Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), CBAM and Public Sector Specification Opportunities

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are becoming increasingly important within public sector procurement, construction specification and sustainability reporting. Public sector organisations, contractors and specifiers are under growing pressure to demonstrate measurable environmental performance across buildings and infrastructure projects.

At the same time, the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is increasing scrutiny around the carbon content and transparency of imported materials and manufactured products. Together, EPDs and CBAM are expected to play a growing role in procurement decision-making, supply chain evaluation and sustainability reporting.

This presents a significant opportunity for DHF hardware members able to provide independently verified environmental data and demonstrate responsible supply chain management.

What is an EPD?

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardised, independently verified document that provides transparent information about the environmental impact of a product throughout its lifecycle.

EPDs are increasingly being requested to support:

• Net Zero and carbon reduction targets
• Sustainable procurement requirements
• Whole-life carbon assessments
• BREEAM and other environmental assessment schemes
• ESG and sustainability reporting obligations

EPDs provide specifiers and procurement teams with credible, comparable environmental information to support informed purchasing decisions.

What is CBAM?

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a developing carbon reporting and taxation framework designed to address carbon emissions associated with imported goods.

CBAM aims to:

• Reduce “carbon leakage”
• Encourage lower-carbon manufacturing
• Improve emissions transparency within global supply chains
• Create fairer competition between domestic and imported products

Although initially focused on high-carbon sectors and raw materials, CBAM is expected to influence wider construction and manufacturing supply chains over time, particularly where steel, aluminium and other carbon-intensive materials are involved.

How CBAM Complements EPDs

EPDs and CBAM are closely aligned in promoting transparency and accountability around environmental performance.

Together they support:

• Greater visibility of embodied carbon
• Improved supply chain transparency
• More informed specification decisions
• Better carbon reporting across projects
• Sustainable procurement strategies

While CBAM focuses primarily on carbon emissions associated with imported products and materials, EPDs provide broader lifecycle environmental data covering:

• Raw material extraction
• Manufacturing impacts
• Transportation
• Installation
• Use phase
• End-of-life disposal or recycling

As public sector procurement increasingly focuses on whole-life carbon and ESG performance, organisations are likely to favour suppliers able to provide both:

• Transparent environmental data through EPDs
• Clear understanding of carbon impacts across the supply chain

dhf members who are able to demonstrate proactive environmental reporting can be found here.