ISO 14025:2026 and the Global Embodied Carbon Data Challenge: What It Means for the Built Environment

As the built environment moves toward net zero, attention is shifting beyond operational energy to another critical source of emissions: The carbon embodied in the materials used to construct buildings. Measuring embodied carbon, however, depends on something the construction industry still lacks at scale – consistent, credible, and comparable product-level environmental data.

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are becoming an increasingly important tool for filling that gap. An EPD is an independently verified, life-cycle-assessment-based statement of a product’s environmental impacts, giving project teams a basis for evaluating material choices.

But EPD availability and quality vary significantly across products and markets. Even where EPDs exist, they may not cover every product being considered, and data may reflect different manufacturing processes, energy systems, or regional conditions. The result is a global challenge: project teams are increasingly being asked to make lower-carbon material decisions without always having the data needed to make meaningful comparisons.

What ISO 14025:2026 Changes

Published in June 2026, ISO 14025:2026 is the first major revision to the EPD standard in nearly two decades. The revised standard strengthens the framework for EPD programs and the environmental information they communicate. One important change is the retirement of the previous “Type I/II/III” terminology and the definition of an EPD specifically as an independently verified LCA statement. The revision also points toward greater harmonization of Product Category Rules (PCRs), helping establish a more consistent basis for comparing products across markets. The standard also introduces stronger requirements around EPD software, verifier independence, and conflicts of interest.

Perhaps most notably, ISO 14025:2026 introduces a prospective EPD category, allowing producers to document planned or pilot production processes before they reach full commercial scale. This could help emerging low-carbon technologies demonstrate environmental performance earlier in their development. Together, these changes can help create more consistent, credible, and internationally comparable product-level environmental data.

How Different Markets Are Driving Adoption

The impact of ISO 14025:2026 will vary by market. Regulation, procurement, international trade, and customer demand are all creating different pathways toward greater EPD adoption.

Europe: Regulation

Europe provides one of the clearest examples of regulation driving demand for product-level environmental information. The revised Construction Products Regulation connects CE marking and future building-level carbon disclosure with EN 15804 EPD data. ISO 14025:2026 strengthens the broader framework supporting this growing demand for standardized environmental information.

United States: Procurement

In the United States, government procurement has helped drive EPD adoption. The GSA’s Buy Clean pilot required EPDs for materials including asphalt, concrete, glass, and steel across more than $2 billion of federal construction, helping catalyze thousands of new EPDs. The updated ISO standard can further strengthen the credibility of the environmental information increasingly used in procurement and construction markets.

India: Export Markets and Emerging Policy

India illustrates another pathway. Cement, steel, and aluminium producers face growing pressure to provide verifiable emissions data as international markets increasingly incorporate carbon into trade requirements, including the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. For Indian manufacturers, greater international alignment of EPD methodologies could make product-level environmental data more useful across borders while reducing the need for separate studies for different markets.

Across other markets in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, demand is similarly being shaped by a combination of regulation, international investment, green building programs, export requirements, and customer expectations.

The Remaining Challenge

ISO 14025:2026 does not solve the embodied carbon data problem overnight. There are still too few EPDs covering the full range of products and materials required by building projects, particularly bulk structural materials and products manufactured in emerging markets.

For project teams, the goal should therefore not simply be to find a product with an EPD. The more important question is whether the available data provides a credible and comparable basis for making a lower-carbon decision.

This is particularly important for net-zero building projects. At GNFZ, our Net Zero Certification program framework uses a weighted, point-based evaluation aligned with EN 15804, allowing Design and Construction projects to continue evaluating embodied carbon even when complete EPD coverage is not yet available.

The objective is not to lower the bar for credible environmental data. It is to recognize the reality of today's market while continuing to push toward better information, greater transparency, and stronger verification.

From Disclosure to Comparable Evidence

The construction industry's embodied carbon challenge ultimately comes down to data. ISO 14025:2026 does not create the supply of low-carbon materials or eliminate the cost of generating product-level data. What it does is strengthen the framework governing the environmental information the market relies on.

That matters because construction is increasingly global. Manufacturers need to communicate environmental performance across borders. Project teams need confidence that they are comparing products on a meaningful basis. And owners need credible evidence that material choices support their net zero objectives.

Better standards for the data we already have — and clearer pathways for generating the data we still need — are essential steps toward making embodied carbon measurable, comparable, and ultimately manageable across the global built environment.