By Kristin Brubaker
Head of Sustainable Construction Services
If you work on LEED projects, you have probably seen the acronyms EPD and HPD in credit language, product data sheets, and submittal reviews. They look and sound similar and often appear on the same product. But they are not the same, and confusing them can cost your project LEED points.
This guide explains what EPDs and HPDs are, how they differ, when you need each, and what has changed between LEED v4/4.1 and v5. It also covers the easiest way to manage both without drowning in PDFs.
The Short Answer
- An EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) provides information about a product’s environmental footprint, especially its carbon impact.
- An HPD (Health Product Declaration) tells you about a product’s chemical ingredients and their potential health effects.
Think of it this way: an EPD is a product’s climate report card, and an HPD is its health report card. Both matter. They just answer different questions.
What Is an EPD?
An Environmental Product Declaration is a standardized document that reports the environmental impact of a building product across its life cycle. That includes raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, use, and end of life.
EPDs follow strict international rules, specifically ISO 14025 and EN 15804, and are verified by a third party. The most important metric is global warming potential (GWP), expressed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (kg CO2e), sometimes referred to as embodied carbon.
EPDs come in two main types:
- Industry-wide (generic) EPDs — cover an average product for a whole product category.
- Product-specific EPDs — cover a single manufacturer’s specific product.
Product-specific EPDs are more valuable for LEED certifications.
What Is an HPD?
A Health Product Declaration is a standardized document that lists the chemical ingredients of a building product and flags any known health hazards. HPDs follow the Health Product Declaration Open Standard.
Instead of carbon data, an HPD focuses on things like:
- What chemicals are in the product and at what percentages
- Whether any of those chemicals appear on hazard lists (like the GreenScreen List, REACH SVHC, or California Prop 65)
- Whether the product has any residuals of concern from the manufacturing process
HPDs help project teams avoid products that contain chemicals linked to respiratory issues, developmental effects, or long-term health risks.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | EPD | HPD |
| What it reports | Environmental impacts (carbon, water, energy) | Chemical ingredients and health hazards |
| Main standard | ISO 14025 / EN 15804 | HPD Open Standard |
| Key metric | Global warming potential (kg CO2e) | Hazard screening of ingredients |
Many manufacturers now provide both an EPD and an HPD for a single product. They work together and do not replace each other.
Where EPDs and HPDs Fit in LEED v4 and v4.1
Under LEED v4/4.1, EPDs and HPDs both live in the Materials and Resources (MR) category under the Building Product Disclosure and Optimization (BPDO) credits:
- MRc2: BPDO — Environmental Product Declarations rewards projects using products with EPDs. Option 1 gives credit for sourcing 20 different products with EPDs. Option 2 rewards environmental impact reduction by selecting products with a Life Cycle Impact Reduction Action Plan or Life Cycle Impact Reductions in Embodied Carbon.
- MRc4: BPDO — Material Ingredients rewards products with ingredient disclosure, which is where HPDs shine. Option 1 gives credit for 20 different products with ingredient disclosure. Option 2 rewards products that have been screened and optimized for health.
Each BPDO credit is worth up to 2 points. For many project teams, these credits are the difference between one LEED certification level and another.
What Changes in LEED v5
LEED v5 restructures the Materials and Resources section with embodied carbon at the center. Here is what that means for EPDs and HPDs:
- EPDs become even more important. LEED v5 includes a new prerequisite (MRp2) that requires all projects to quantify and assess embodied carbon using a whole-building life-cycle assessment. Product-specific EPDs are a core input for this analysis.
- BPDO credits are restructured. Instead of three separate credits for environmental, sourcing, and ingredients, v5 consolidates product-level requirements and links them more directly to carbon reduction outcomes.
- HPDs still matter. Material ingredient reporting and optimization continue to earn points, and HPDs remain among the cleanest ways to demonstrate compliance. Cradle to Cradle Certified® products also offer a strong path because they address ingredients, sourcing, and carbon in a single certification.
The bottom line: if your team used EPDs and HPDs under v4 or v4.1, you will still use them in v5. EPDs, in particular, will carry more weight because they feed directly into the required carbon analysis.
Common Questions Teams Ask
Is an EPD the same as a Declare label? No. A Declare label is a simpler, ingredient-focused disclosure closer to an HPD. EPDs focus on environmental impact.
If a product has a Cradle to Cradle certification, do I still need an EPD and HPD? Cradle to Cradle products can count for multiple LEED credits on their own, but having both an EPD and HPD in addition gives you more flexibility in how you claim points.
Can an EPD from five years ago still count? EPDs have a valid life of five years from their issue date. Always check the expiration before submitting.
What about product-specific EPDs vs. industry-wide EPDs? Product-specific EPDs count for more than industry-wide EPDs under LEED. For v5, product-specific EPDs are required.
The Real Problem: Tracking All of This
This is where most project teams hit the wall. A typical LEED project has hundreds of building products, each with its own EPD, HPD, or both. Documents expire. Formats vary. Subcontractors forget to send them. Every time a product substitution happens, tracking must start over.
Most teams still manage this with spreadsheets, shared drives, and email threads. It works until it doesn’t. One missed EPD expiration date or one uncounted product can cost a credit.
How Green Badger Makes EPD and HPD Tracking Easy
Green Badger was built to handle exactly this kind of tracking. Instead of chasing PDFs and rebuilding spreadsheets every submittal cycle, your team can:
- Search a database of tens of thousands of verified products with EPDs, HPDs, and other certifications already loaded.
- Auto-populate product attributes so you don’t have to read every PDF line by line.
- See live credit progress for every BPDO credit (v4/v4.1) and the new v5 material and carbon credits.
- Invite subcontractors directly into the platform so they can upload documentation without creating a bottleneck for your sustainability lead.
The result: teams spend less time hunting for paperwork and more time making product choices that actually move the sustainability needle.
The Bottom Line
EPDs and HPDs are two different tools for two different questions. EPDs measure environmental impact, especially carbon. HPDs measure chemical ingredients and health effects. You will likely need both on most LEED projects. Under LEED v5, EPDs become even more important due to the new embodied carbon prerequisite.
Whether your next project pursues LEED v4.1 or jumps into v5, the tracking challenge is the same: many products, many documents, and a tight deadline. Green Badger turns that chaos into a streamlined workflow, so your team can focus on building better buildings instead of chasing paperwork.
Ready to see how Green Badger handles EPDs and HPDs for your project? Request a demo.
