EPDs for Construction Products and Building Services: What Manufacturers Need to Know

Key points at a glance

• An EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) describes the environmental impacts of a product over its life cycle. For construction products, the European standard EN 15804 applies.
• Unlike a product carbon footprint, an EPD covers not only global warming potential but a whole range of environmental indicators. It is verified by an independent third party and published through a programme operator.
• Demand is growing: building life cycle assessments for certifications such as DGNB and QNG, the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the new Construction Products Regulation increasingly require environmental data for construction products.
• This no longer concerns only building materials, but also manufacturers of building services such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical equipment.

Manufacturers of products for buildings are asked for an EPD more and more often: by planners calculating a building life cycle assessment, by developers aiming for a certification, and in tenders. This article explains what an EPD is, how it differs from a product carbon footprint (PCF), why it is gaining importance in sustainable construction and how it is created.

What is an EPD?

An EPD is a Type III environmental declaration under ISO 14025. It presents the results of a life cycle assessment in a uniform format and thus makes products more comparable. For construction products, EN 15804 defines which life cycle stages and indicators an EPD contains and how they are calculated. Our article on the relevant standards for environmental impact accounting shows how these standards fit together.

Three features distinguish an EPD from a simple manufacturer statement:

• Product category rules (PCR): For each product group, rules specify exactly how to calculate. This makes EPDs within the same product group more comparable.
• Independent verification: Before an EPD is published, an independent third party checks the calculation and the background report.
• Programme operator: The EPD is published through a programme operator, in Germany for example the Institut Bauen und Umwelt (IBU). It is usually valid for five years.

EPD and PCF: what is the difference?

A PCF answers one question: how much greenhouse gas does a product cause? An EPD goes further. In addition to global warming potential, it contains other environmental indicators, for example on acidification, eutrophication, resource and water use. In addition, an EPD must always be externally verified, whereas this is optional for a PCF under ISO 14067, and for construction products it follows a fixed structure of life cycle modules.

Both rest on the same foundation: complete product data with bill of materials, materials, weights, energy consumption and upstream supply chains. If you already have a robust PCF, you already have a large part of the life cycle inventory for an EPD. On top of that come scenarios for use and end of life, the PCR-specific rules for example on cut-off criteria and allocation, and background data covering all indicators under EN 15804+A2, not just global warming potential. How far an assessment extends along the life cycle is explained in our article Cradle-to-Gate vs. Cradle-to-Grave.

Life cycle modules under EN 15804

EN 15804 divides the life cycle of a construction product into modules:

• A1–A3 Production: raw materials, transport to the plant and manufacturing
• A4–A5 Construction: transport to the site and installation
• B1–B7 Use: for example maintenance, replacement and operational energy and water use
• C1–C4 End of life: deconstruction, transport, waste processing and disposal
• D: benefits and loads beyond the system boundary, for example through recycling

Since EN 15804+A2, EPDs must in principle declare the end of life (C1–C4) and module D in addition to production (A1–A3). The standard sets out the exceptions.

Why EPDs are becoming more important in sustainable construction

Building life cycle assessments and certifications: For certifications such as DGNB or the German Quality Seal for Sustainable Buildings (QNG), a life cycle assessment of the building is prepared. For this, planners need environmental data for the products installed. If no product-specific EPD is available, generic datasets are used, for example from the German government's ÖKOBAUDAT database, some of which include safety margins. Your own EPD, by contrast, represents your product with its actual values.

EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD): The revised Directive (EU) 2024/1275 requires the life cycle global warming potential of new buildings to be calculated and disclosed: from 2028 for new buildings with more than 1,000 m² of floor area, from 2030 for all new buildings. In Germany, the new Building Modernisation Act (Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz, GModG), which replaces the GEG, implements this requirement.

New Construction Products Regulation: Regulation (EU) 2024/3110 has applied since 8 January 2026. It gradually makes environmental information, starting with global warming potential, part of the declaration of performance and conformity, as soon as the relevant harmonised specifications are available. The indicators are based on EN 15804.

Tenders: Public and private developers increasingly ask for EPDs in tenders. Manufacturers who can provide one have an advantage there.

Building services: EPDs for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical equipment too

For a long time, the focus was mainly on building materials such as concrete, steel, insulation or windows. With building life cycle assessments, building services are now coming into view as well: heat pumps, ventilation units, air conditioning systems, radiators, luminaires or switchgear. Many manufacturers in this field already publish EPDs. For electrical and electronic products, the PEP ecopassport programme based on EN 50693 is often relevant alongside EN 15804, especially for the French market.

For building services manufacturers, an EPD takes more effort than for many building materials:

• Complex products: A ventilation unit or heat pump consists of hundreds of components, from housing and heat exchanger to electronics and refrigerant.
• Many variants: Sizes, capacity classes and configurations multiply the effort if each variant is calculated individually.
• Use phase: For energy-using products, operation, maintenance and replacement play a major role and have to be represented through scenarios.
• Incomplete supplier data: For many purchased parts, materials, weights or emission values are missing.

How an EPD is created

1. Choose a programme operator and PCR: This determines the rules for the calculation and where the EPD is published.
2. Collect data: bill of materials, materials and weights, energy and processes in production, transport, packaging and scenarios for use and end of life.
3. Calculate the life cycle assessment: in line with EN 15804 and the PCR, with all required modules and indicators.
4. Prepare the background report and the EPD document.
5. Have it independently verified.
6. Publish: with the programme operator and, if desired, in databases that planners use for building life cycle assessments.

Telusio's view

As with a PCF, the biggest hurdle is rarely the calculation itself, but the data that comes before it: incomplete bills of materials, missing material and supplier data, many variants. This is exactly where we come in. Our data preparation and calculation for product carbon footprints creates the data foundation on which an EPD is also built.

Are you planning an EPD for your construction products or building services? Get in touch, we will be happy to support you with the implementation.