ISO 14025 is the international standard behind Environmental Product Declarations, or EPDs: independently verified reports that put real numbers on a product's environmental impact across its whole life.
An EPD is the plain name for what ISO calls a Type III environmental declaration. If a buyer or a public tender has asked you for one, ISO 14025 is the rulebook behind it.
It settles a single question. How do you report a product's environmental impact so a buyer can trust the numbers and compare them fairly with another product?
An EPD is not a badge that says a product is green. It is a standardised, independently checked report of a product's environmental impact, the good numbers and the bad. It is fast becoming the document that green procurement teams and large buyers want before they will consider you.
In its 2006 edition, ISO 14025 sets out what an EPD has to contain, how the data behind it is produced, and who has to check it before it is published.
It is one of three environmental-label standards in the ISO 14020 family, alongside Type I ecolabels and Type II self-declared claims. Type III, the EPD, is the data-heavy, third-party-verified end of that scale.
The key facts on ISO 14025
ISO 14025 has set the rules for Type III declarations since 2006, and that 2006 edition is still the one in force. These are the details worth quoting when you cite the standard.
| Standard | ISO 14025 |
| Full title | Environmental labels and declarations, Type III environmental declarations, principles and procedures |
| Current edition | 2006 |
| Status | Published and current |
| Type | A principles and procedures standard you conform to, not a certification |
| Published by | ISO/TC 207 (environmental management), subcommittee SC 3 (environmental labelling) |
| Sits within | The ISO 14020 family of environmental labels, as the Type III standard |
Note: Edition and committee confirmed against ISO's catalogue, checked July 2026. ISO 14025 is a principles and procedures standard you conform to. An EPD made under it is independently verified, but there is no "ISO 14025 certificate" for a company or a product.
What an EPD actually is
An Environmental Product Declaration is a short, standardised document that reports the environmental impact of a product across its whole life. The easiest way to picture it is a nutrition label, but for a product's environmental footprint instead of its calories.
Three things make a Type III declaration what it is, and set it apart from most of the green wording on a pack.
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It is quantified. It reports numbers, such as the carbon emissions, energy and water tied to the product, not adjectives like "eco-friendly".
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It is life-cycle based. Those numbers come from a life cycle assessment, the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 method that measures impact from raw materials through manufacture and use to disposal.
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It is independently verified. An outside party checks the data before the declaration is published, so it is not just the maker's word.
One point people miss. An EPD does not tell you a product is good. It reports the impacts, high or low, in a fixed format, and whether they are good depends on what you compare them with. That is exactly why the standard is so strict about comparability.
What ISO 14025 sets out
ISO 14025 does not say what a product's impact should be. It sets the rules for how a declaration is produced, checked and published, so that one EPD means the same thing as the next. A few ideas do most of that work.
| Element | What it does |
|---|---|
| Product Category Rules (PCR) | The product-category rulebook for running the assessment and laying out the report, so two EPDs for the same kind of product are measured the same way. No shared PCR, no fair comparison. |
| Programme operator | The body that runs the EPD programme. It writes the programme instructions, oversees how PCRs are developed, and sets the verification rules, which keeps a whole set of EPDs consistent. |
| Independent verification | An outside verifier checks the assessment and the declaration before publication. The person who runs the assessment and the one who verifies it are kept separate, which is what makes a Type III declaration trustworthy. |
| The assessment underneath | Every EPD sits on a full life cycle assessment done to the ISO 14040 series. The EPD is the published summary, the assessment is the work behind it. |
Because of all this, ISO 14025 is clear that EPDs can only be compared when they follow the same PCR and cover the same function. An EPD for one product is not a licence to claim it beats a rival unless both were measured on the same terms.
How an EPD comes together
Putting the pieces in order, an EPD usually comes together in five steps.
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Find or write the PCR. Locate the Product Category Rules for the product type. If none exist yet, they have to be developed through a programme first.
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Run the assessment. Carry out a life cycle assessment to ISO 14040 and 14044, following the PCR, to produce the environmental numbers.
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Write the declaration. Lay the results out in the EPD format the PCR and programme require.
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Verify. An independent verifier checks the assessment and the EPD before anything is published.
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Publish and register. The programme operator registers and publishes the EPD, usually for a set period, after which it has to be reviewed and renewed.
The order is the point. The PCR comes first because it decides how the assessment is run, and verification comes before publication because that is the step that turns a company's own study into a declaration other people can rely on. The diagram below shows how those stages stack up, from the rulebook to the published declaration.
Who needs an EPD?
ISO 14025 is for the people on either side of an environmental claim, the ones who have to prove one and the ones who rely on it.
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Manufacturers publishing a declaration for a product.
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LCA practitioners and consultants who run the assessment and draft the EPD.
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Programme operators, the bodies that run EPD schemes and their PCRs.
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Independent verifiers, who check a declaration before it goes out.
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Buyers, architects and procurement teams, who ask for EPDs and compare them.
A concrete case makes it clearer. A flooring manufacturer bidding for a public building contract is asked for an EPD on its product. It works to the relevant PCR, has an assessment run and verified, and publishes the declaration through a programme.
The architect can then weigh its numbers against a rival's on equal terms. Without ISO 14025, each "greener" claim in that tender would mean whatever its maker wanted it to.
Where ISO 14025 fits for producers
Here is the honest version for anyone reading this from an extended producer responsibility angle.
ISO 14025 is not an EPR compliance standard, and an EPD will not set your packaging fee. That fee is driven by things like recyclability, which ISO 18604 and the EU packaging rules cover.
What an EPD answers is a different and fast-growing demand: proof. Two things are pushing it up producers' lists.
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Procurement. Green public procurement and large private buyers increasingly ask for an EPD before they will shortlist a product, most of all in construction. No EPD can mean no place at the table.
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Claims under scrutiny. Regulators and buyers are tightening up on vague environmental claims. A verified EPD is the kind of evidence that holds up where a looser "sustainable" or "low-carbon" line would be challenged.
So while ISO 14025 sits to one side of EPR reporting rather than inside it, it is increasingly part of the same job, showing with verified numbers that a product's environmental story is true.
Keeping track of which products have a current EPD, and when each one is due for renewal, is the kind of record that belongs alongside the rest of a producer's compliance reporting.
How ISO 14025 relates to EN 15804 and the LCA family
A few standards cluster around EPDs, and they are easy to mix up. Here is how ISO 14025 relates to the ones you will meet most.
| Standard | What it is | How it relates to ISO 14025 |
|---|---|---|
| EN 15804 | The European core Product Category Rules for construction products | The construction-specific layer on top of ISO 14025. Every European construction EPD follows it. |
| ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 | The life cycle assessment method | The measurement behind an EPD. You run the assessment, then declare it under ISO 14025. |
| ISO 14021 | Type II, self-declared claims | The opposite end. A company's own claim, not independently checked like an EPD. |
| ISO 14024 | Type I ecolabels | A pass or fail seal against set criteria. An EPD reports the numbers instead of awarding a seal. |
| ISO 14020 | The umbrella, revised in 2022 | Sets the general principles for all environmental labels. The three type standards sit under it. |
The short version: ISO 14040 and 14044 measure, ISO 14025 declares, EN 15804 does it for construction, and ISO 14021 and 14024 are the other two ways to make an environmental claim.
ISO 14025 questions answered
Short, self-contained answers to the questions people ask most about ISO 14025.
What is ISO 14025?
ISO 14025 is the international standard, current edition 2006, that sets the principles and procedures for Type III environmental declarations, or EPDs. An EPD is a quantified, life-cycle-based report of a product's environmental impact that is independently verified before it is published.
What is an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)?
An EPD is a standardised document that reports a product's environmental impact across its whole life, based on a life cycle assessment. It reports numbers rather than adjectives, follows a fixed format set by Product Category Rules, and is checked by an independent verifier. It is often described as a nutrition label for a product's environmental footprint.
Is ISO 14025 a certification?
No. It is a principles and procedures standard you conform to, not a scheme a company gets certified against. An EPD made under it is independently verified, but there is no "ISO 14025 certificate". The verification applies to the declaration, not to the company.
What edition of ISO 14025 is current?
The 2006 edition, published by ISO/TC 207. It is still the current international standard for Type III environmental declarations, so when you cite it, cite ISO 14025:2006.
What is a Product Category Rule (PCR)?
A PCR is the product-category-specific rulebook that says how to run the life cycle assessment and lay out the EPD for a given type of product. It exists so that two EPDs for the same kind of product are measured and reported the same way, which is what makes them comparable. Without a shared PCR, two declarations cannot be fairly compared.
Does an EPD have to be independently verified?
Yes. Independent third-party verification is a requirement of ISO 14025, not an optional extra. The person who runs the life cycle assessment and the person who verifies it are kept separate, so the published numbers are not just the maker's own word.
What is the difference between ISO 14025 and EN 15804?
ISO 14025 is the general international standard for Type III EPDs. EN 15804 is the European standard that sets the core Product Category Rules for construction products, applying ISO 14025 to that sector. Construction EPDs in Europe follow EN 15804 on top of ISO 14025, so they share a common structure.
Is an EPD the same as a carbon footprint?
No, though they overlap. A product carbon footprint, measured under ISO 14067, covers one impact, greenhouse gases. An EPD under ISO 14025 usually reports several impacts, carbon among them but also things like water use and resource depletion, and it is independently verified and published in a fixed format.
Is ISO 14025 mandatory?
Not in itself. Publishing an EPD is voluntary under ISO 14025. In practice, buyers, public tenders and sector schemes increasingly ask for one, and in construction an EN 15804 EPD is often expected, which makes it close to essential in some markets.
