Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

An Environmental Product Declaration, or Type III environmental declaration, is a standardized and independently verified report that quantifies and communicates a product’s environmental impacts across its life cycle, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

Our EPD Services

EPD DEVELOPMENT

As experts in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Build Neutral evaluates your product’s environmental impacts, identifies opportunities for improvement, and ensures it remains at the forefront of low-impact manufacturing. We also guide you through the EPD process, from selecting the right program operator and applying the applicable PCR to coordinating verification, ensuring a smooth and transparent experience.

EPD VERIFICATION

Already in the process of developing your EPD?

Build Neutral provides independent EPD verification to ensure your declarations are credible, transparent, and compliant with international standards. As an accredited verifier with the CSA Group, we bring recognized authority and expertise to the review process, confirming that your EPD is accurate, consistent, and ready for publication with confidence.

PCR DEVELOPMENT

Build Neutral supports the development of Product Category Rules (PCRs), which provide the framework for creating transparent and comparable EPDs. Our expertise in LCA and standardization ensures that PCRs are scientifically robust, aligned with international requirements, and practical for industry use, helping stakeholders establish clear rules for credible product assessments.

What is an EPD and How Does it Work?

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is like a nutrition label for a product’s environmental footprint. It communicates verified life cycle data in a standardized, transparent format.

EPDs are developed and verified according to international standards, including ISO 14025 and, for construction products, ISO 21930, along with the rules set by program operators.

Program operators are organizations, trade associations, or agencies that manage EPD programs. They establish product-specific rules, oversee registration, maintain EPD libraries, and certify the competence of independent verifiers.

In Canada, the CSA Group operates an accredited EPD Program. Dr. Shiva Zargar of Build Neutral is an accredited EPD Verifier with CSA, the first in the Province of Alberta.

The Path to a Published EPD

Step 1. Identify Program Operator and Product Category Rule (PCR)

The process begins by selecting the right Program Operator (the body that manages EPD programs) and the applicable PCRs. PCRs define how LCAs should be performed for a specific product type, ensuring your EPD is comparable to others in the same category.

Step 2. Conduct Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

An LCA is carried out to measure your product’s environmental impacts across its life cycle. This includes energy and material inputs, emissions, waste, and other relevant factors, following the rules set by the PCR.

Step 3. Develop the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

The LCA results combined with PCR requirements are organized into a standardized EPD format. This document summarizes your product’s environmental profile in a clear, transparent way, similar to a “nutrition label” for sustainability.

Step 4. Verify the EPD

The draft EPD undergoes independent third-party verification to ensure the data, methods, and reporting meet ISO standards and program operator requirements. Verification confirms that the declaration is accurate, credible, and defensible.

Step 5. Register and Publish the EPD

Once verified, the EPD is ready to be registered with the chosen program operator and published in their database. This makes the EPD publicly available, giving your product recognized, transparent sustainability credentials in the marketplace.

Why Develop an EPD?

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are becoming essential across North America as governments, industry standards, and green building programs demand greater transparency in construction materials. They are now a cornerstone of procurement, compliance, and design decisions in both Canada and the U.S. Having an EPD can set your product apart from competitors who have not yet invested in one.

While EPDs are most visible in the construction sector, they are valuable in many other industries. Because Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a flexible methodology, the greenhouse gas (GHG) indicators it uses apply consistently to any product or process.

Both government and industry are moving toward a dual approach: simplified assessments at the pre-design stage, and more detailed assessments for as-built projects. These are increasingly tied to certification and procurement requirements.

Some key examples of where EPDs are being referenced today:

  • National Research Council Canada (NRC): The Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (wbLCA) Guidelines highlight EPDs as a reliable source of data for calculating environmental impacts, including life cycle flows and bills of materials. The guidelines identify two common data sources for building assessments: LCA databases and EPDs.

  • Government of Canada: The Standard on Embodied Carbon in Construction sets minimum requirements for federal procurement of design and construction services. Section 3.2.3.2 requires disclosure of the embodied carbon footprint of structural materials, measured as global warming potential (GWP), using EPDs. If no EPD is available, an ISO-compliant LCA report reviewed by a qualified verifier may be accepted.

  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE): The Prestandard for Assessing the Embodied Carbon of Structural Systems for Buildings — expected to see wide adoption — establishes that for Tier 3 (as-built) reporting, product-specific EPDs are the only acceptable source of carbon data.