What are EPDs and how can they support environmental decision-making?

What is an EPD?

An EPD can be compared to the nutritional information you find on food packaging. Nutritional information does not tell you whether a food is automatically “good” or “bad” for you; it gives you data that you can interpret against your own needs and requirements.

An EPD works in a similar way. It is a Type III environmental declaration developed in accordance with ISO 14025. It presents quantified environmental information based on a life-cycle assessment (LCA) and is independently verified before publication.

An EPD is not an endorsement of a product’s sustainability, and it does not automatically mean that one product is environmentally better than another. Its purpose is to provide transparent, verified information that can support environmental assessments and decision-making.

What information does an EPD provide?

An EPD provides quantified information about selected environmental impacts associated with a product across defined stages of its life cycle.

Depending on the declaration and programme rules, the information can include:

• climate-change impact, often referred to as the product’s carbon footprint
• energy and resource use
• material composition and recycled-content information
• transport and manufacturing
• waste generation
• end-of-life scenarios and potential reuse or recycling

EPDs organise results across defined life-cycle modules. This helps make the scope of the assessment transparent and shows where environmental impacts occur across the product life cycle.

At first glance, an EPD can look quite technical. It contains multiple environmental indicators, life-cycle stages and abbreviations. Once you know what information you are looking for, however, the standardised structure makes it easier to locate relevant data consistently across declarations.

How can EPDs support product decisions?

One of the main advantages of an EPD is transparency. Rather than relying on broad environmental claims, architects, designers, procurement teams and customers can access documented information about the environmental performance of a product.

For example, EPD data can be used to:

• assess climate-change impacts
• understand material and recycled-content information
• support environmental requirements in tenders and specifications
• provide input to building and project assessments
• support discussions around product and material choices

An EPD therefore does not tell a customer which product to choose. Instead, it provides documented information that can help customers assess products against the environmental criteria that matter for their project.

Can you compare EPDs?

EPDs are presented in a standardised format, which can make environmental information easier to understand and can support product comparison.

However, an EPD does not automatically make any two products directly comparable. Meaningful comparisons require the declarations to be based on compatible methodological rules and assumptions, including the applicable Product Category Rules, declared or functional unit, system boundaries and life-cycle scenarios.

Where these align, EPDs can provide a useful basis for comparison. Where they do not, EPDs are better used as a transparent source of environmental information rather than as a simple ranking system.

How are EPDs verified?

EPDs are developed according to recognised standards, programme rules and Product Category Rules (PCRs), and are independently verified before publication.

For Flokk’s current furniture EPDs, the framework includes ISO 14025, the applicable Product Category Rules and EN 15804+A2 requirements. These rules provide a common framework for how environmental information is calculated, documented and reported across defined life-cycle stages.

For most customers, however, the key point is simpler: the environmental data in an EPD is documented according to recognised rules and independently verified rather than being a self-declared marketing claim.

Where can you find EPDs?

EPDs are public documents and are normally available through recognised EPD programme operators, environmental databases and manufacturers’ product websites.

The furniture industry has increasingly adopted EPDs as customers, architects and procurement organisations request more transparent environmental information.

Flokk was an early adopter of EPDs for furniture and has continued to expand and renew its EPD portfolio over many years.

Today, Flokk has 81 product family EPDs across the portfolio, providing environmental documentation for a substantial part of our product range.

You can explore Flokk’s published EPDs through EPD Norway and our product documentation channels.

EPDs in workplace and building projects

EPD information can support environmental requirements within workplace and building projects. Depending on the applicable scheme and project requirements, EPDs may contribute to relevant criteria in building certification systems such as BREEAM and LEED.

They can also provide architects, specifiers and procurement teams with documented information relating to areas such as climate impact, materials and recycled content, and other environmental indicators.

The value of an EPD is therefore not that it labels a product as “sustainable”. Its value is that it makes environmental performance more transparent, measurable and documentable.

Environmental information you can verify

As environmental requirements become more important in tenders, specifications and purchasing decisions, customers increasingly need environmental information that can be documented rather than simply claimed.

EPDs provide one way of doing this. They offer independently verified, quantified environmental information that helps customers and specifiers understand product environmental performance and use that information in their own decision-making.

For Flokk, EPDs are an important part of our wider approach to product environmental documentation — alongside environmental certifications, material data and other verified product information.

Want to learn more about environmental considerations when choosing furniture?

For more information, read our how-to guide, covering environmental considerations from design and materials through delivery, use and end of life, and what to look for when evaluating furniture.