If you work in construction, architecture, or sustainability, chances are you’ve come across an Environmental Product Declaration. You may have even submitted one. But let’s be honest — how well do you actually understand what’s inside?
And why does it matter to the construction industry more than ever?
The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is often treated like a formality — just another document in the ever-growing sustainability, climate change, ’net zero’ folder. We get it. “EPD” sounds like something you file and forget. But in reality, it’s one of the most valuable tools you have for sustainable decision-making in the built environment. Dig a bit deeper and you’ll find that an EPD is a treasure chest of critical data: lifecycle emissions, resource usage, impact scores, and more. It’s meant to inform smarter sourcing, boost transparency, and help reduce the environmental impact of the built environment.
Let’s break it down.
If you work in construction, architecture, or sustainability, chances are you’ve come across an Environmental Product Declaration. You may have even submitted one. But let’s be honest — how well do you actually understand what’s inside?
And why does it matter to the construction industry more than ever?
The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is often treated like a formality — just another document in the ever-growing sustainability, climate change, ’net zero’ folder. We get it. “EPD” sounds like something you file and forget. But in reality, it’s one of the most valuable tools you have for sustainable decision-making in the built environment. Dig a bit deeper and you’ll find that an EPD is a treasure chest of critical data: lifecycle emissions, resource usage, impact scores, and more. It’s meant to inform smarter sourcing, boost transparency, and help reduce the environmental impact of the built environment.
Explaining the EPD
An EPD is a standardized, third-party-verified document that provides transparent and comparable information about the environmental impact of a product over its life cycle. It’s not marketing fluff. It’s data-backed, lifecycle-based environmental information.
You can think of it like a nutrition label — but for construction products. Instead of calories and carbs, you’re looking at:
- Global Warming Potential (GWP)
- Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP)
- Acidification and Eutrophication
- Resource and energy use
- Waste generation
- Water consumption
And that’s just the start.
So, Why Do EPDs Matter in Construction?
Because buildings have impact. Big impact. The construction and building sector is responsible for nearly 40% of global CO₂ emissions. More and more clients, regulators, and certification systems (like BREEAM and LEED) are requiring evidence-based environmental data.
EPDs give you the power to:
- Compare materials based on their environmental footprint
- Build carbon-smart sourcing strategies
- Back up your sustainability claims with real data
- Meet increasing regulations and public procurement criteria
- Improve your chances of winning bids that value sustainability
In short: EPDs aren’t optional anymore. They’re essential.
But, Here’s The Catch: EPDs Aren’t Exactly “Plug and Play”
There are thousands of EPDs out there. Some are PDFs, some are spreadsheets, some follow slightly different regional and international rules. They’re published in different languages (like Spanish or Italian), with different scopes, structures, and assumptions.
Reviewing, verifying, and adapting just one EPD can take hours. Doing it at scale — for all the materials in a large project or across your supply chain — could eat up thousands of hours. That’s time your sustainability team doesn’t have. And that’s where Ecometrix comes in.
Enter Cicero: Turning EPD Chaos into Clarity
Our Cicero platform is designed to do the heavy lifting for you. Cicero scans, decodes, and verifies environmental data — like EPDs — so you don’t have to.
We’re currently processing and quality-checking over 100 new documents every week. That’s thousands of data points translated into searchable, comparable, and project-ready insights — all available through an intuitive dashboard or downloadable via API.
With Cicero, you can:
- Search and filter by product, material, or environmental criteria
- Compare products side-by-side for GWP, lifecycle stage impacts, and more
- Build “My Sets” — reusable collections of your favorite or most-used products
- Export data instantly into formats your team or clients need
- Get notified when an EPD gets updated or replaced
In short: You get verified data that’s easy to understand, easy to share, and easy to act on.
Why It Matters Now
The demand for transparency in construction is only going to grow. From EU regulatory changes (like CSRD) to stricter building certifications and carbon reporting expectations, environmental data is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a cost of doing business — and a competitive advantage when used well.
Cicero saves you time, which saves you money. More importantly, it helps you make sourcing and design decisions that are backed by real, trustworthy data — not just best guesses.
So the next time someone asks, “What’s an EPD?”, you can say: “A goldmine of insight — if you’ve got the right tools.”
