CLIMATE ACCOUNTING
An Environmental Product Declaration is the verified, publicly registered document that communicates a product's environmental performance across its full lifecycle — built on an ISO 14040/44-compliant LCA, critically reviewed by an independent third party, and registered with a recognized EPD program operator. EPDs are the product environmental document that construction specifiers, infrastructure procurement authorities, and green building certification schemes — including BREEAM, LEED, and DGNB — reference when evaluating and specifying products. For manufacturers supplying these markets, an EPD is not a sustainability credential. It is a tender qualification document.
Semtrio manages the full EPD development process — from LCA execution and critical review coordination through to EPD program operator submission and publication — producing declarations that satisfy the technical requirements of the most demanding specifier and procurement frameworks.
BREEAM, LEED, DGNB, and other major green building schemes award credits for the use of products with verified EPDs — and the weighting of these credits is increasing in newer versions of each scheme. For manufacturers supplying construction, fit-out, and infrastructure markets, the absence of an EPD increasingly disqualifies products from projects where specifiers are targeting certification. An EPD is not a differentiator in these contexts — it is a prerequisite.
EU Green Public Procurement criteria for construction products increasingly specify EPD as a requirement for product environmental qualification. The EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is establishing mandatory product environmental performance requirements for an expanding list of categories — with EPD-aligned declarations at the centre of how manufacturers demonstrate compliance. The construction products sector is among the first to face these requirements.
EPDs produced under the same Product Category Rules are directly comparable — buyers can evaluate two competing products' full lifecycle environmental performance side by side. For manufacturers with strong environmental performance, an EPD is a competitive asset that turns environmental data into a procurement advantage. For manufacturers with average or poor performance, the absence of an EPD means buyers will default to competitors who have one.
EPD quality is not uniform. An EPD produced using a generic system boundary, without compliance with the applicable Product Category Rules, or with primary data gaps filled by conservative defaults, will produce a result that may be technically published but commercially unusable — failing the scrutiny of independent technical reviewers on major projects, or producing environmental performance figures that compare unfavourably against a competitor's more carefully calculated EPD.
Semtrio's EPD development is built on the LCA and PCR depth that distinguishes a credible EPD from a published but weak one. As a PCR developer on the International EPD System, we author and apply the rules that define EPD methodology for specific product categories. Our LCA studies are designed specifically for EPD program operator verification — with the system boundary, data quality, and allocation methodology that critical reviewers expect and that support the most favourable defensible environmental performance profile for the product.
OUR PROCESS
A complete EPD — from LCA and PCR alignment through to verified publication on the program operator's platform.
Manufacturers in CBAM-covered sectors — particularly construction materials such as cement and glass — often require both EPDs for specifier qualification and CBAM embedded carbon calculations for EU export compliance. Semtrio structures both from the same underlying LCA data collection, eliminating duplication.
Learn moreConstruction and manufacturing buyers requiring EPDs frequently also evaluate suppliers through EcoVadis — managing both as a coordinated engagement strengthens supplier positioning across all qualification dimensions simultaneously and reduces internal data burden.
Learn moreEPD findings — particularly lifecycle environmental performance data — directly support GRI 301 (Materials) and GRI 302 (Energy) disclosures in sustainability reports. Organizations producing GRI-aligned reports can incorporate EPD data into their product-level environmental narrative without separate data collection.
Learn moreEPD quality depends directly on the quality of upstream supplier data — raw material extraction, component manufacturing, and material processing emissions. Semtrio's supplier engagement programs build the upstream data collection infrastructure that makes primary-data-driven EPDs achievable for complex manufactured products.
Learn moreWe are a PCR developer on the International EPD System — the platform where EPDs are registered.
Semtrio is a PCR developer on the International EPD System — one of the world's leading EPD program operators. Having authored the Product Category Rules for Denim fabrics and serving as moderator for several other product categories on the same platform, Semtrio operates at the methodological foundation of EPD development. The International EPD System is where PCRs are published and where EPDs are registered — being a PCR developer on that platform places Semtrio at the institutional centre of EPD methodology for the product categories where we have developed the rules.
The practical value for EPD clients is two-fold. First, Semtrio's LCA studies are designed specifically for EPD program operator submission — the system boundary decisions, data quality standards, and allocation methodology choices that often generate critical reviewer comments or require revision are handled correctly from the outset. Second, our familiarity with EPD program operator submission requirements across the International EPD System and other operators — including IBU and BRE — means we know what each platform's technical team expects and how to structure a submission that moves through review and publication without delay.
EPD development is not a standalone service at Semtrio. It is a natural output of the LCA and PCR methodology capability we hold — designed to produce the most favourable defensible environmental performance profile for each product, published on the right platform for the target market, and structured to serve ESPR, Green Public Procurement, and green building certification requirements simultaneously from a single engagement.
Talk to our team about developing your EPDAuthor of the PCR for Denim fabrics — moderator for several product categories on the platform where EPDs are registered
LCA, critical review coordination, program operator submission, and publication — one accountable partner from study to registered declaration
International EPD System, IBU, BRE — structured for the target market's specifier and procurement requirements
Whether you're scoping a single service engagement, evaluating end-to-end advisory across multiple clusters, or looking for one accountable partner across strategy and disclosure — start here.
Yaren Ünal
Senior Specialist,Client Solutions
Hamza Söylemez
Specialist,Client Solutions
Frequently asked questions about Environmental Product Declarations
Our team works directly with manufacturers developing EPDs for construction specifiers, green building certification, and EU procurement qualification — book a session and we will confirm the applicable PCR, select the right program operator, and map the path from LCA to published declaration.
