How manufacturers can prepare for the year ahead: Data foundation, EPD readiness, verification at scale

As 2025 came to a close, many manufacturers – especially in construction products and industrial equipment space – had the same feeling: this year was intense. Not because of one single regulation or one single customer request, but because everything happened at once. 

More tender requirements. More customer-driven data requests. Stronger regulatory signals. And mounting internal pressure to deliver credible, verifiable product data – fast.

If you’re in sustainability, product or R&D, you’ve likely felt it too. The inbox pings from sales or marketing. The last-minute scramble for product footprint numbers. The uncertainty around what data to use – or where to even start. And the stress of not knowing whether what you deliver will hold up under verification or get publicly scrutinized.

In a recent Ecochain webinar, we sat down with Dr. Pratik Gholkar, our Head of LCA Strategy Enablement, to look back at what truly defined 2025 – and, more importantly, to unpack what manufacturers need to do now to prepare for the future.

This article covers how chaos showed up across teams in 2025, what regulations like CPR really change in practice, and why high-performing manufacturers are already shifting away from one-off LCA requests toward scalable, structured product footprint systems they actually control.

Summary (TL;DR)

• 2025 exposed three critical gaps – Customer demands shifted from generic claims to product-specific verified data, regulations like CPR moved from “someday” to “now”, and sustainability teams were often seen as bottlenecks – expected to deliver verified, product impact data fast, often without the right software or resources to do it.
• CPR enforcement is rolling out now across Europe for construction products, with deadlines approaching throughout 2026 – The regulation exposes whether you have structured data, standardized assumptions and workflows that scale. Generic data won’t pass. Vague assumptions won’t hold up. Inconsistent methods will get flagged.
• Three critical elements determine success for industrial manufacturers in 2026: Build a data foundation using your own product data (not generic averages), create EPD readiness for repeatable delivery at scale, and implement portfolio-wide verification – not one product at a time.
• These insights come from our recent webinar with Dr. Pratik Gholkar, where we broke down what 2025 revealed, where the industry is headed, the steps high-performing sustainability teams are already taking to win the market, as well as some real examples from manufacturers who already made this transition with Ecochain.

The three ways chaos showed up in 2025 for manufacturers

This pressure landed hardest on sustainability teams. Most were used to calculating footprints on request, handling one-off life-cycle assessments (LCA), occasionally producing an environmental product declaration (EPD), or supporting R&D projects. Suddenly, they were expected to deliver credible, verified, product-level data at scale – and fast enough to support active sales cycles.

“2025 felt uncomfortable for many teams. More precisely, it exposed gaps that were always there but hidden.” – Dr. Pratik Gholkar, Head of LCA Strategy Enablement at Ecochain

1. Customer and tender requests changed the game

Buyers stopped accepting generic statements and averages. They began asking for product-specific environmental data – data tied to the actual product being sold, not a category or portfolio-level approximation.

In construction, this increasingly meant verified numbers in EPDs. In industrial equipment, customers started requesting credible product carbon footprints (PCFs), often driven entirely by procurement requirements rather than regulation. The days of saying “our products are green” were over.

2. Critical regulations moved from “later” to “now”

Regulations like CPR (Construction Product Regulation) shifted from being something on the horizon to being an immediate reality. What was initially framed as “CPR will come into effect, but it’s later” suddenly became “CPR is around the corner, and we’re not fully prepared.”

Teams scrambled to understand requirements, interpret standards, build processes. And many still aren’t ready.  Many companies also still believe CPR is mainly a documentation exercise. It’s not.

In reality, CPR exposes whether a company actually has:

• High-quality, structured product data
• Standardized footprint assumptions
• Reusable product footprinting workflows that scale across their portfolio

If those elements are missing – if your data is scattered, your methods are ad-hoc, your workflows are one-off – CPR feels overwhelming. If they are in place, CPR becomes manageable.

“CPR is a lens through which the market – and regulators – are now evaluating whether you have the basic operational structures in place to handle the demands of a sustainable, traceable industry.” – Dr. Pratik Gholkar, Head of LCA Strategy Enablement at Ecochain

At its core, CPR changes one thing: expectations.

The market no longer accepts promises. It expects credible, verifiable product information. You cannot rely on averages. You cannot rely on vague claims. The data must be checkable, comparable, and trusted.

3. Sustainability teams were seen as the bottleneck

Pressure came simultaneously from different sides – sales teams demanding publish-ready EPDs, R&D asking for product impact assessments, leadership expecting compliance – and all of it landed on the sustainability team. 

In many organizations, these teams were historically set up to handle one-off calculations on request: an Excel-based LCA here, an outsourced consultancy project there, produced when someone needed something specific. That operating model worked when requests were occasional.

In 2025, it stopped working.

The landscape shifted toward repeatable, scalable delivery. The volume and speed of requests increased. Expectations around credibility, traceability, and data quality rose sharply.

“One-off LCAs or Excel-based calculations using average datasets are no longer enough. In 2025, every new EPD or PCF request became a mini project. That slows down everything. It’s expensive. And it’s stressful. ” – Dr. Pratik Gholkar, Head of LCA Strategy Enablement at Ecochain

Sustainability teams didn’t become the bottleneck because of a lack of expertise or effort. They became the bottleneck because organizational systems and processes hadn’t evolved, and teams weren’t enabled with a proper data foundation to operate at scale.

Three critical things industrial manufacturers need to get right next year

Manufacturers are now expected to:

• Clearly explain where the product data comes from
• Apply consistent LCA methodology across the entire product portfolio
• Reproduce LCA, PCF, EPD and other product impact results when asked

Without this foundation, every request turns into a mini project – slow, expensive, and stressful. And with demand for EPDs, PCFs, and other environmental profiles only increasing, this approach simply doesn’t scale.

So if you’re asking yourself what to focus on as you move into the next year, the answer is not more calculations. It’s getting the fundamentals right. Then, CPR and most other upcoming requirements become very much manageable.

A) Data foundation: Why your own product data matters

Data is your foundation. Everything starts there.

Manufacturers are increasingly compared on product-specific performance, not portfolio averages. And when companies rely on generic datasets or industry averages, several things happen – none of them good:

• Every request becomes a new LCA calculation
• Product impact results become harder to explain
• The credibility of your business suffers
• And there’s a real risk of losing tenders – even when your product impact number is actually better than that average number you used.

Using your own product and supplier data, even if it is not perfect, gives you control.

When you work with your own data, you can:

• Control your complete modeling exercises and your outputs
• Respond faster to stakeholder requests
• Clearly explain assumptions, which makes verification significantly easier

And most importantly, when you know your own product data, you know exactly where your hotspots are. That allows you to improve them over time. Year after year, environmental performance improvements become visible in the data – rather than just claimed.

B) EPD readiness: Building a repeatable, scalable EPD generation process

Customer requests for environmental product declarations aren’t slowing down. They’re accelerating.

At the same time, CPR is pushing manufacturers toward a future where they must be able to show the complete environmental declarations for their portfolio, as well as the performance of individual products. That combination changes what “being EPD ready” actually means.

EPD readiness is a stepping stone toward future regulatory and market requirements. It forces companies to think ahead and work in a structured, repeatable way, rather than reacting to individual requests.

EPD readiness means:

• When a customer asks, you can deliver
• You are not starting from scratch each time
• Your data, methods, and assumptions are reusable

Creating a single EPD can still be treated as a one-off project – and yes, it can be outsourced and in many cases, that’s how companies start. But creating hundreds or thousands of EPDs? That is no longer a project. That is a system. And without the right structure, it quickly becomes expensive, slow, and difficult to manage.

In short, being EPD ready means having the capacity to deliver EPDs across your entire portfolio and publish them on demand.

In an EPD-ready organization:

• Products are already modeled
• Product environmental footprints exist in one system
• Generating an EPD is a minor task – not a full rebuild

That discipline is exactly what future regulations and customer expectations will require. And if you build it now, you’re not retrofitting later – you’re building for the future.

C) Verification: Why verification at scale is the real shift manufacturers should be thinking about

Verification builds trust. It gives customers confidence that they’re comparing apples to apples – not apples to oranges. It also gives manufacturers confidence that their assumptions, methods, and results are aligned with the rules.

But in practice, verification becomes complex, time-consuming, and repetitive when it’s treated as a one-by-one exercise.

Not because verification itself is the problem. But because the data and structure behind it aren’t aligned.

This is where many companies get stuck. They struggle with:

• Data inconsistencies across their systems
• Unclear or conflicting rules and assumptions
• Manual, non-reusable LCA workflows
• No clear starting point for where to begin

The result is a familiar pattern. Companies know they need to verify their product portfolio, but the groundwork isn’t in place. So they either invest heavily in verification projects that drag on for months – or they attempt to manually verify products one by one, ending up with a resource-intensive, error-prone process.

This is why verification at scale matters and why we pioneered it here at Ecochain.

But what is verification at scale? 

Verification at scale means:

• Verifying the entire product portfolio at once
• Then generating EPDs on demand as customer requests come in

It doesn’t mean verifying one or two products. It means having the capability to verify 500 products, or 2,000 products, and to do it as part of your regular process, not as an emergency sprint.

“If your data is already in place, and your EPD-ready workflow is set up, then verification is just a check. It’s not a roadblock anymore. Verification becomes a manageable part of your process instead of a crisis point.” – Dr. Pratik Gholkar, Head of LCA Strategy Enablement at Ecochain

Let’s take a look at how this works in practice for one of our customers.

Success story: How one manufacturer scaled EPDs and verification across its entire portfolio

You might be asking: Why invest in these foundations when we could stay reactive and still meet immediate requests?

Especially in construction products, there is already a clear ROI. For example, in markets like the Netherlands, environmental data and EPDs are required to participate in tenders. That alone creates a strong regulatory and commercial driver.

But the real value goes beyond compliance.

When the right LCA structure is in place, manufacturers become faster, more credible, and more trustworthy. And that’s where long-term competitiveness starts to show up.

Here’s a real example of how this plays out in practice. 

We work with one of the largest manufacturers in construction products – specifically pipes and piping systems. They operate across multiple locations and were facing the same pressures discussed throughout this article.

When the project started, they were where many manufacturers are: they could calculate EPDs for a single product. That worked occasionally – but it didn’t match the reality of their business. Customers were asking for environmental data across the entire portfolio.

Here’s what we did:

• First, we structured their data: We worked closely with their teams to understand where product data lived across different systems. That data was brought together and structured so it could consistently flow into LCA calculations. Everything was organized in Ecochain’s software in a way that was clear, repeatable, and scalable.
• Second, we modeled their entire product portfolio: Instead of doing one-off calculations for specific products when customers asked, we worked with them to model their entire range of products. All of them. In one integrated system.
• Third, we implemented verification at scale: Using the verification at scale methodology that’s unique to Ecochain, their entire product portfolio was verified at once. Not one product at a time. All products, verified at the same time.

This is where the transformation happened.

Based on customer requests or internal needs, they can now generate EPDs on demand. They have full control over their data. And most importantly, when they make year-on-year improvements – and they do, because they can finally see and track their product impact across the entire facility – those improvements are directly reflected in their environmental results.

What started as a compliance project transformed into competitive advantage. They don’t just comply with rules anymore. They use this capability to differentiate themselves in the market.

That’s the transformation available to manufacturers who build a solid LCA data foundation and scale EPDs and verification the right way.

Four steps for manufacturers to build a scalable LCA, EPD and verification foundation

You don’t need to do it all at once. Take the right steps. Build incrementally.

Here’s where we recommend starting:

1. Identify your priority products

Look at three things:

• Which products come up most often in tender requirements?
• Which products generate the most customer sustainability questions?
• What are your highest-volume products?
• Which products use high-impact materials?
• Which products would give you the biggest competitive advantage if you had verified EPDs ready?

From this, select 5–10 products as your pilot scope. This becomes your pilot scope. Don’t spread yourself thin. A small, well-chosen pilot creates momentum for the solid foundation later.

2. Structure your product data

Product-specific data has become the baseline for a solid LCA foundation. Not perfect product data – but structured, documented and defensible data that you can explain when a verifier asks questions, data that stays consistent across your portfolio.

In reality, most manufacturers already have more data than they think. It’s just scattered. BOMs in one system. Energy use in another. Supplier information in emails or spreadsheets

Where many teams get stuck is trying to organize everything at once – years of data, multiple sites, different naming conventions, missing supplier inputs. But this approach rarely works well.

Don’t aim for perfect. Aim for documented and traceable. This is what allows verification to become manageable later, instead of a crisis point.

“Even if your product and supplier data isn’t perfect, when you use your own data, you gain control. You can explain your assumptions. You can improve over time.” – Dr. Pratik Gholkar, Head of LCA Strategy Enablement at Ecochain

For your pilot products:

• Get clarity on what data you have, where it lives, what it means, and how it connects to your products.
• Gather what you have: material compositions and quantitie, energy and resource inputs per production stage, supplier information (even partial), current assumptions you’re using
• Document your current assumptions (even if imperfect)

Structured data can evolve. Unstructured data just becomes a dead end.

3. Standardize and test one LCA modeling approach

Pick one product from your pilot and build a complete LCA model with documented assumptions:

• System boundaries (for example, cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave)
• Allocation methods
• Data sources and quality levels
• Where primary versus secondary data is used

This model becomes your template. 

Define your rules once. Document your choices once. Then apply them consistently across products. The objective is to create a model structure that can grow with your portfolio – not one that has to be rebuilt every time.

Next, take a second product from your pilot and apply the same model. What breaks? What breaks? What needs adjustment? 

This shows you where your approach scales and where it needs refinement before you expand further.

As Dr. Pratik put it: “You don’t need to do everything at once. Take the right steps – and build from there.”

4. Design product footprinting workflows that can scale

Finally, step back and look at how work actually flows through your organization:

• Think about how a request flows through your organization
• Think about how data moves from source systems into your LCA calculations
• Think about how results are verified and published 

Design these workflows so you don’t start from scratch every time. When data, models, and processes are connected, requests become routine – not disruptive.

From ad hoc to future-ready: Building the system manufacturers need for what’s next

Regulations are catching up. Customers are asking for specifics. Sales teams need credible EPDs to win tenders. And leadership wants results they can confidently stand behind – in boardrooms, audits, and public disclosures.

You can’t meet all of that with ad hoc spreadsheets or last-minute consultant sprints.

What manufacturers need now is a system. One that provides control. One that allows teams to respond faster across markets, prove credibility and improve product footprint over time.

That system is built on three connected foundations:

• A solid data foundation – Not just a tool, but a structured way of working with your own product and supplier data – data you understand, can explain, and can build on over time. Ecochain is the perfect partner to help you set this up properly. 
• EPD readiness – Not one-off projects, but repeatable delivery capabilities that allow you to generate EPDs when customers ask – without starting from scratch.
• Verification at scale – Ecochain software’s unique ability to verify your entire portfolio as a system, not individual products as isolated exercises.

When these three elements work together, you have a system that:

• Responds to customer requests without crisis
• Scales to your portfolio size without breakdown
• Demonstrates continuous product environmental footprint improvement over time
• Positions you for future regulations and requirements
• Reduces internal stress and team burden

That’s what being ready for the future actually means.

Frequently asked questions

Why did sustainability and product teams struggle with EPDs, verification and compliance in 2025?

Sustainability and product teams struggled in 2025 because multiple pressures hit at the same time. Customer and tender requirements shifted from generic claims to product-specific, verified data. Regulations like CPR moved from “someday” to “now.” At the same time, sales, R&D, and leadership expected faster delivery of credible results. Many teams were still set up for one-off LCAs and Excel-based calculations, which simply didn’t scale under these new expectations. To learn more about this topic, watch our webinar “Getting ready in 2026”.

What does CPR actually change for manufacturers in practice?

CPR changes what the market expects from manufacturers: proof instead of promises. In practice, CPR exposes whether a company has structured product data, standardized assumptions, and reusable workflows that scale across the portfolio. Generic averages, vague claims, and inconsistent methods no longer hold up. Manufacturers are now expected to provide credible, verifiable, and reproducible product impact data that can be checked and compared.

Why is using your own product data for EPDs, LCA and product footprint reporting more important than generic datasets?

Using your own product data for LCA modeling is critical because manufacturers are now compared on product-specific performance, not portfolio averages. When companies rely on generic datasets, every request becomes a new calculation, results are harder to explain, credibility suffers, and there is a real risk of losing tenders – even when the actual product performs better than the average. Using your own data, even if it isn’t perfect, gives you control, makes verification easier, and allows you to improve environmental performance over time based on real insights.

What does “EPD readiness” for product impact reporting actually mean for sustainability teams?

EPD readiness means having the capability to generate EPDs across your entire product portfolio without starting from scratch each time. It is not about producing one or two EPDs as isolated projects. EPD readiness requires structured data, standardized methods, and reusable assumptions so that when a customer asks, EPDs can be generated on demand. This shift from one-off projects to repeatable delivery is essential for scaling and for meeting future regulatory and market requirements.

What is ‘verification at scale’ in terms of EPD generation and verification, and why is it important for sustainability teams?

Verification at scale is the Ecochain way of enabling you to work faster. Verification at scale means verifying your entire product portfolio as a system, rather than verifying products one by one. The challenge with verification is usually not the verification process itself, but inconsistent data, unclear assumptions, and manual workflows behind it. When data and EPD workflows are structured, verification becomes a manageable check instead of a bottleneck. Verification at scale allows manufacturers to generate verified EPDs on demand, reduce costs, and avoid repeated verification crises as requests increase.