EU climate legislation is shifting from company level to product level. As a result, life cycle assessments (LCAs) are now becoming a fundamental requirement for selling products on the European market and for meeting the expectations of customers and business partners throughout the value chain.

As we have previously written about (read more here), the EU has, through the so‑called Omnibus I package, rolled back parts of the sustainability reporting requirements at company level, meaning that these requirements now in practice apply only to the very largest companies. This should not, however, be interpreted as a retreat from the EU’s sustainability ambitions.

On the contrary. In parallel, a range of regulations is being rolled out that shifts the focus from how companies report to which products are actually allowed to be placed on the EU market. For companies that manufacture, distribute, or sell physical products, this means that sustainability performance must be verifiable, not merely described. The tool for this is life cycle assessment (LCA).

A life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic method for calculating a product’s climate and environmental impacts across its entire life cycle. The results are preferably compiled in an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), a third‑party verified document that enables products to be compared in a transparent and reliable manner.

EPDs have long been used within the construction and infrastructure sectors, but demand for EPDs is now spreading across additional industries. ESPR introduces digital product passports, machine‑readable data objects intended to accompany the product and provide procurers, investors, and authorities with access to verified product information. EPDs do not constitute a direct basis for the product passports, but they represent a well‑established method for producing the environmental indicators required by the passports. With a typical validity period of five years, an EPD constitutes a practical and cost‑effective tool for continuously meeting both regulatory and market‑driven requirements.

The requirements for life cycle assessments stem from two directions: legislation and the market.

On the legislative side, ESPR entails that concrete information and performance requirements per product category will be introduced progressively up to 2030.

On the market side, an increasing number of customers and business partners are setting their own requirements for LCA‑based product data—either because they need to report their own emissions (Scope 3), or to comply with procurement policies linked to climate targets. This means that requirements are pushed upstream in the value chain, reaching suppliers that may not themselves be directly subject to any specific legislation.

Svalner Atlas’s ESG advisory team works continuously with companies across the entire value chain to develop and apply LCA and EPDs. We combine technical expertise in life cycle assessment with ongoing monitoring of the regulatory landscape.

We can support you in:

• understanding which requirements are relevant for your specific business,
• developing LCA calculations for your products,
• ensuring the quality of underlying data, and
• positioning your company in light of upcoming requirements and increasing market expectations.

You are welcome to get in touch for an initial discussion on what is most relevant for your organisation.