The short answer is between €6,000 and €40,000 per EPD, with most products landing somewhere in the middle of that range. The longer answer is more useful, because the range itself isn't random — it's driven by five specific factors. Knowing them lets you sanity-check a quote rather than accepting the first number you're given.
Includes LCA work, consultancy, verification, program-operator fees, publication
When you already have a verified LCA report and just need third-party verification
The five factors that drive the number
1. Product complexity
A single-input product made in a single plant — ordinary Portland cement, for example — sits at the low end of the range. A composite product with dozens of inputs from multiple suppliers across multiple plants — a finished façade system, an MEP assembly, an insulated glazing unit — sits at the high end. The cost driver is the LCA model itself: more inputs means more data collection, more supplier engagement, and more verifier scrutiny.
2. Production-data quality
This is the variable that swings the timeline most and contributes most to cost variance. If your ERP, utility meters, waste records, and BOM data are clean and aligned to the plant level, the LCA consultant can move fast. If your data sits across disconnected systems, with gaps and inconsistencies that need to be reconciled by hand, the consultancy hours expand quickly. We've seen the same product cost three times what it should because the manufacturer's data wasn't ready.
3. Program operator and region
Program operators (POs) charge publication and review fees. These vary considerably — from a few hundred euros on the lighter-touch end to a few thousand on the more rigorous end. Beyond the fees themselves, regional differences matter: France's INIES route is highly prescriptive, Germany's IBU has stringent procedural requirements, and the International EPD System (Environdec) varies by licensee. North American POs (UL, NSF, ASTM, SCS) have their own structures.
4. Whether it's the first EPD or a follow-up
The first EPD a manufacturer publishes is by far the most expensive. Subsequent EPDs for similar products in the same plant tend to cost 30–50% less, because the data pipelines, supplier engagement, and methodology choices have already been built. Renewals (every 5 years) are even less expensive — often closer to the verification-only range than the new-EPD range — assuming the product and process haven't materially changed.
5. The verifier's queue
Verification fees are usually €2,000–€6,000 per declaration, but the verifier's queue can add weeks or months to the timeline. A delayed verifier doesn't make the EPD more expensive in raw cost terms, but it adds opportunity cost — missed tenders, delayed customer onboarding, expired regulatory deadlines — that often dwarfs the direct cost of the EPD itself.
Where the range breaks down
- LCA consultancy: 50–70% of total cost. The biggest variable. Highly sensitive to product complexity and data quality.
- Verification: 15–25% of total cost. Set by the verifier's day rate and the size of the declaration.
- Program-operator fees: 10–20% of total cost. Includes publication, registry, sometimes review.
- Other (project management, translation, plant visits, document production): the rest.
Questions to ask before you accept a quote
- What's included? Is verification bundled, or is that quoted separately?
- What happens if my production data is incomplete — is there a contingency clause?
- How many revision rounds are included after the verifier's first review?
- Are program-operator fees included, or charged at cost?
- If we publish a second EPD in the same product family within 18 months, what's the discount?
- Who's the named verifier — and what's their current queue length?
- What's the total timeline, and at what milestone do I owe what percentage of the fee?
The single biggest cost-saver is comparable quotes. We routinely see manufacturers receive three proposals on the same brief that span €11,000 to €19,000 for an identical product. Asking once gives you one number. Asking three times gives you a market.
A note on suspiciously low quotes
If a quote is meaningfully below the bottom of the range — say, €3,000 for a full new EPD on a moderately complex product — be cautious. The most likely explanation is that the scope has been read narrowly, or that the LCA work will be heavily skeletal and won't survive verification cleanly. The second-most-likely explanation is that the verifier on the quote has a backlog that will push the timeline. Either way, the apparent saving usually disappears in rework or delay.