How to Check If Your EPD is Valid? (For inclusion in One Click LCA)

This guide aims at providing you with the means to recognize if the EPD you want to see included in the database is actually valid, and can, therefore, be added to the database and used in your LCA calculation.

EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) are based on Life-cycle assessment calculations according to ISO 14040, ISO 14044 and usually EN 15804 standard in European countries. An EPD is created and verified in accordance with the International Standard ISO14025, developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In Europe, the European Committee for Standardization has published EN 15804, common Product Category Rules (PCR) for EPD development in the construction sector. 

Step 1: First search for the EPD in the One Click LCA database. 

Before you submit a request for an EPD to be added to the database, please check if it is not already present.

• Search for the name of the product

If the product has a particular name you can search for this name, e.g ' EPS foam insulation'. The displayed name of the EPD is always as specified by the manufacturer of the product. 

• Search for the EPD number, the manufacturer or the EPD program

If the EPD has an EPD number you can search for it on the One Click LCA platform. (Not all EPDs are given an EPD number)

Sometimes EPDs are published in multiple languages, e.g. in English and German. In those cases remember that you can try to search also without e.g. the 'EN' or 'DE' at the end of the EPD number to find the EPD in another language (if available).

Example of an English and a German EPD number:

EPD-­MPA­-20140025­-CAG1­-EN

EPD­-DBC-­20130042-­IBG1-­DE

If you could not find the EPD with the EPD number, it is likely not included to the database. If there is no EPD number you can also search for the manufacturer (owner of the declaration) or the programme holder (in the example below, IBU).

• Check if the EPD data would be eligible for your tool     

There are two types of EPDs in the One Click LCA database, those with data according to the CML methodology and those according to the TRACI methodology. It is possible that the EPD is already present in the database, but due to the methodology which was used to record its emissions, it might not be visible in your tool. Check which data methodology is required for your tool and if you are using a different methodology than the EPD you are looking at, it would not be eligible.

If you are a North American user (US/CAN), you generally use TRACI data.
If you are a European / Rest of World user, you generally use CML data. 

Step 2: If not found in the database, check if the EPD is valid for database inclusion. 

If it is not present in the database, check if the EPD would be valid using the following steps.

• Check if the EPD data would be eligible for your tool

This is the same check as in step 3 'Check if the EPD data would be eligible for your tool'. Most of the time the EPD will state if the CML or TRACI methodology has been used.

However, some EPDs do not state this information. If your EPD does not state if its CML or TRACI you can recognize it yourself by checking the environmental indicators it reports on and the reported unit of these indicators.

The differences between CML and TRACI impact indicators:

LCA impact indicators	TRACI 2.1	CML 2002
Global warming potential	CO2	CO2e
Depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer	CFC-11-eq	CFC-11-eq
Acidification of land and water sources	SO2e	SO2e
Eutrophication	N eq	PO43e
Formation of tropospheric ozone (photochemical oxidant formation)	NOxeq	C2H4eq
Depletion of non-renewable energy sources	MJ	Weight or volume of raw material

• If you have found that the EPD can be used in the tool you are using you can check if the EPD is valid

a) Check the validity date of the EPD

EPDs are generally released with a 3 or 5 year validity period. This means that after this period the emissions of product in the EPD would have to be re-measured in order to be valid again. In most cases, the validity will be shown on the first page of the EPD, and in the general information section. If a validity period is missing it generally means that it is either a project-specific EPD (e.g. a type of concrete only used for one project) or it might not be valid.

b) Check if the EPD is externally verified

EPDs are most of the time externally verified, as an extra check of the validity of the recorded emission data. This is usually shown on the general information section of the EPD. One requirement of including EPDs to the One Click LCA database is that the data has to be externally verified. If a signature is missing the EPD might not be valid. 

c) Check the life cycle stages separation

The method the emissions are recorded is also important. Most EPDs record the emissions for each life cycle stage separately, in others it would be one total emission factor which combines the A to D life-cycle stages. In order for the data to be usable on the One Click LCA platform the data needs to be available for the different life cycle stages. The minimum requirement is that the stage A1-A3 is recorded. 

If there is data for A1-A3, but this is combined with B, C and D data, then this value is not usable, as there is no option to separate the factors for each individual life cycle stage. Some certification tools only look at the A-D phase as one number, so in those cases the data can be a merged value, the French E+C- is an example of a tool which looks at the total emissions. 

An example of a good life cycle stage separation (EPD data in the right format for database inclusion)

d) Check if the EPD is project specific

Project-specific EPDs should now be added as private data points, rather than to the general One Click LCA database. Private data points can be added by Expert users to their company account: Adding Private Data

• If the EPD is valid, forward the EPD to the One Click LCA support team

Forward your requested EPD(s) through the 'HELP' widget and our support team will make sure that they get included for usage to the One Click LCA database.