What Is an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)?

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardized document, developed under internationally recognized rules and verified in accordance with ISO 14025, that reports the environmental impacts associated with a specific product.

In the concrete and construction industry, EPDs are used to disclose quantified environmental data derived from a life cycle assessment (LCA) in a consistent, transparent format. They are not claims of environmental performance, and they do not rank or score products. Instead, they provide structured environmental information that can be interpreted within a defined context.

As building owners, designers, and specifiers increasingly incorporate environmental considerations into procurement and compliance processes, concrete EPDs help bring structure and discipline to environmental disclosures. Given the complexity of concrete production—including material sourcing, mix design, and regional variation—standardization supports informed interpretation, while meaningful comparison requires careful attention to scope, assumptions, and boundaries.

EPDs and Standards

EPDs are developed in accordance with international standards such as ISO 14025, which defines the principles for Type III environmental declarations—independently verified, LCA-based environmental disclosures—and ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, which establish the methodology for LCA.

In practice, these standards are applied through product category rules (PCRs) that specify how EPDs must be prepared for particular product groups, including concrete. PCRs define elements such as system boundaries, declared units, and reporting requirements, and they may vary by region or program operator.

In the United States, industry organizations such as the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) help facilitate access to EPDs by supporting the development and use of industry-aligned PCRs and EPD programs. While these organizations do not evaluate environmental performance, they play a coordinating role by helping ensure that EPDs are produced using recognized standards and interpretable within a common framework.

What an EPD Is — and What It Is Not

An EPD is not a performance certification, an environmental rating, or a determination of whether a product is appropriate for a specific project. It does not define “good” or “bad” products, nor does it account for project-specific design, durability, or constructability requirements for concrete and construction contexts.

An EPD is a standardized, verified disclosure of quantified environmental data derived from a LCA and reported under defined rules. It provides environmental information in a consistent format so that it can be understood alongside other technical and project constraints.

This distinction matters.

EPDs communicate what was measured, how it was measured, and under what assumptions. They do not prescribe decisions. Any comparison or application beyond disclosure requires careful attention to context, scope, and limitations.

To understand how EPDs are interpreted in use, it helps to look at how they are structured.

Structure and Interpretation of a Concrete EPD

While formats vary by program operator and PCR, EPDs—and concrete EPDs in particular—follow a common structure designed to make environmental data transparent and interpretable within defined limits. Rather than presenting a single headline number, an EPD documents the scope, assumptions, and calculation basis that shape the reported results.

Understanding how declared units, system boundaries, and environmental indicators are defined is essential to interpreting EPD data correctly and avoiding inappropriate comparisons.

Declared Unit (or Functional Unit)

The declared unit specifies the quantity and quality of product to which environmental impacts are attributed—commonly one cubic meter of concrete meeting defined performance criteria. All reported environmental impacts in the EPD are normalized to this unit.

Because concrete mixes vary in strength, durability, and composition, consistency in declared units is a prerequisite for interpretation and a necessary—but not sufficient—condition for comparison.

System Boundaries

System boundaries define which life cycle stages are included in the EPD. In concrete EPDs, this commonly includes raw material extraction, material processing, transportation, and concrete production.

The specific life cycle stages reported vary by region and PCR. Some EPDs report cradle-to-gate (material extraction and processing through product manufacture) impacts only, while others also include installation, use-phase, end-of-life, or additional modules.

Understanding which stages are included—and which are excluded—is critical.

Applying EPD results beyond their defined boundaries, such as using product-level data to draw conclusions about whole-building performance, can lead to misleading interpretations.

Environmental Impact Indicators

Concrete EPDs report multiple environmental impact indicators rather than a single composite score. While reported categories vary by PCR and program operator, commonly included indicators are:

• Global Warming Potential (GWP), expressed as kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (kg CO₂-eq)
• Primary energy demand
• Water use
• Resource depletion

These indicators describe specific types of environmental impact under defined assumptions. They do not represent a complete measure of sustainability, nor do they account for structural performance, durability, or service life.

Reliability, Scope, and Limits of Concrete EPDs

Interpreting EPD results requires understanding both how the data was generated and what the document is designed—and not designed—to represent. Data transparency, third-party verification, and clearly defined limitations all shape how EPDs should be used in use. While these considerations apply to EPDs broadly, they are especially relevant for concrete.

Data Quality and Transparency

EPDs disclose information about data sources, data age, and assumptions. This transparency allows readers to distinguish between different types of data, such as:

• Facility-specific vs generic
• Recent vs historical
• Measured vs estimated

These distinctions are essential for interpretation. EPDs make assumptions visible, but they do not judge their appropriateness for a given application.

Verification and Credibility

EPDs undergo third-party verification to confirm compliance with applicable standards and PCRs. Verification evaluates whether methods were applied correctly, data was handled according to defined rules, and documentation meets reporting requirements.

Verification does not assess environmental performance, determine fitness for purpose, or guarantee accuracy under all conditions.

It confirms methodological consistency—not superiority.

Limitations of Concrete EPDs

EPDs are intentionally limited in scope. They do not:

• Represent entire building life cycles
• Measure durability, constructability, or in-use performance
• Eliminate regional variation in materials or production practices
• Reflect project-specific design or execution conditions

In concrete, where mix design, sourcing, and operations vary widely, these limitations mean EPDs should be used as disclosure tools—not as standalone decision-makers.

EPDs vs LCAs

EPDs and LCAs are related but definitionally distinct tools:

• LCA is a methodological tool used to quantify environmental impacts across defined stages of a product’s life cycle. LCAs can be tailored to address specific questions, compare design options, or evaluate hypothetical scenarios.
• An EPD incorporates LCA results into a standardized reporting format governed by defined rules. Not all LCAs are suitable for publication as EPDs, and not all LCA results can be directly compared across products.

In practice, LCAs are analytical tools used for exploration and optimization, while EPDs are disclosure tools designed to communicate environmental data consistently within a prescribed scope.

Role of EPD Software

Developing an EPD—particularly for products with high variability, such as concrete—requires managing large volumes of data and applying standardized calculation and reporting rules. In concrete, mix designs are frequently adjusted in response to material availability, performance requirements, cost pressures, or the introduction of new supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and admixtures. These changes can affect environmental impact results and, in some cases, require updates to published EPDs.

To support this process, many producers and consultants use EPD software to organize inputs, apply applicable PCR requirements, and generate EPD outputs in compliant formats across multiple products, plants, or scenarios.

EPD software can improve efficiency and reduce the risk of manual errors, particularly when managing plant-specific data and repeated updates over time. However, software does not determine the quality of an EPD. The reliability of the results still depends on the accuracy of the underlying data, the appropriateness of assumptions, and adherence to applicable standards and verification requirements.

EPDs in Construction Practice

EPDs play a practical role in the construction industry by providing a common, standardized format for environmental disclosure. For architects, engineers, public agencies, owners, and producers, EPDs supply consistent data that can be referenced in sustainability reporting, procurement processes, regulatory compliance, and green building programs.

In many project contexts, the presence of an EPD is a prerequisite rather than a differentiator. Some green building certification systems reference EPDs as part of documentation or credit frameworks, but an EPD alone does not guarantee certification or indicate environmental superiority. It enables projects to document environmental impacts in a structured, auditable way.

For producers, developing a concrete EPD is often necessary to participate in public infrastructure, institutional, or sustainability-driven projects. For specifiers and owners, EPDs support informed decision-making when used alongside performance requirements, cost considerations, durability criteria, and constructability constraints.

Understanding what an EPD is—and what it is not—helps stakeholders use EPDs as intended: as transparent disclosures of environmental data that support broader project evaluation and compliance, rather than as standalone indicators of sustainability or performance.

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