Data Collection for Your EPD: A Recipe You Can Actually Cook
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WHY DATA COLLECTION MATTERS
An Environmental Product Declaration is only as reliable as the data behind it - specifically, the full record of materials, energy, emissions, and waste tracked across the product’s life cycle. Transparent, well-documented primary data reduce modelling uncertainty, support third-party verification, and - since the July 2022 enforcement of EN 15804 +A2 - are increasingly demanded by specifiers and public procurement schemes. The new A2 amendment increases the mandatory impact indicators (from 7 to 13) and tightens reporting rules, so gaps in the inventory show up immediately.
A REAL-WORLD WIN
“EPD creation used to be a chaotic, long-term and expensive endeavor. The Emidat EPD tool made the process significantly faster and simpler for us.”
- Damiano Della Lunga, R&D Department Manager, Insulation Manufacturer
WHAT DATA BELONGS WHERE?
Lets look at Ready-mix concrete as an example, the following table breaks down the data:
WHAT DATA DO YOU ACTUALLY NEED?
An EPD reports the environmental impact across the product’s entire life cycle - from raw materials to end-of-life - using standardized rules (EN 15804, ISO 14025). To create one, you’ll need data for each (mandatory) life cycle phase (A1-D) to answer one key question: What’s the total environmental impact of this product, from cradle to grave?
PRIMARY VS SECONDARY DATA - AND HOW TO CHOOSE
Think of primary data as the facts you can measure, meter, or pull straight from a supplier’s EPD; secondary data are the vetted averages you borrow from a database such as ecoinvent or GaBi. Getting the split right keeps your workload realistic and satisfies third-party verifiers under EN 15804.
When you must collect primary data
- It drives the result. If a single flow is likely to contribute more than 10 % to any impact category, verifiers expect plant- or supplier-specific numbers. Skimp here and you risk a “major non-conformity” finding.
- It’s unique or supplier-specific. A novel bio-based resin, a bespoke alloy, an in-house curing process - anything not well represented in databases belongs in the primary bucket.
- You can meter or weigh it. Electricity kWh, water m³, waste kg, fuel litres: all low-hanging fruit for primary measurement. It’s harder to justify database placeholders when the numbers sit on your utility bills.
When secondary data is perfectly fine
- Background or tier-2+ processes - think grid electricity used upstream in your cement supply chain.
- Commodity materials (e.g., global average steel) are already covered by robust, peer-reviewed datasets.
- Upstream emissions that are impractical to meter without invasive studies - mining explosives, shipping fuel blends, etc.
The three data-quality checks every Programme Operator (PO) uses
- Temporal representativeness: data must be no older than five years at the time of study.
- Geographical & technological match: the dataset’s region and production technology should mirror yours as closely as possible.
- Precision: aim for ±10 % uncertainty on high-leverage flows; document how you derived or measured each value.
When in doubt: Measure what’s specific and significant. Leave background processes - like upstream mining or commodity steel - to trusted databases.
In the next section, we’ll show how Emidat’s three-drawer cabinet design turns that principle into a painless workflow.
HOW EMIDAT STRUCTURES YOUR DATA: THE THREE DRAWER CABINET
Picture your entire life-cycle inventory sorted into three big drawers of the same cabinet - each one labelled Plant, Supplier, or Product. Open the right drawer, drop your numbers in once, and Emidat re-uses them automatically wherever they belong. No more copy-paste, no more “which-version?” headaches.
Plant drawer – everything that happens on your site
Electricity meter exports, gas invoices, on-site emissions, water intake, waste tickets: all the A3 (manufacturing) data the verifier calls “primary and measurable”. Because these flows repeat across multiple product variants, entering them once here instantly updates every EPD that shares the plant.
Supplier drawer – upstream inputs you don’t control
Data on raw materials, their production, and transport (A1–A2). You can link each supplier’s dataset - like a cement EPD or recycled content figure - to every product that uses it. Update the file once, and all affected product records reflect the change instantly.
Product drawer – the recipe and everything beyond the gate
Bills of materials, packaging, installation ancillaries, use-phase maintenance, end-of-life scenarios. This is where A4 through D data live - tightly coupled to the declared unit (e.g., 1 m² of panel). Need to publish a variant? Duplicate the product, tweak the recipe, and the shared plant + supplier data stay intact.
Make your first EPD easier to start - with clear examples built for manufacturers.
Download the structured checklist to collect the right data from the right place, with practical examples for every input.
WHY THIS STRUCTURE SAVES YOU DAYS
- Data re-use by design – one edit propagates everywhere, slashing version-control errors.
- Instant mass & energy balance check – Emidat totals inputs across drawers to flag missing flows before the verifier does.
- Future-proofing – When the grid mix changes or a supplier updates their EPD, a single upload keeps your entire portfolio current, perfect for Digital Product Passports (DPPs) and annual Carbon Reporting.
With the drawers labelled and ready, you can start dropping in the numbers from that checklist you just downloaded, confident that each one is going exactly where the standards expect it.