Whole-Life Carbon: Turning EN 15978 Numbers into Sales Power
Many building owners now require whole-life-carbon calculations before they sign a purchase order. If your product’s EPD cannot feed those calculators straight out of the box, specifiers swipe left. Here is how EN 15978 and the humble EPD data line up—plus why manufacturers who connect the dots close deals faster.
EN 15978 in Plain English
EN 15978 is the spreadsheet template behind every credible whole-life-carbon study. It tracks a product’s impacts from cradle to grave using life-cycle modules A1 through C4. Skip a module and the totals flop. For manufacturers, that means the quality of your upstream data now shapes how often you make the bid list.
Where EPDs Slot In
An EPD already reports modules A1 to A3. That covers raw materials and factory operations—the hotspots most architects probe first. Feed those figures into an EN 15978 model and you supply up to 70 percent of the calculation instantly (NMD, 2025). Less back-and-forth email, more “add to spec” clicks.
Mind the Missing Numbers
Modules A4 to C4 often live outside an EPD because transport, use phase, and end-of-life differ by project. A lightweight steel panel shipped 50 miles by rail looks very different from one trucked 500 miles (IBC, 2024). Flag the gaps early so clients can insert realistic logistics rather than pad with worst-case guesses.
Quality Beats Quantity
Specifiers tell us a one-page EPD with audited data feels safer than a ten-page data dump riddled with assumptions. Third-party verified numbers slash the risk multipliers used in many design tools, trimming whole-life totals by up to 15 percent for common products (DGNB, 2025).
Speed Wins Bids
Smart EPD’s digital registry plugs straight into popular carbon calculators. Manufacturers publishing there report bid turnaround times shrinking by two weeks on average (Smart EPD, 2025). Faster numbers mean fewer extensions and a tighter sales funnel.
Tie It All Together
An EPD is no longer a trophy for the sustainability report. It is the API key that unlocks whole-life-carbon assessments under EN 15978. Nail the data once and you let every architect, contractor, and consultant drop your product into their models without a hitch.
Need to sanity-check your own numbers or see how module coverage stacks up? Connect with Eric on LinkedIn and start the conversation.
About the Author
Eric works at the intersection of sustainability, regulation, and business strategy, helping manufacturers navigate the evolving landscape of EPDs and LCAs. Having spoken with hundreds of teams across North America, brings a deep understanding of what drives ROI, what regulators are asking for, and how companies can stay ahead with smart, scalable approaches to environmental reporting.
