Embodied carbon in the Netherlands, manufacturer playbook

What is binding at permitting, and what changes in 2026

Today, Dutch permits require an MPG score for new homes and offices. The government has confirmed a new package takes effect on July 1, 2026 that tightens the office requirement by roughly 15 percent and extends mandatory MPG limits to other building types, with a tailored rule for small dwellings (Volkshuisvesting Nederland, 2025). Under the updated method, the formal MPG limits are set at 1.55 for offices and 1.60 for housing, with special formulas for very small units (Staatscourant, 2025). Additional uses such as schools, shops, healthcare and sport facilities receive new limits, typically 1.85 (Staatsblad, 2025).

Think of MPG as a scoreboard. The scoring rules are changing, not the sport. The weghing set expands to 19 impact categories aligned with EN 15804+A2, which shifts results even when your product stays identical (NMD, 2025).

Where product EPDs move the needle

Design teams calculate MPG using the Nationale Milieudatabase. Category 1 entries are product‑specific, third‑party verified, and they generally avoid the conservative penalties that come with generic placeholders. When your EPD sits in NMD, your real performance shows up in the model rather than a worst‑case stand‑in. That can be the difference between a bid that fits the budget and one that needs value engineering.

The local publishing lane most teams choose

Stichting MRPI is the Dutch EPD program operator whose declarations flow directly into NMD. MRPI marked its 1,000th EPD in November 2025, a handy signal that specifiers expect product‑specific data in this market (MRPI, 2025). If you sell into Dutch projects without an MRPI‑registered EPD, engineers often must default to generic datasets that make your product look heavier than it is.

Civil works tenders price in embodied impact

For infrastructure, public clients evaluate environmental cost using MKI and the DuboCalc tool. Rijkswaterstaat introduced MKI‑W, a clearer way to translate impact to a monetary value in awards. On one highlighted project, the MKI value was cut from about €9.2 million to €4 million by using reclaimed asphalt, concrete and steel, which directly improved the bid’s standing (Rijkswaterstaat, 2025). Since June 2024, MKI‑W has been the standard approach for works that use sustainability as a gunning criterion (Rijkswaterstaat, 2024).

If your products lack robust, current EPDs, contractors cant claim the reductions your materials enable, and you lose price‑equivalent value in tenders.

Timeline watch: datasets and whole‑life carbon

The NMD’s A2 dataset and updated Bepalingsmethode become the formal basis as the 2026 rules come into force, so teams switching early avoid last‑minute recalcs (NMD, 2025). Separately, the EU’s revised EPBD was published in May 2024 and must be implemented by May 2026, with whole‑life carbon disclosure ramping later in the decade. Expect requests for cradle‑to‑grave clarity to rise, even when a project’s immediate trigger is just MPG (Rijksoverheid, 2025).

Commercial takeaway for manufacturers

MPG and MKI are not box‑ticking exercises in the Netherlands. They are currency. EPDs that land as Category 1 in NMD shorten design back‑and‑forth, preserve price in bids, and keep you in the running when projects choose among equals. We’ve seen teams win weeks by avoiding generic data substitutions, and weeks still matter in 2026’s pipeline.

How to be ready with less friction

• Publish product‑specific EPDs via a route recognized by MRPI so they appear in NMD without manual rework (MRPI, 2025).
• Model your hero assemblies with A2 factors now, then lock packaging, transport, and energy references for the Dutch market so permitting submissions stay consistent (NMD, 2025).
• For civil products, prepare DuboCalc‑friendly data extracts that help contractors realize MKI gains in their bids (Rijkswaterstaat, 2024).

We favor partners and processes that take the data hunt off your R&D and plant teams so they can focus on throughput while someone else wrangles meters, mix designs, and utility bills. Less drama, more declarations.

Bottom line for the Netherlands

The rulebook is tightening for offices and widening to many more building types in 2026, and procurement in civil works already turns embodied impact into euros during award. Put your EPDs where Dutch models look first, and you convert performance into spec wins rather than explanations.