An Environmental Product Declaration turns your plant data into a verified, published figure a contractor can drop into a LEED submission or a buyer into a Scope 3 inventory. We build the life cycle assessment, write the EPD and take it through verification and publication.
Life cycle assessment and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) services for manufacturers and construction product suppliers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC: PCR and programme operator selection, LCA to ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, EPDs to ISO 14025:2026 with EN 15804+A2 or ISO 21930, support through independent verification and publication, and product data for LEED v4.1 and LEED v5 embodied carbon credits. ESGweise is neither a programme operator nor an EPD verifier.
LCA, EPD and product carbon footprint: what each one is
A life cycle assessment is the study. An EPD is the verified, published declaration built from it. A product carbon footprint is one result, climate change, reported on its own.
- Life cycle assessment (LCA): a model of a product's inputs, outputs and impacts from raw material to end of life, to ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 (2006, as amended in 2017 and 2020). Critical review of an LCA follows ISO 14071:2024.
- Environmental Product Declaration (EPD): LCA results calculated to a Product Category Rule, checked by an independent verifier and published by a programme operator. ISO 14025:2026 replaced the 2006 edition on 24 June 2026 and drops the old "Type III" label; construction products also follow EN 15804+A2 or ISO 21930.
- Product carbon footprint: global warming potential only, to ISO 14067:2018. Useful for a buyer's Scope 3 request, but not an EPD and not accepted where an EPD is asked for.
Why GCC manufacturers are being asked for EPDs
No UAE or Saudi law requires an EPD. The requests come from the people who buy and specify your product, and they are getting more specific.
- LEED v4.1: a building earns a point for using at least 20 products from five manufacturers with EPDs. A product-specific EPD with external verification and critical review counts as one and a half products, so contractors look for them.
- LEED v5: every project must now quantify the A1 to A3 embodied carbon of its structure, enclosure and hardscape, and points for reducing it and for product selection are earned with product-specific, externally verified EPDs. LEED v4 and v4.1 registration closes on 30 June 2027.
- Local supply: Al Sa'fat in Dubai counts materials made within 800 km, and LEED v4.1's embodied carbon optimisation option doubles the value of products made and bought within 160 km. A Gulf plant with an EPD has an edge over an imported product without one.
- Buyers' Scope 3: customers reporting purchased goods and services want supplier-specific carbon data instead of spend-based averages, and a verified EPD is the most credible form it takes.
- Exports to Europe: the EU Construction Products Regulation (EU) 2024/3110 brings declared global warming potential in product family by product family as new harmonised standards are cited. None had been cited as at October 2026, but manufacturers selling into the EU should have the data ready.
From plant data to a published EPD
Choose the PCR and the programme operator
The Product Category Rule fixes the declared unit, the system boundary and the calculation rules for your product type. The programme operator decides where the EPD is registered and who may verify it. Both depend on your markets.
Collect a year of plant data
Raw materials and their sources, energy and fuels, water, transport, packaging, waste and production volumes for each plant, usually for the most recent twelve months. This is the longest step.
Build the LCA model
Foreground data from your plant, background data from recognised databases, and the modules the PCR requires. Under EN 15804+A2 that means production (A1 to A3), end of life (C1 to C4) and benefits beyond the system boundary (D) for nearly all manufactured products, not cradle to gate alone.
Write the EPD and the background report
The EPD document in the programme operator's format, and the LCA report behind it that the verifier tests line by line.
Independent verification and publication
An independent verifier approved by the programme operator checks the LCA and the EPD against the PCR. Once findings are closed, the operator registers and publishes the EPD, normally valid for five years.
Where a GCC manufacturer can publish
- International EPD System: the most widely used programme internationally, with regional offices covering the Gulf, including EPD Saudi Arabia at KAUST since November 2025. Published 2026 fees: an annual fee of EUR 515, 1,030 or 2,575 by company size, plus EUR 1,000 for the first EPD registered in a calendar year.
- EPD Hub: EUR 2,850 for one EPD with verification and publication included, and no annual fee, as published in October 2026.
- IBU, UL Environment and BRE: common where buyers are in Germany, North America or the UK respectively. Fees are quoted on request or under membership schedules.
The programme operator's fee is usually the smallest part of the cost. The LCA work and, where it is not included, verification make up most of it. We recommend an operator after looking at where your products are sold and specified, and we have no commercial tie to any of them.
How ESGweise delivers EPDs and LCAs
Scoping and data review
Which products and plants, which PCR, which programme operator, what data you already hold and what is missing, and a fixed quote for the rest.
LCA and EPD preparation
Data collection templates your plant team can complete, the LCA model, the background report and the EPD document, product-specific or covering a product group where the PCR allows.
Verification and publication support
We handle the verifier's questions and findings and take the EPD through registration with the programme operator. The verifier is independent of us and of you.
Using the result
Product data sheets for contractors and LEED consultants, Scope 3 answers for buyers, a product carbon footprint to ISO 14067 where a buyer asks for one, and the reduction options the model shows. A second EPD that shows a real cut in global warming potential is worth more under LEED v5 than the first.
- ESGweise: AED 3,000 per consultant day, quoted as a fixed scope after the scoping review
- Verification and publication: charged by the verifier and the programme operator you choose. ESGweise is neither.
Exporters of steel, aluminium or cement can reuse much of the same plant data for CBAM embedded emissions, though the two methods differ and an EPD does not satisfy CBAM. For the wider picture, see our work with heavy industry and manufacturing and our carbon services.
EPD and LCA: questions we hear most
What is an EPD?
An Environmental Product Declaration is an independently verified statement of a product's environmental performance over its life cycle, calculated from a life cycle assessment to a Product Category Rule (PCR) and registered and published by a programme operator. The standard behind it is ISO 14025, republished in June 2026, and construction products follow EN 15804+A2 or ISO 21930 as well. An EPD reports results such as global warming potential per declared unit. It does not say a product is good or bad, which is why buyers can compare one with another.
Is an EPD mandatory in the UAE or Saudi Arabia?
No UAE or Saudi law we know of requires one. Dubai's Al Sa'fat green building system (2nd edition, January 2023) has no EPD requirement, though it rewards materials made within 800 km of the site. The pull comes from LEED, which awards points for EPDs and from version 5 needs embodied carbon data for the main structural and envelope materials on every project, and from buyers who want supplier-specific carbon data for their Scope 3 reporting. A manufacturer without an EPD is not breaking a rule. It is giving the contractor a reason to pick a competitor's product.
What does LEED v5 need from building product manufacturers?
Every LEED v5 project must quantify the cradle-to-gate embodied carbon (modules A1 to A3) of its structure, enclosure and hardscape, covering materials such as concrete, steel, aluminium extrusions, insulation, glass, masonry and cladding. Points for reducing embodied carbon and for product selection are earned with product-specific EPDs, and the product selection credit asks for external verification and an external critical review. An industry-average EPD carries little weight under v5. LEED v4 and v4.1 registration closes on 30 June 2027, so projects registering after that will use v5.
How long does an EPD take, and how long is it valid?
A first EPD typically takes three to six months from kick-off to publication. Most of that is collecting a full year of plant data and building the LCA model; verification and publication follow once the documents are final, and verifier availability is often the bottleneck. An EPD is normally valid for five years. Under the International EPD System it must be updated sooner if a reported impact rises by 10% or more, for example after a change of process or energy source.
How much does an EPD cost?
There are three parts. Programme operator fees are published: as at October 2026, the International EPD System charges an annual fee of EUR 515, 1,030 or 2,575 by company size plus EUR 1,000 to register the first EPD in a calendar year, and EPD Hub charges EUR 2,850 for one EPD with verification and publication included. Verification by an independent verifier is charged by the verifier where it is not included. The largest part is the LCA and EPD preparation, which depends on how many products, plants and PCRs are involved. We quote that as a fixed scope after an initial review.
Which programme operator should a GCC manufacturer use?
It depends on where your buyers are and which rating systems they use. The International EPD System is the most widely used internationally and has regional offices covering the Gulf, including EPD Saudi Arabia, based at KAUST since November 2025. EPD Hub offers a single price with verification included. IBU, UL Environment and BRE are common where buyers are in Germany, North America or the UK. All of these publish EPDs that LEED accepts, provided the EPD meets the credit's conditions. We recommend one after looking at your markets and products, and we have no commercial tie to any of them.
Does an EPD help with CBAM?
No. CBAM uses its own installation-level methodology, its own templates and verifiers accredited for CBAM in the EU, and an EPD is not accepted in place of that. The same is true of the EU Construction Products Regulation, which will ask for a declared global warming potential calculated with the Commission's own method as each product family is brought in. What carries across is the plant data: an exporter of steel, aluminium or cement that has done the work for one can reuse much of it for the other.
Thirty minutes. We figure out if there's a fit.
We don't pitch on the call. We listen, ask sharp questions, and tell you honestly whether epd and lca is what you need, or what else might be.
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