What Is an EPD — And Why Architects Are Starting to Specify It Like a Product Feature
The Document Sitting Between Your Product and the Specification
Something has quietly shifted in how architects evaluate building products.
It used to be enough to show up with a good product, a solid technical data sheet, and a rep who knew the project. That still matters. But an increasing number of architects, particularly those working on commercial projects, LEED-certified buildings, and publicly funded work, are now asking a question your sales team may not be prepared for: “Do you have an EPD?”
If your answer is no, or if your team doesn’t know what an EPD is, you may already be losing specification opportunities to competitors who do.
This post explains exactly what an Environmental Product Declaration is, why architects are starting to require them, how they connect directly to the specification process, and what building product manufacturers need to know to stay competitive in a market where material transparency is no longer optional.
What Is an EPD?
An Environmental Product Declaration — EPD — is a standardized, type III, third-party verified document that transparently reports the environmental impact of a product across its entire life cycle. Raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, installation, use, and end-of-life disposal — all of it quantified, verified, and published in a consistent format that allows architects to compare your product against alternatives on an apples-to-apples basis.
EPDs function like nutrition labels for building products. They provide standardized information about a product’s environmental footprint, giving architects, engineers, and contractors critical data to evaluate sustainability during the design and build phases.
The key word is standardized. An EPD is not a marketing brochure. It is not a self-declared sustainability claim. Unlike self-declared environmental claims, an EPD is grounded in verified data on the environmental performance of a product across relevant life-cycle stages. That verification is what gives it credibility with specifiers who have learned to be skeptical of green marketing language that cannot be substantiated.
What Goes Into an EPD
Every EPD is built on a Life Cycle Assessment — an LCA — which is a systematic analysis of a product’s environmental impacts from beginning to end of life. To create an EPD there are five main steps: collect raw material, resource consumption, and waste data for your product; conduct a life cycle assessment; prepare a background report; have the EPD independently verified; and publish it through a recognized program operator.
The EPD itself reports data across several environmental impact categories including global warming potential — the embodied carbon number architects care most about — as well as energy use, water consumption, waste generation, and other relevant factors.
EPDs follow international standards such as ISO 14025, and EN 15804 to ensure consistency and comparability across industries. The process can take anywhere between three to twelve months and costs for verification can be thousands of dollars per EPD, not including renewal every five years.
That investment starts at $15k for a single product. It is also increasingly unavoidable for manufacturers who want to compete for specification on commercial and institutional projects.
Why Architects Are Asking for EPDs
The demand for EPDs is not coming from environmental idealism alone. It is being driven by three converging forces that are reshaping how building products get specified.
LEED and green building certification requirements
EPDs contribute towards buildings under LEED v5, and other procurement systems. Having an EPD can help a manufacturer gain brand recognition with designers and architects who specify products.
When an architect is working on a project, brands with EPDs often move to the front of the list. Products without them may not be considered at all — not because the architect prefers them, but because the brand has followed a known ISO framework for establishing environmental claims.
Embodied carbon reduction pressure
The construction industry produces about 40% of global carbon emissions. Building owners and developers now demand proof that materials are sustainable. EPDs provide that proof with verified environmental data.
Owners — particularly corporate owners with ESG commitments, institutional clients, and government agencies — are increasingly requiring architects to document the embodied carbon of the materials they specify. Without an EPD your product has no verifiable carbon number. Without a carbon number it cannot be meaningfully compared. Without comparison it gets passed over.
How EPDs Connect to the Specification
This is the part most manufacturer marketing teams miss, and it is the part that matters most for getting your product specified.
An EPD doesn’t just help you respond to a sustainability question during a sales call. It becomes part of the specification itself.
Individual specification sections: the flooring section, the roofing section, the wall assembly section — are not the right place to document project-wide sustainability requirements. Embedding EPD language into individual product sections creates inconsistency, redundancy, and coordination problems across an entire project manual. When sustainability requirements are scattered through dozens of individual sections, contractors miss them, submittals get skipped, and the documentation falls apart in the field.
The right place for sustainability requirements is a dedicated project-level sustainability section. A single document that establishes the project’s environmental goals, material transparency requirements, EPD submittal requirements, and green certification commitments in one place. Every trade contractor and every product supplier on the project reads that section and understands what is required of them before a single product-specific section is opened.
When a project uses this structure and an increasing number of commercial, LEED, and institutional projects do the sustainability section is where your EPD gets called for. The product-specific section names your product. The sustainability section defines what documentation your product needs to provide. Both documents have to be satisfied for your product to be installed.
Many architects and contractors are now expected to account for environmental performance in client proposals. Whether or not a client demands EPDs specifically, including them in the specification process can serve as evidence of thoughtful design, compliance with ESG frameworks, and support for green certifications.
The Competitive Reality for Manufacturers Without EPDs
Not every building product comes with an EPD. Many manufacturers don’t publish them at all — sometimes due to proprietary ingredients, complex product composition, or lack of internal expertise in lifecycle assessments.
That gap is a competitive opportunity for manufacturers who move first and a growing liability for those who don’t.
Here is what the specification landscape looks like from an architect’s desk right now:
Two products. Similar performance. Similar price. One has a published, third-party verified EPD with a documented global warming potential number. The other has a sustainability page on its website with general language about environmental commitment.
On a standard project the choice may come down to rep relationships and product performance. On a LEED project, a publicly bid project with Buy Clean requirements, or a project for a corporate owner with a net-zero commitment — the choice is made before the sales call happens. The product with the EPD is specified. The other one isn’t considered.
Because of the increase in published EPDs it now matters more about what is on them, whereas it was previously enough to simply have an EPD. Companies use them as a way to gain a competitive edge.
The market has moved from “do you have an EPD” to “what does your EPD say.” Manufacturers who acted early have EPDs. The next competitive advantage belongs to manufacturers whose EPD numbers are better than the industry average.
What Material Transparency Means Beyond the EPD
An EPD is the most recognized material transparency tool in the specification world, but it is not the only one. Architects specifying for health and sustainability are increasingly looking for a broader picture of what a product is made of and how it performs environmentally.
Health Product Declarations (HPDs) disclose the chemical ingredients in a product and their associated health hazards — the material transparency equivalent of an EPD for human health rather than environmental impact.
Declare Labels — from the International Living Future Institute — identify whether a product contains any Red List chemicals considered harmful to human health and the environment.
Each of these documents can appear as a submittal requirement in a project’s sustainability section. Each one represents a specification gate your product either passes through or doesn’t.
Manufacturers contributing to LEED projects, Living Building Challenge projects, and high-performance commercial buildings increasingly have all of these documents ready to provide — because the architects specifying those projects are asking for them.
How SpecsMadeSimple Addresses Sustainability in Specifications
Individual specification sections are not the right place to document project-wide sustainability requirements. Embedding EPD language into a flooring section or a roofing section creates inconsistency, redundancy, and coordination problems across a project manual.
The right place for sustainability requirements is a dedicated sustainability section — a single document that establishes the project’s environmental goals, material transparency requirements, EPD submittal requirements, and green certification commitments in one place. Every trade contractor and every product supplier on the project reads that section and understands what is required of them before a single product-specific section is opened.
That is exactly what SpecsMadeSimple offers.
Our sustainability section gives architects a professionally written, project-level framework for documenting EPD requirements, material transparency standards, LEED documentation requirements, and embodied carbon goals — without scattering that language inconsistently across dozens of individual product sections.
For building product manufacturers, this matters for one specific reason: when an architect uses a SpecsMadeSimple project manual, the sustainability requirements are clearly documented in a dedicated section your product will need to meet. Having your EPD ready — and knowing how to provide it as a submittal — is what keeps your product in consideration when that section gets issued.
Learn how SpecsMadeSimple works for manufacturers →
Frequently Asked Questions
What does EPD stand for in construction? EPD stands for Environmental Product Declaration. It is a standardized, third-party verified document that reports the environmental impact of a building product across its entire life cycle — from raw material extraction through manufacturing, use, and end-of-life disposal.
Do architects require EPDs when specifying products? Increasingly yes — particularly on LEED-certified projects, publicly bid projects using state requirements like California’s Buy Clean Act, and projects for owners with ESG or embodied carbon commitments. EPD requirements typically appear in a project-level sustainability specification section, meaning products without EPDs cannot be installed on those projects regardless of other qualifications.
What is the difference between an EPD and a sustainability claim? A sustainability claim is self-declared marketing language. An EPD is a third-party verified document based on a life cycle assessment conducted according to international standards, including ISO 14025. Architects and specifiers treat them very differently. One is a marketing statement, the other is a verifiable technical document.
How long does it take to get an EPD? The process typically takes three to twelve months from the start of the life cycle assessment to the publication of the verified EPD. EPDs are generally valid for five years before requiring renewal.
What is a Product Category Rule (PCR) and why does it matter? A PCR defines how the life cycle assessment is conducted for a specific product category — what data is collected, what system boundaries apply, and what environmental impact categories are reported. PCRs ensure that EPDs for similar products are comparable to each other. Your EPD must follow the applicable PCR for your product category to be accepted for LEED credits and other green building certifications.
What is the difference between an EPD and an HPD? An EPD — Environmental Product Declaration — reports the environmental impact of a product including global warming potential and other lifecycle impacts. An HPD — Health Product Declaration — reports the chemical ingredients in a product and their associated health hazards. Both can appear as requirements in a project sustainability section. They address different aspects of material transparency and are often both required on high-performance projects.
Where do EPD requirements appear in a project specification? EPD requirements belong in a dedicated project-level sustainability section, not scattered through individual product sections. This is where architects establish material transparency requirements, green certification commitments, and EPD submittal standards that apply across the entire project. Individual product sections reference what is specified. The sustainability section defines what documentation every specified product must provide.
If my product doesn’t have an EPD can it still be specified? Yes — on projects without EPD requirements. On LEED projects, publicly bid projects with Buy Clean requirements, or projects for owners with documented sustainability commitments, products without EPDs may be excluded from consideration regardless of performance or pricing. The portion of the market requiring EPDs is growing year over year.
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