EPD Development in 2025: Growth, Reach, and Sectoral Trends

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) continued to gain strong momentum in 2025, with the International EPD System (IES) surpassing 18,000 valid and registered EPDs. This milestone reflects the growing global demand for transparent, credible, and verified environmental data across value chains. During the year, the system experienced notable expansion both in the number of published EPDs and in the breadth of sectors and regions represented.

Record Number of EPDs Published

In 2025, a total of 9,395 EPDs were published. The vast majority followed the traditional documentation structure, with 9,143 standard-format EPDs, while 252 EPDs were issued in digital format. Following the launch of the digital Compiler format on 29 January 2025, this development highlights the early yet steadily increasing adoption of digital EPD solutions.

Strong International and Regional Development

Of the EPDs published in 2025, 5,455 were developed under EPD International, while 3,941 were issued by licensees, demonstrating the growing importance of EPDs in local markets worldwide.

Among licensees, EPD Australasia emerged as the largest contributor, accounting for 2,739 EPDs (29.2%), underscoring the region’s advanced uptake of EPDs. EPD North America followed with 558 EPDs (5.9%), while other notable contributors included EPD Turkey (2.1%), EPD India (1.7%), and EPD Southeast Asia (1.3%). This distribution reflects both the maturity of EPD use in established markets and the increasing engagement of emerging economies.

In addition, the establishment of EPD Tunisia and EPD Saudi Arabia in October and November marked important milestones for the Middle East and North Africa regions. Since its establishment, EPD Saudi Arabia has published 97 EPDs, contributing approximately 1% of the total EPDs within the IES.

Construction Products Remain the Core Focus

Construction products continued to dominate EPD activity within the IES. In 2025, 86.38% of EPDs issued by EPD International related to construction products. This reflects the sector’s central role in climate mitigation efforts, driven by regulatory requirements, green building certification schemes, and increasing demand for life cycle-based decision-making in the built environment.

Expanding Beyond Construction

While construction products remain the backbone of EPD development, 2025 also demonstrated meaningful diversification across other product categories:

• Food and beverages: 186 EPDs (3.58%)

• Paper and plastic products: 142 EPDs (2.73%)

• Metal, mineral, plastic, and glass products: 120 EPDs (2.31%)

• Chemical products: 89 EPDs (1.71%)

• Machinery and equipment: 74 EPDs (1.42%)

• Textiles, footwear, and apparel: 43 EPDs (0.83%)

• Vehicles and transport equipment: 38 EPDs (0.73%)

This broader sectoral engagement highlights the increasing recognition of EPDs as a valuable instrument beyond the construction industry, supporting environmental data transparency, sustainable procurement, and policy alignment across multiple markets.

Outlook

Overall, 2025 marked a year of strong growth and consolidation for EPDs worldwide. The continued dominance of construction products, combined with expanding regional recognition and gradual diversification across sectors, indicates that EPDs are becoming a mainstream tool for environmental transparency. As digital formats continue to mature and more industries adopt life cycle–based reporting, EPDs are expected to play an increasingly central role in enabling sustainable production and consumption globally.

Note: Data are extracted from the International EPD System for the period 1 January to 21 December 2025.