Why Experienced LCA Practitioners Still Feel Unprepared for Their First EPD
Have you been building Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for years, yet still wonder why producing an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) can feel like a completely different discipline?
If so, you're not the only experienced LCA practitioner asking that question.
Over the past few months, we interviewed participants from our EPD Practitioner Training to understand why they joined the program and what they gained from it. Although they came from different industries, countries, and seniority levels, their experiences were remarkably similar.
They were trying to bridge the gap between knowing how to perform an LCA and understanding how to create an EPD that meets EPD requirements and is ready for the EPD verification process.
That transition from LCA to EPD involves more than understanding LCA methodology. It requires knowing how to navigate the Environmental Product Declaration process, interpret Product Category Rules (PCRs), make EPD-specific modelling decisions, prepare the required EPD documentation, and understand what an EPD verifier looks for.
In this article, we use our participants' experiences and feedback to explore the difference between LCA and EPD, why experienced LCA practitioners can still feel unprepared to produce a verification-ready EPD independently, and what helps them move from uncertainty to confidence.
1. “I Already Know LCA. So Why Does Producing an EPD Feel So Different?”
Almost every participant in our EPD Training already had substantial Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) experience before joining the program. None of them were beginners.
Yet they all described wanting to understand what it actually takes to produce an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
That tells us something important: producing an EPD isn't simply performing an LCA and filling in an EPD template.
Moving from LCA to EPD requires a different professional capability, one that many participants described as the natural next step after building a solid foundation in LCA methodology.
One of our course participants, Niki Loura, a Sustainability Engineer at Aviant, was already developing Product Carbon Footprints and Life Cycle Assessments across multiple business units before joining the program.
She wanted to understand what happens after the LCA modelling is complete: how to move from a technically sound LCA to a verification-ready EPD and confidently navigate the EPD verification process.
Cara Tobin was in a similar position.
Working with innovative construction materials, she already understood LCA methodology. What she wanted to understand was how those LCA results become an Environmental Product Declaration that meets EPD requirements and that customers, EPD program operators, and verifiers will actually accept.
Our participant Lokesh Anaparthi, Global LCA & EPD Manager at Wavin (Orbia), had spent around five years working in LCA, implemented enterprise LCA software, and managed consultants producing EPDs around the world.
Even with that level of experience, he joined because he wanted to validate his knowledge and make sure there weren't any gaps in his understanding of the complete EPD process, including how EPD standards and requirements are applied in practice.
As our participants consistently highlighted, knowing how to perform an LCA alone doesn't automatically prepare you to develop a verification-ready EPD.
Beyond LCA knowledge, our participants discovered they needed to develop the practical EPD skills to understand how EPD standards and Product Category Rules (PCRs) are applied, how technical and EPD modelling decisions are made, what EPD documentation and verifiers require, and what it takes to turn LCA knowledge into a verification-ready Environmental Product Declaration.
For experienced LCA professionals, developing this practical EPD expertise can be the natural next step from knowing how to perform an LCA to confidently taking ownership of the EPD development and verification process.
2. Why Aren’t EPD Standards and Product Category Rules Enough to Produce an EPD?
EPD standards and Product Category Rules (PCRs) define what is required, but they don’t always explain how those requirements should be applied to real EPD projects. This is where practical EPD experience and professional judgement become important.
Many practitioners assume that once they've read the ISO standards, EPD standards, or Product Category Rules (PCRs), they'll know how to produce an EPD.
In reality, reading the standards can sometimes create even more uncertainty.
You may even find yourself reading the Environmental Product Declaration requirements several times, yet still not feeling confident enough to produce a verification-ready EPD or navigate the EPD verification process independently.
If you've ever thought,
"I understand what the EPD standard is saying, but I'm still not sure how I would apply it on a real EPD project,"
you're not alone.
That was one of the strongest recurring themes across our customer interviews.
While EPD standards and Product Category Rules tell you what is required, they don't always tell you how experienced EPD practitioners apply those requirements in practice.
The standards define the EPD requirements.
But they don't walk you through the technical and EPD modelling decisions experienced practitioners make every day when developing an Environmental Product Declaration.
Questions such as:
How should a Product Category Rule (PCR) be interpreted?
Which EPD modelling decisions require professional judgement?
What supporting EPD documentation will an EPD verifier expect?
How much evidence is enough for EPD verification?
What assumptions is an EPD verifier likely to challenge?
What are common reasons an EPD fails verification?
Those answers usually aren't found in the standards themselves.
They're learned through practical experience with the Environmental Product Declaration process.
This was one of the biggest breakthroughs participants described after completing our EPD Training.
Cara Tobin explained that one of her biggest breakthroughs was finally understanding the difference between LCA and EPD, not just conceptually, but in practice.
By understanding how LCA scopes translate into EPD modules, how EPD templates are structured, and how the complete EPD process fits together, she gained a much clearer picture of what it actually takes to develop an EPD and prepare it for verification.
Similarly, Lokesh Anaparthi described gaining confidence by understanding how EPD verifiers evaluate submissions and how EPD standards and requirements are applied in practice.
Rather than simply learning another standard, participants learned how experienced EPD practitioners interpret Product Category Rules, apply EPD requirements, make technical and modelling decisions, and prepare the EPD documentation needed for a verification-ready submission.
That's exactly why practical experience is so important.
It makes the difference between understanding EPD standards and requirements and feeling confident enough to apply them throughout the EPD development and verification process.
3. What Do LCA Practitioners Need to Produce Verification-Ready EPDs?
Experienced LCA practitioners need more than knowledge of EPD standards and requirements to produce a verification-ready EPD. They also need practical experience applying Product Category Rules (PCRs), making technical and modelling decisions, preparing EPD documentation, and understanding how EPD verifiers evaluate submissions.
One of the strongest themes across all of our EPD Practitioner Training participant interviews was confidence.
Not the confidence that comes from learning another EPD standard, Product Category Rule (PCR), or guidance document.
The confidence to say:
"I can take ownership of this EPD project."
After completing our EPD course, participants gained the confidence to prepare verification-ready EPDs because they now understood the complete Environmental Product Declaration process, including:
How Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are developed
How EPD verifiers think and evaluate submissions
What EPD modelling and technical decisions need to be made
What EPD documentation verifiers expect
Where professional judgement is required when applying EPD standards and Product Category Rules (PCRs)
What good practice looks like throughout the EPD development and verification process
How an LCA becomes a verification-ready Environmental Product Declaration
For Niki Loura, that meant feeling confident enough to manage EPD projects internally instead of relying on external EPD consultants.
For Cara Tobin, it meant being able to work independently and clearly explain to clients the difference between LCA and EPD, and why an Environmental Product Declaration is much more than a standard LCA report.
For Lokesh Anaparthi, already an experienced Global LCA and EPD Manager, it meant working more efficiently because he better understood how EPD verifiers evaluate submissions, how EPD requirements are applied in practice, and where the critical technical decisions lie.
None of these outcomes were about acquiring more theoretical LCA or EPD knowledge.
They were about becoming confident enough to take ownership of the EPD development and verification process, trust their own technical judgement, and develop the in-house EPD expertise needed to independently produce verification-ready EPDs.
4. Practical Experience Matters When Learning to Produce EPDs
One of the aspects of our EPD Practitioner Training that every participant found most valuable was its practical nature.
Beyond the theory, participants gain hands-on experience by working on real EPD projects and receiving feedback from experienced EPD practitioners throughout the program. This practical approach allows participants to experience the Environmental Product Declaration process and understand what it actually takes to produce an EPD and prepare it for verification.
None of our participants' biggest breakthroughs came from memorising another EPD standard. Instead, they came from understanding why experienced practitioners make the decisions they do throughout the EPD development and verification process.
Interestingly, each participant described this practical value in a slightly different way.
For Niki Loura, one of the key realisations was that understanding system boundaries, EPD modelling logic, and the reasoning behind technical decisions mattered more than software-specific troubleshooting. What proved most valuable was understanding the principles behind the decisions she would need to make when working on an Environmental Product Declaration and preparing a verification-ready EPD.
For Cara Tobin, the practical side of the program helped make the difference between LCA and EPD much clearer. She particularly valued learning how LCA scopes translate into EPD modules, as well as the opportunity to interact with an experienced EPD verifier. She also highlighted the value of learning alongside participants working on very different products, from furniture to binders.
For Lokesh Anaparthi, who already had around five years of LCA experience and was managing EPD activities globally, the practical insight into how EPD verifiers evaluate documents and how EPD standards and requirements are applied helped increase his confidence and efficiency when working on EPDs.
Across the interviews, participants consistently highlighted the same experiences as the moments that made everything click:
✅ Working through real EPD projects
✅ Discussing real EPD modelling and technical challenges
✅ Receiving feedback from experienced EPD practitioners
✅ Hearing how EPD verifiers evaluate submissions
✅ Understanding how EPD standards, Product Category Rules (PCRs), and requirements are applied in practice
✅ Learning what EPD documentation is needed for verification
✅ Learning alongside professionals working on completely different products and industries
What we heard repeatedly was that confidence didn't come from reading another EPD standard, Product Category Rule, or guidance document.
It came from seeing how experienced practitioners interpret EPD requirements, make technical and modelling decisions, prepare documentation, and navigate the EPD verification process in practice.
That's why we designed the EPD Practitioner Training around real EPD projects rather than theory alone. The goal is to give experienced LCA professionals practical exposure to the complete Environmental Product Declaration process, from LCA to EPD verification.
Our participants consistently told us that practical exposure to the complete EPD process gave them the understanding and confidence they had been missing: helping them move from knowing how to perform an LCA to understanding how to produce an EPD and feeling confident enough to develop a verification-ready Environmental Product Declaration independently.
EPD Practitioner Training: Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the EPD Practitioner Training designed for?
The EPD Practitioner Training is designed for professionals who already have a solid foundation in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) but want to build the practical expertise needed to produce verification-ready Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).
It is particularly relevant for experienced LCA practitioners who understand the methodology but want to feel more confident applying EPD standards and Product Category Rules (PCRs), making technical and modelling decisions, preparing EPD documentation, and ultimately taking ownership of EPD projects independently.
What will I learn in the EPD Practitioner Training?
The EPD Practitioner Training focuses on what happens when you move from knowing how to perform an LCA to actually producing a verification-ready EPD.
Through practical EPD projects, participants learn how EPD standards and Product Category Rules (PCRs) are applied in practice, how to make and justify technical and modelling decisions, where professional judgement is required, what EPD documentation verifiers expect, and how to navigate the EPD development and verification process with greater confidence.
Does the EPD Practitioner Training provide direct, hands-on guidance?
Yes. The EPD Practitioner Training combines theory with practical experience by giving participants the opportunity to work through real EPD projects and receive feedback from experienced EPD practitioners.
The focus is not simply on understanding EPD standards and Product Category Rules (PCRs), but on learning how they are applied in practice: from making technical and EPD modelling decisions to preparing the documentation needed for verification. This practical experience was one of the aspects participants consistently described as most valuable.
Will the EPD Practitioner Training help me prepare an EPD for third-party verification?
The training is designed to help experienced LCA professionals understand what it takes to develop a verification-ready Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
Participants learn how EPD verifiers evaluate submissions, what supporting EPD documentation is expected, where professional judgement is required, and which technical and modelling decisions may need to be explained or justified during the EPD verification process. The aim is to help you approach verification with a clearer understanding of both the requirements and the reasoning behind your decisions.
Can organisations use the training to build in-house EPD expertise?
Yes. The EPD Practitioner Training is designed for professionals who already have a solid foundation in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and want to develop the practical EPD expertise needed to take greater ownership of EPD projects internally.
For some participants, this meant becoming more confident managing EPD projects in-house rather than relying as heavily on external consultants. The goal is to help experienced LCA professionals move from knowing how to perform an LCA to being able to take ownership of the EPD development and verification process.
What makes the EPD Practitioner Training different from software-focused EPD courses?
The EPD Practitioner Training is not centred around learning one specific LCA software tool. Instead, the focus is on understanding the principles and professional judgement behind the decisions involved in producing a verification-ready EPD.
That includes understanding system boundaries, EPD modelling logic, Product Category Rules, technical decisions, documentation requirements, and the EPD verification process. As one participant found, understanding the reasoning behind these decisions proved more valuable than software-specific troubleshooting.
Do you already have a solid foundation in LCA but don't yet feel confident producing a verification-ready EPD independently?
Is your goal to become a trusted in-house expert who can lead EPD projects?
Then our EPD Practitioner Training might be the natural next step.
The training is designed to help experienced LCA professionals bridge the gap between knowing how to perform an LCA and having the practical expertise to confidently produce verification-ready EPDs.
