EPDs for niche products: checkbox or revenue engine?

Where EPDs actually move revenue

In niches, purchase decisions are often driven by performance, availability, and service. EPDs become revenue movers when they unlock projects that score or screen on carbon. Think universities, hospitals, data centers, and state work that track embodied carbon.

LEED activity signals scale. In 2024, the top ten U.S. states certified 1,437 projects covering more than 414 million square feet, which keeps carbon accounting in daily specs for large construction programs (USGBC, 2025) (USGBC, 2025).

Where EPDs act like insurance

If almost no competitors in your subcategory publish EPDs, the declaration is often a pass card that avoids disqualification. It rarely wins the deal by itself. It simply keeps you in play when the bid form asks for a Type III, product-specific, third‑party verified document and a current PCR.

Procurement gates that flip the switch

Public owners keep tightening rules. A few examples with real dates and numbers:

New York requires EPDs for concrete mixes on state projects starting January 1, 2025, with GWP tracking and staged limits that ratchet over time (OGS, 2025) (OGS, 2025).

Colorado instructs state design teams to specify EPDs for eligible materials in solicitations beginning January 1, 2024, and to submit product EPDs before installation against maximum GWP thresholds set by the Office of the State Architect (OSA, 2024).

California’s Buy Clean sets maximum GWP ceilings that bids must meet for materials such as structural steel, rebar, flat glass, and insulation. Updated limits took effect January 1, 2025. Examples include 1,010 kg CO2e per metric ton for hot‑rolled structural steel, 755 for concrete reinforcing steel, and 1,430 for flat glass. Light‑density mineral wool board is capped at 2.68 kg CO2e per square meter at RSI 1 (DGS, 2025) (DGS, 2025).

The niche split: who cares today

Large public and institutional projects usually tie EPDs to points or policy, so the EPD can shift a no‑bid to a live bid. Smaller private jobs often optimize for lead time or unit price. Many will accept a credible submittal without an EPD. Some will not, and that’s the blind spot.

Size the upside before you spend

Use a fast pass to quantify the stakes.

1. Map the next 12 to 24 months of targeted deals by owner type. Tag which owners reference LEED or Buy Clean style rules.
2. Check if a missing EPD removes you from the bid list or forces punitive default values in carbon accounting. If it does, flag it as at‑risk.
3. Estimate the revenue tied to those at‑risk lines. If even one win covers the effort, you have your answer. Reliable cost averages are hard to pin down because scope and data access vary.

Pick the right PCR without reinventing it

Follow the category norm. A good LCA partner will investigate which PCR competitors use, how soon it updates, and which program operator aligns with your markets. New PCR development is possible, yet most firms piggyback an existing rule to move faster.

Time your first EPD for proof, not perfection

Start with the product most likely to appear on public or institutional scopes. Cover dominant SKUs and the plant most often shipping to that geography. If a product is new, discuss a prospective EPD using early production data, then true up once a full year is available.

Make the work doable for your team

The hidden cost is internal time. Choose a partner that handles the data hunt across utilities, purchasing, and production, not one that hands over a spreadsheet and waits. Ask how they orchestrate plant interviews, resolve gaps, and manage operator submissions so engineers stay on their day jobs. Speed without quality creates rework. Speed with white‑glove collection creates traction, fast.

The practical call

If your pipeline leans public or institutional, an EPD is a revenue engine. If it leans private, it is insurance that keeps options open and keeps you out of penalty calculations. Either way, publishing one well‑scoped, well‑managed EPD is the smallest credible move that buys access now. It is definately better than discovering a gate after the bid drops.