On-Demand Masterclass: Riding The EPD Wave

As Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) become critical for regulatory compliance and market access, organizations are grappling with the complexity and scale of implementation. Once optional differentiators, EPDs are now quickly becoming table stakes and serve as essential prerequisites for tenders, market entry, and stakeholder trust. In our recent masterclass, Makersite experts Robert Spang and Sophie Kieselbach explored how companies can move from manual, one-off EPD creation to a fully automated, scalable and transparent process.

EPDs Are Becoming Business-Critical – and the Clock Is Ticking

New regulations like the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Construction Product Regulation (CPR) are mandating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data and transparency. With a typical implementation timeline of 2–3 years, organizations that haven’t started preparing their data foundation are already behind. Beyond legislation, demand is also rising from private procurement and customers seeking Scope 3 data – making EPDs vital for both compliance and business continuity.

The Data Problem Is Real – and Solvable

Creating an EPD today is often slowed by incomplete, inconsistent, or inaccessible data. Many companies operate with fragmented systems, proprietary silos, or Excel-based workflows. Makersite emphasized that successful EPD scaling starts with better data governance – identifying data owners, aligning on standards, and centralizing access. You don’t need perfect data to start, but you do need a plan to mature it.

Automation and AI Are Essential to Scale EPDs

Manual modeling and verification are too slow and resource-intensive to meet the volume and frequency of EPD needs. Makersite’s automated system ingests data from source systems, applies verified rule sets, and creates reproducible models and documentation. This enables companies to generate EPDs across entire portfolios – often with just a few clicks – freeing up experts to focus on design improvements rather than data wrangling.

Verification Is the Bottleneck – but It Doesn’t Have to Be

Traditional EPD verification processes are linear, manual, and not scalable. Makersite introduced a tool-verified approach that allows for reproducibility and transparency at scale. Their solution includes background documentation, automated QA/mapping reports, and lifecycle results – all designed to support a dynamic, auditable, and continuously improving EPD process, rather than static 5-year snapshots.

EPDs Can Drive More Than Compliance – They Enable Sustainable Innovation

When EPD generation is fast, reliable, and integrated into design and procurement workflows, it becomes more than a checkbox. It becomes a tool for internal feedback, better supplier collaboration, and sustainable product innovation. Makersite’s vision is clear: EPDs should inform decisions, not just report them. 

What You Can Do Now 

If you’re just starting your EPD journey or struggling to scale, now is the time to act. Begin by assessing your current data landscape – where it lives, how accessible it is, and whether it’s fit for LCA use. Engage internal stakeholders to define responsibilities and invest in building a scalable, governed data infrastructure. From there, explore automation solutions that can streamline EPD creation and verification. The good news? You don’t need perfect data to begin. With the right approach and tools, you can accelerate progress, meet regulatory demands, and turn compliance into a strategic advantage. Makersite is here to help you do exactly that.