Denisse Luna
The construction industry is under immense pressure to address its environmental impact. Stringent regulations are pushing manufacturers to provide transparent and reliable information about their product's environmental performance. The goal? Achieve ambitious global climate targets by 2030. This shift is led by structured, digital, and actionable data that ensures products meet sustainability standards and gain visibility with specifiers. In this interview, BIMobject Group Director of Expansion & Data Partners Mattias Steinbichler discusses how BIM (Building Information Modeling), EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations), and LCAs (Life Cycle Assessments) empower manufacturers to meet these demands.
With global targets to reduce emissions, manufacturers face pressure to comply with strict sustainability regulations. According to Mattias: ‘’Failure to meet these requirements risks exclusion from key projects, as both public and private sectors prioritize sustainable construction practices’’
Adding to the urgency are market demands for greener buildings, which shape the way Architecture, Engineering, and Construction professionals (AECs) evaluate materials. The most important aspect of this transformation is data – which empowers manufacturers to meet compliance standards, improve product visibility, and ensure specifiers choose them.
Three key concepts that help address industry challenges and drive sustainable practices:
Building Information Modeling (BIM): BIM is a process of creating and managing digital representations of a building's physical and functional characteristics. It centralizes key data such as materials, performances, and dimensions, providing a framework that allows stakeholders to access critical information at any project stage. BIM objects – digital versions of products – help manufacturers ensure their products are visible and specifiable by AEC professionals.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPD): EPDs offer transparency regarding the environmental impact of products used in construction. These standardized reports, based on LCAs, document a product's carbon footprint, energy use, and other environmental impacts throughout its lifecycle. By including EPDs in the selection process, AECs can choose products that best meet their sustainability goals.
Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs): LCAs evaluate the total environmental impact of a product or building over its entire lifecycle—from raw material extraction to production, use, and disposal. For products, an LCA serves as the foundation for creating an EPD, providing the necessary data to standardize and declare the environmental impact transparently. LCAs offer a broader perspective on sustainability, considering long-term effects rather than just immediate impacts. Think of it as a health check-up for the environment, revealing how sustainable a product or building truly is.
Building information modeling (BIM) is at the heart of any sustainable construction project. It serves as a central framework for organizing and managing all the data in a construction project. It provides a detailed, digital representation of a building, including materials, quantities, and layouts. This "big picture" approach helps AECs collaborate and make informed decisions at every stage, making sure sustainability is integrated from the start.
For building product manufacturers, one focus is creating BIM objects – digital versions of your products connected to all relevant technical data, enabling AECs to incorporate them into their workflows. BIM is how AECs work in the modern age; it is how they discover products for their projects. That means BIM is the vehicle for getting your products discovered and specified. According to USP’s Architectural Barometer Q4 2023 report, 44% of architects utilized BIM in 2022. This number is expected to rise to 61% by 2025.
BIM adoption and the number of governments mandating BIM for construction projects in both public and private sectors are on the rise. As a result, BIM is rerouting purchasing decisions and forcing manufacturers to rethink their strategies for getting their products discovered.
Do you want to know if your market mandates BIM? This FREE global guide to BIM mandates and initiatives will give you the answers—and much more.
Mattias explains, "BIM allows AECs to efficiently specify and select the products most optimal to meet the need and criteria and to also conduct the needed analysis and assessments of the full building.”
While BIM offers the digital infrastructure, EPDs add a critical layer of transparency to product selection. Initially, EPDs were created to address the construction industry’s need for reliable and verifiable environmental data. They were created because the industry desperately needed to report information transparently and credibly – one that is third-party verified and publicly available. Without it, companies making claims could be seen as greenwashing, with statements perceived as profit-driven rather than fact-based.
Providing EPDs is about meeting regulations and aligning your products with your client's sustainability goals. However, having an EPD alone does not indicate whether a product performs well in the different environmental indicators. For example, low-carbon concrete may be prioritized if its EPD values align with a project's sustainability goals and structural needs.
Regulations are now introducing thresholds for environmental performance. You might need to prove that your products outperform these thresholds to qualify for public tenders or remain competitive in the future market. Having an EPD is no longer enough—you must demonstrate measurable improvements in areas like carbon reduction and material efficiency.
Learn how LCAs and EPDs can transform your business strategy — watch our webinar here.
While EPDs assess individual products, building LCAs take the integration further by analyzing a building's entire lifecycle. Standardized declarations and methods like EPDs and LCAs are becoming essential for tracking and reducing the environmental footprint of products and buildings. They consider long-term sustainability factors such as maintenance cycles and product replacements. LCAs also feed directly into a BIM model, helping teams simulate how products will perform over time and offering a comprehensive view of a building's long-term environmental impact.
LCAs draw on EPD data and BIM information to simulate a building’s sustainability over time. For instance, BIM data on material quantities and locations allows LCAs to model how often products must be replaced or maintained, providing a more accurate sustainability forecast. For instance, if a carpet is replaced every five years despite a 10-year technical lifespan, an LCA will account for this discrepancy, offering a realistic view of the building’s environmental impact. According to Mattias:
“LCAs are simulations that combine assumptions with real-world data, which account for maintenance cycles or replacement rates, making them crucial for long-term sustainability planning. LCAs provide an accurate picture of how choices made today will affect buildings in the future.''
Digitizing product data helps manufacturers meet the growing demand for transparency and environmental accountability. Providing structured product data–including EPDs and material specifications makes it easier for stakeholders to evaluate products and incorporate them into their projects.
Putting reliable environmental data into digital formats saves time and effort by removing the need for manual data collection. This makes it easier for specifiers to evaluate environmental impacts early in a project, speeding up decisions and helping to prioritize sustainable choices where they matter most.
“Imagine having to manually gather product data from various suppliers for each material,” says Mattias. “That’s the situation many stakeholders still face. Digitized data eliminates this inefficiency, letting AECs focus on what matters—choosing the right products for the project and the planet.”
BIMobject Group’s ecosystem further simplifies this process by connecting manufacturers with architects, engineers, and contractors through an online marketplace. According to our BIMobject survey, 68% of specifiers prefer to discover new products online, highlighting the growing reliance on digital platforms for product selection.
“Specifiers want clarity and confidence in their choices,” Mattias explains. “When you provide reliable data in a format they can trust, you not only save them time but also position yourself as a partner who takes sustainability seriously.”
In the next few years, the construction industry will face a wave of legislation, starting with the EU implementing regulations to improve sustainability, transparency, and digital practices. To achieve this, the industry needs to invest in data to analyze, measure, and optimize resources and emissions at every project stage, setting new industry standards for data-driven environmental performance.
In the European Union, frameworks like the EU Green Deal and EU Taxonomy mandate strict sustainability standards. The EU Green Deal is a set of policies aiming to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050, driving industries toward reduced emissions and sustainable practices. The EU Taxonomy complements this by providing a classification system defining which economic activities are environmentally sustainable, ensuring industry accountability, and requiring companies to disclose the environmental impact of their products. EPDs have become essential in this context, offering a standardized format to demonstrate compliance.
Mattias Steinbichler explains: “Regulations are making EPDs a ‘hygiene factor.’ Without one, a product may not even be considered.”
This growing emphasis on transparency means that EPDs are no longer optional for project bids—they’re a baseline requirement.
In addition to regulatory requirements, market incentives push companies toward greener practices. Green building certifications, such as LEED or BREEAM, boost a project’s value by attracting environmentally conscious clients.
As regulations tighten and market demands grow, manufacturers must act now to digitize their product information and ensure it meets regulatory standards. This shift fulfills compliance obligations and positions companies as leaders.
Want to meet EU standards? See how Digital Product Passports are redefining compliance for manufacturers.
Mattias advises a phased approach for manufacturers looking to embrace digital transformation and sustainability.
Digitize Product Data: Start by creating accurate, structured digital records that include all relevant product information—down to the details of individual product variations, such as size, color, or model. This ensures compliance with sustainability standards and other important requirements, making your data more versatile and valuable.
Develop BIM content: If you want to enhance your product visibility and integration into construction projects, you need BIM content, including Revit-compatible files. This makes it easier for architects and designers to use your products.
Integrate EPDs and LCAs: Provide detailed sustainability insights that go beyond compliance, showcasing your products as forward-thinking solutions.
Interested in digitizing your product data? See the impact for yourself — book a demo with us today!
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