Creating an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a milestone—but not the finish line. While generating an EPD helps you transparently report your product’s environmental impact, the real competitive edge lies in what you do next.
Whether you’re looking to reduce your impact, improve your data, or outpace your competitors, here are three powerful directions to take after generating an EPD:
1. Turn Results into Action: Analyze, Improve, Reduce
An EPD gives you quantified insights into your product’s environmental impact – including its carbon footprint (CO₂), resource use, and more. But it’s not just a report – it’s a blueprint for action.
The next step? Understand what’s driving your impact and use that knowledge to design more sustainable products. A verified EPD gives you credible, benchmarked data. With that in hand, you can:
- Identify environmental hotspots across your product’s lifecycle,
- Pinpoint where to make design or material changes,
- Set realistic carbon reduction targets,
- And lower your EPD scores over time.
Sustainability isn’t just about reporting – it’s about progress.
2. Dig Deeper Into Your Supply Chain (Where Most Impact Happens)
In many products, the bulk of the environmental impact comes from materials – which means your supply chain holds the key to improvement.
If your initial EPD based on generic secondary data, the next step is to gather better data:
- Reach out to suppliers for primary data,
- Upgrade to more accurate or localized secondary datasets,
- Work with partners to assess upstream processes.
Better data means more accurate, lower-impact EPDs—and a clear point of differentiation in a crowded market.
Generic secondary data is based on industry averages, broad geographic assumptions, and standardized production methods. It often overstates your footprint, reflecting a “worst-case scenario”. Primary data, on the other hand, comes directly from suppliers, production processes, and locations. It reflects the actual environmental performance of your product and can reveal significantly lower impacts compared to generic datasets. In a crowded market where manufacturers typically use generic secondary data, using actual data from your supply chain is a clear way to stand out and set your products apart. It shows customers, partners, and regulators that you go beyond the baseline.
3. Improve Operations: Tackle Impact in Your Factory
Beyond the supply chain, your own operations can play a major role in improving your product’s impact. Once you’ve identified energy use, waste, or emissions in your manufacturing processes, you can:
- Optimize energy sources (e.g., switch to renewables),
- Reduce process emissions,
- Improve efficiency and reduce waste.
Operational improvements feed directly into future EPDs – demonstrating continuous reduction and leadership.
EPDs as a Competitive Advantage
More and more building product manufacturers are under pressure to prove both price and sustainability performance. EPDs are increasingly required in public tenders, green building certifications, and B2B supply chains.
But here’s the thing: everyone can publish an EPD. If you want to become an industry leader, you need to go beyond. To become a preferred supplier, you must demonstrate your commitment – have a plan, act on your EPD results, and reduce your impact. That way, you can position yourself ahead of competitors who rely on static declarations and become a preferred supplier not just because you have an EPD, but because you show progress.
Communicate Your Progress
Don’t let your improvements stay internal. Turn EPD insights into marketing claims, product labeling, or ESG reporting. Show customers and partners that your sustainability claims are backed by verified data – and evolving.
Take a strategic view
Which products contribute most to your total emissions? Use existing EPD data to prioritize future assessments and identify where innovation will yield the most value.
