be supplemented with further relevant data specified by the rules applicable to the given product category. An EPD is a publicly available document, and the information it contains is subject to a defined verification process.

An EPD is therefore a transparent, standardised declaration of environmental information about a product. It is not, however, a product certificate, nor a general confirmation that the product is “environmentally friendly”.

How an EPD is developed and verified

The process of developing, verifying and publishing an EPD is based primarily on the requirements of the international standard ISO 14025 and on the rules of the specific EPD programme. The EPD itself is prepared in accordance with Product Category Rules (PCR), which lay down the methodological rules for assessing and reporting environmental information for the given product category. For construction products – and other products that may be used in construction – the standard EN 15804+A2 provides an important methodological basis; however, the requirements of the specific EPD programme and the applicable PCR are always decisive.

An EPD intended for publication must undergo independent third-party verification before it is published. The purpose of this verification is to assess the conformity of the EPD with the applicable rules, in particular the requirements of ISO 14025, the relevant PCR and the rules of the given EPD programme. This obligation does not apply to EPDs intended solely for the exchange of information between business partners (B2B).

Once successfully verified, an EPD may be published and registered in the database of the relevant programme in accordance with its rules. The specific conditions for registration and for the use of a programme’s mark or logo may differ from one programme to another. In the Czech Republic, verified EPDs are registered by the Ministry of the Environment, which is usually more economical for applicants; EPDs may also be registered in international programmes (e.g. The International EPD System).

Publicly available EPD databases thus provide standardised, independently verified environmental information about products. EPDs can serve as a basis for decision-making in environmental management and in the sustainable design and procurement of construction works and other products. When comparing different EPDs, however, the comparability of the data must be ensured, in particular as regards the functional or declared unit, the system boundaries, the methodological approaches used and the applicable product category rules.