Skip to main content
Turning an LCA into a third-party verified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is one of the most impactful ways to communicate your product’s environmental profile. While an LCA helps your team understand impacts internally, an EPD turns that work into market-ready, standardized, and externally trusted documentation. This guide walks you through what it takes — from preparing your LCA to completing verification and publishing.

​
What Is an EPD?

An EPD is a structured, independently verified document that summarizes a product’s environmental impacts in a consistent, comparable format. It is built on top of your LCA but applies strict reporting rules, ensuring that buyers, regulators, and auditors can interpret your results with confidence. EPDs are widely used in construction, consumer products, packaging, and public procurement because they offer:
  • A harmonized communication format
  • A standardized data structure
  • Transparency around assumptions, boundaries, and data sources
For many organizations, an EPD is not just a sustainability deliverable — it becomes a competitive advantage.
A strong EPD builds trust by showing not just what your product’s footprint is, but how it was calculated.

​
Step 1: Finalize a High-Quality, Well-Documented LCA

Before you begin the EPD process, your LCA must be:
  • Complete — covering the required life cycle stages for your product category
  • Transparent — with assumptions, data sources, and boundaries clearly recorded
  • Consistent — using a functional unit and system description aligned with reporting rules
  • Traceable — with a clear audit trail for primary data and modelling choices
This is where accessible, data-driven sustainability tools help. Sustainly’s structured workflows make it easier for teams to build LCAs with:
  • Centralized sustainability data
  • AI-assisted input checks
  • Aligned assumptions across departments
  • Clear, shareable documentation
These foundations reduce verification delays later.

​
Step 2: Identify the Correct Product Category Rules (PCR)

Every EPD must follow a PCR, which defines how your product type should be modeled, which impacts to report, and how results must be formatted. PCRs typically cover:
  • The required life cycle stages
  • Functional unit rules
  • Reporting requirements
  • Any product-specific modeling considerations
Choosing the wrong PCR can cause rework — or even make your submission invalid — so invest time here to get it right.

Check Program Databases

Use recognized EPD program libraries to find your PCR.

Match Precisely

Ensure the PCR matches your product category, not a nearby one.

​
Step 3: Prepare Your Documentation Package

Before verification, you’ll assemble a complete set of materials that explain your LCA and justify your results. A typical package includes:
  • A detailed LCA report with methodology and data sources
  • A draft EPD formatted according to the PCR
  • Impact tables and data summaries
  • A clear interpretation section explaining the “why” behind results
  • Assumptions on end-of-life, allocations, and scenarios
This preparation phase is where teams often experience delays. Using a centralized sustainability platform helps avoid inconsistent data, missing units, or undocumented assumptions.
Keep technical appendices separate from the main narrative — it makes verification and stakeholder review faster.

​
Step 4: Undergo Independent Verification

A verifier is an independent expert who checks:
  • Whether your modelling aligns with the PCR
  • Whether your assumptions are reasonable and well-documented
  • Whether the LCA results are technically sound
  • Whether your EPD report meets all formatting and disclosure requirements
Verification often includes iterative feedback rounds. Being well-organized — especially with clear version control — shortens this process dramatically. Sustainly supports this step by helping teams keep all data, assumptions, and calculations accessible in one place, so reviewers can follow the logic without guesswork.

​
Step 5: Publish in an Official EPD Program

Once verified, your EPD is submitted to an official program for publication. Programs typically:
  • Perform a compliance check
  • Assign a registration number
  • Publish the document publicly
  • Host your EPD for a defined validity period
Once published, your EPD becomes a recognized, standardized statement of your product’s environmental profile that can be used in procurement, customer communication, and sustainability reporting.

​
Typical Timeline & Effort

StepTime Estimate
LCA finalization2–4 weeks
PCR matching~1 week
EPD drafting1–2 weeks
Verification rounds2–3 weeks
Publication1–2 weeks
These timelines vary by product complexity, data availability, and verification readiness.

​
Final Takeaway

A verified EPD transforms your LCA from an internal analysis to a trusted, market-facing product declaration. It strengthens credibility, supports compliance, and opens doors in markets where environmental transparency is increasingly required. Data-driven sustainability platforms like Sustainly help teams move through this journey efficiently by providing:
  • AI-assisted modeling support
  • Centralized sustainability data
  • Reusable templates for consistent reporting
  • Collaboration features for cross-department alignment
By pairing strong LCA work with the right workflow, getting to a verified EPD becomes clearer, faster, and more accessible — whether you’re a sustainability expert or just beginning.