EPD First, HPD Fast: Double ROI, Half Effort
Collecting cradle-to-gate numbers for an EPD feels like herding every invoice, utility bill, and transport ticket your plant has printed in a year. The good news: once that spreadsheet is tamed, ninety percent of what a Health Product Declaration asks for is already in your files. Turning one disclosure into two is a quick extra lap that multiplies bid-day advantages without multiplying headaches.
Two labels, one data engine
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) explains a product’s environmental footprint, while a Health Product Declaration (HPD) spills the beans on ingredient hazards. Different audiences, same raw inputs: bill of materials, supplier CAS numbers, energy and water use, mass flows. Finish the heavy lift once and you can repurpose it instead of rebuilding it.
Data collection is the real time sink
Industry surveys peg data gathering at 2–3 months, dwarfing the couple of weeks spent on modeling or document layout (Hedgehog Knowledge Base, 2024). Verification clock aside, creating an HPD after an EPD often means swapping column headings rather than chasing new numbers.
The overlap by the numbers
- Materials and weights: identical in both forms.
- Supplier disclosure: 70-80 % crossover when CAS numbers are pulled early.
- Production energy and emissions: required for EPD, optional context in HPD but already in hand.
Reliable statistics on exact overlap vary by product family, yet practitioners report needing fewer than ten fresh data points for a standard HPD after completing an EPD. Hard-to-source figures remain scarce—transparency is still catching up across supply chains.
Market demand makes the combo hard to ignore
The Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator now stores close to 200,000 EPDs for design teams to filter (Building Transparency, 2025). On the material-health side, 40,000 products from 800 + manufacturers already publish HPDs (HPD Collaborative, 2023). Specs that ask for both labels are no longer niche; skipping either one knocks you off shortlists.
Extra LEED credits, zero extra scramble
Under LEED v4’s BPDO credits, project teams can earn up to two points for material-ingredient reporting when they stock at least twenty HPD-backed products (USGBC Material Ingredients Guide, 2024). EPDs snag their own two points. Having both in the catalog lets sales teams pitch four easy points on every project, a tidy edge when margins ride on a fraction of a point.
Dollars and sense
Reliable public ROI averages are thin, but contractors tracking awarded bids in low-carbon tenders report double-digit win-rate lifts when products carry both labels. Given that an incremental HPD often runs less than 15 % of the original EPD budget, payback can land in a single mid-size order. Its obvious why finance directors nod quickly once the math is spelled out.
Pitfalls to dodge
Finding supplier CAS gaps late is the classic snag. Build a simple request template up front, flag confidentiality workaround options, and remind vendors that HPD versions can hide trade-secret percentages while still disclosing hazards. Silence today equals rush chaos tomorrow.
Choosing the right help
Look for partners who
- pre-map EPD data fields to HPD Builder schemas,
- run white-glove supplier outreach, and
- offer fixed-calendar verification slots to keep the sprint tight. Software-only shops may leave your team driving the follow-ups; service-heavy outfits that own the wrangling cut cycle time dramatically.
The bigger picture
Doubling up on disclosures is not paperwork vanity. It stacks carbon transparency with human-health clarity in one move, earns more points per product on every green-building scorecard, and turns a sunk data-collection cost into a recurring revenue booster. When one spreadsheet unlocks two stamps and four LEED points, the only real question is why stop at an EPD.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does creating an HPD after an EPD still require new third-party verification?
Yes. HPDs must be checked against the HPD Open Standard by an approved reviewer, but the process is faster because underlying data were already verified for the EPD.
Will confidential ingredient data leak if we reuse EPD data in an HPD?
No. The HPD format allows proprietary substances to be masked while still showing hazard profiles, so you can stay transparent without revealing trade secrets.
How soon after publishing an EPD can we issue the HPD?
Many manufacturers release an HPD within four to six weeks of their EPD because no additional plant measurements are required.
Do both documents expire at the same time?
Typically, EPDs and HPDs each remain valid for five years; aligning update cycles cuts future admin effort as well.
About the Author
Walker Ryan is a climate-tech entrepreneur focused on driving industrial decarbonization through better data. As the founder and CEO of Parq, he helps manufacturers generate high-quality, third-party–verified carbon disclosures at scale—accelerating a traditionally slow and expensive process. Before starting Parq, Walker led over $200 million in sustainability-focused investments as VP of Strategy & Growth at ReStream Solutions, following earlier experience in investment banking at Deutsche Bank. He brings a rare mix of capital markets expertise and hands-on sustainability knowledge to tackling the infrastructure of industrial emissions.
