An Introduction to LCA and EPD in LEED® v5

Announced in 2025, LEED® v5 is now open for building owners to register their Building Design and Construction (BD+C), Interior Design and Construction (ID+C), and Building Operations and Maintenance (O+M) projects. In v5, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) have expanded as guiding frameworks, serving not only as rigorous requirements in certain instances but also as drivers of meaningful innovation. LEED v5 positions LCA at the heart of the sustainable design process, empowering project teams to move beyond traditional approaches and make data-driven decisions that address the full spectrum of a building’s environmental impacts. This expanded role elevates LCA and EPD from a technical exercise to an essential strategy for achieving ambitious sustainability goals. 

In this blog, we explore how LEED v5 integrates EPD and LCA as keystone components for certification and as catalysts for transformative design. Specifically, we’ll be looking at how LCA and EPD work together in BD+C with a special focus on credit MRc4, “Building Product Selection & Procurement,” which comes with important updates. The scope of MRc4 includes non-structural building materials, particularly: paints and coatings; adhesives and sealants; flooring, walls, ceilings, insulation, furniture, composite wood, and plumbing fixtures. Another LEED v5 credit, MRc2, addresses decarbonization for the building enclosure demonstrated through LCA and EPD and will be covered in a future blog.  

Focus on Impact Areas  

More than anything, LEED v5 is designed to drive the building sector towards a near-zero carbon future that is healthy and resilient, promoting the wise, safe use of all resources. V5 is organized around three broad impact areas: decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation and restoration, all of which support this larger goal of transforming the green building sector.

LEED v5 offers eight focused areas to guide development and execution of all LEED projects, and MRc4 touches a number of them:

• Materials and resources (MR)
• Indoor environmental quality
• Energy and atmosphere
• Water efficiency
• Construction and waste management
• Decarbonization
• Quality of life
• Ecological conservation

These eight aspects of sustainable design act as guiding principles and are embedded into the rating systems, helping project teams understand a building’s impact from a more holistic perspective. In addition to the main MR category, MRc4 plays a key role in quality of life and ecological conservation. Under quality of life, MRc4 promotes inclusion of low-emitting materials that support improved air quality and overall well being. Under the ecological conservation focus area, MRc4 takes into account the upstream and downstream impacts of building materials on adjacent communities, supply chain actors, and installers, emphasizing the importance of “green chemistry and ecological protections.”  

Big Picture Understanding

In LEED v5, each project adheres to a standardized structure. Initially, projects must satisfy all prerequisites, which are mandatory requirements for certification eligibility. Subsequently, there are optional credits assigned point values; project teams select which credits to pursue according to their objectives, budget, and project type. The accumulation of points determines the level of certification achieved: Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum. At a broad level, LEED v5 integrates essential baseline actions with discretionary strategies, enabling project teams to customize their approach towards meeting their desired certification level.

Magnifying BD+C under LEED v5 

“BD+C” under LEED v5 aims to “Drive new buildings to exemplify the decarbonized, humane, and biodiverse future that we want to build and inhabit.” What does that mean from an operational perspective? BD+C projects must evaluate the overall performance and impact of the building across a number of categories:

• The whole building approach promotes integrated design across all systems to improve energy efficiency, water conservation, and overall sustainability.
• Embodied carbon refers to the emissions that result from the use of materials and construction activities. It plays a key role for new buildings since LEED v5 mandates embodied carbon calculations for every project, and choices regarding materials and building techniques affect the facility’s carbon footprint over its lifespan.
• Life cycle assessment (LCA) is required to meet ISO 14044 under LEED v5 and evaluates the environmental impact of building materials from extraction to disposal, enabling better choices in construction projects. (More about this in the next section.)
• Innovative technologies encourage the adoption of strategies in new buildings, including advanced building automation systems and meters, renewable energy integration, and high-performing building envelopes.
• Decarbonization aims to lower carbon emissions using energy efficiency, renewable energy, reduced peak loads, less refrigerant use, and minimizing embodied carbon in buildings.
• Quality of life applies human-focused methods to boost health, well-being, resilience, and equity for people in buildings and communities.
• Ecological conservation focuses on reducing harm to ecosystems and built environments while encouraging restoration and biodiversity.

LEED v5 (for BD+C) updates its scorecard to focus on three sustainability themes: around 50% of credits are for decarbonization, 25% for quality of life, and 25% for ecological conservation and restoration, rather than previous category-based organization.  

ID+C and O+M Building Projects Also Leverage LCA and EPD

LEED v5 also features specifications for two other types of building projects: Interior Design and Construction (ID+C) and Building Operations and Maintenance (O+M). ID+C aims to “drive new interiors and commercial fit-outs to exemplify the decarbonized, humane, and biodiverse future that we want to build and inhabit.” O+M focuses on positioning “every building on a path to improved performance while maintaining the pursuit of market transformation and leadership.”  

ID+C projects emphasize the environmental impacts of interior assemblies and materials. LCA is a key tool for evaluating components like flooring, wall systems, plumbing fixtures, ceilings, casework, partitions, and finishes. Through LCA, project teams take a data-driven approach to sustainability. LCA in ID+C projects serves three main purposes: It quantifies the embodied carbon of interior materials, compares design or material alternatives to identify lower-carbon options, and demonstrates carbon reductions against a baseline, which is essential for LEED certification and sustainability goals.

O+M projects focus on existing buildings, so the approach differs. Typically, LCA in O+M is used for retrofit decisions, capital replacement planning, and major renovation materials. Instead of using LCA to model the entire building from scratch — as would be the case for BD+C projects — teams use LCA in O+M projects to: evaluate the embodied carbon of new or replacement materials; compare impacts of repair vs replacement vs reuse; and prioritize lower-carbon procurement strategies. Within the O+M project designation, LCA therefore helps guide ongoing building improvements rather than initial design.

As a technical extension of LCA, EPDs support O+M mainly through procurement policies, with facilities’ teams using EPDs to specify low-carbon products, compare materials during renovations and track material impacts through sustainability reporting.

The Roles and Rules of LCA and EPD in LEED v5

In LEED v5, LCA and EPD serve essential roles, and they work together in precise ways to support the larger goal of decarbonizing the building sector. Both LCA and EPDs live primarily inside the Materials and Resources (MR) category — though LCA-thinking influences other areas too. LCA and EPD are not their own standalone categories, however.

The role of LCA has been expanded in LEED v5 and is used to drive the measurement and reduction of embodied carbon outcomes for whole buildings. This means that LCAs are part of both an MR prerequisite (required to achieve certification) and a credit (one of many optional elements to earn points on the LEED scorecard).  

EPDs, on the other hand, function as a tool in LEED v5 to disclose product life-cycle impacts, and those data can be input into the MRc4 credit in the scorecard.  

Building Product Selection & Procurement (MRc4): A Unified Credit Pathway for Nonstructural Materials

LEED v5 combines previous credits for EPDs, and various third-party certifications, including related attributes for nonstructural products, into a single, multi-attribute credit under the MR category — Building Product Selection & Procurement (MRc4). In earlier LEED versions, such as v4 and 4.1, MR credits were organized into separate categories (EPDs, material ingredients, sourcing of raw materials, and recycled content). LEED v5 overhauls the MR category compared to earlier versions, so instead of having separate credit categories, many of those have been combined into MRc4 as a multi-attribute product selection and procurement credit.  

According to the BD+C formal reference guide published by USGBC, the whole point of the MRc4 credit is to “encourage the use of products and materials that have sustainability information available and that have environmentally, economically, and socially preferable impacts in alignment with industry momentum,” (pg. 143).  

LEED v5’s tiered scoring system incentivizes projects to seek products that combine carbon, health, and circularity attributes. Level 1 offers points for verified EPDs and is considered a “first step towards sustainability,” explains USGBC. Representing a “leadership position,” products earning level 2 designation get to multiply their points by two for showing evidence of carbon reduction or material health information. Level 3 products are recognized as “elite” and stand “at the forefront of sustainability,” explains USGBC. Level 3 awards products with a 3x multiplier for earned points.

Select nonstructural building products that demonstrate achievement in one or more of the five criteria areas — climate, human, or ecosystem health; social equity; and circular economy — are also rewarded within the framework of MRc4. Products that meet two or more of these criteria are considered “multi-attribute,” meaning that these higher levels of achievement and product performance will be given a higher value in credit calculations.  

This is where EPD comes in for MRc4. Higher achievement is shown through “eligible compliant manufacturer product documentation, which includes third-party product certifications, ecolabels, declarations, and standards. A single product document can demonstrate multiple benefits and/or achievement levels, or the product can earn multi-attribute criteria through a combination of separate eligible product documents” (pg. 143).  

As a credit, MRc4 interrogates the procurement process but does not require LCA — save for the fact that certain building materials with verified EPDs will have previously undergone life cycle assessment. In LEED v5, LCA asks whether the whole building overall is better than the baseline; MRc4 checks the procurement of specific products used in the building, such as paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants; flooring, walls, ceilings, insulation, furniture, composite wood, and plumbing fixtures. EPDs, meanwhile, serve as the “receipts,” or formal verification, which allow building teams to show their work.  

A Note on Flooring under MRc4

Finish materials such as flooring, for example, may come with concerns like a lack of recovery and circularity options for vinyl products at end of life, or potential toxic emissions released during production. These additional multi-attribute considerations may not be addressed by product emissions criteria but are considered in the aligned MRc4, further demonstrating the value and purpose of the credit.

Likewise, some structure, enclosure, and hardscape materials are not included in MRc4 but are addressed in the embodied carbon credits including MRp2: Quantify and Assess Embodied Carbon and MRc2: Reduce Embodied Carbon. We’ll cover both of these topics in our next article.

And a Note on Insulation, Too

Insulation products that meet compliant testing standards encompass both natural and synthetic materials. Examples include:

• Expanded cork
• Blown-in wood fiber
• Cellulose
• Fiberglass or mineral wool
• Hemp or wood fiber batts and boards
• Unfaced fiberglass batts
• Formaldehyde-free mineral wool batts and boards

Plastics and foam insulation may also satisfy emission criteria requirements, but even when products comply with emissions evaluations, they can still contain substances of concern, such as formaldehyde and fire retardants. In keeping with USGBC’s guidance, we recommend carefully assessing these factors when selecting insulation materials and pursuing opportunities for product optimization in alignment with MRc4.

A Broader View

In LEED v5, EPDs help contribute to understanding the impacts of the built environment for individual products (MRc4), as well as helping to understand how these products contribute to the embodied carbon of the whole building (MRp2) and can also lead to measurements of reductions in embodied carbon (MRc2).

LCA in LEED v5 drives embodied carbon outcomes, while EPDs support MRc4 by documenting transparent, intentional product procurement. It's helpful to keep in mind that EPDs are based on LCAs, meaning these two tools speak to each other within LEED v5, but they exist in different places in the rating system.

LEED v5 reaches beyond the previous version to focus on building sector decarbonization, quality of life, and ecological conservation through building innovation. With these transformative goals in mind, each contributor to the built environmental value chain has a role to play — determining the precise credits, pathways, and options for each building project remains at the heart of successful certification under LEED v5.

Planning Ahead

LEED v5’s emphasis on transparent reporting and stricter requirements is driving market transformation. Manufacturers are incentivized to disclose LCA data through EPDs, and improve product impacts, while owners and designers gain confidence in their decisions through independent verification. The result is a more sustainable built environment, with long-term benefits for climate action, human well-being, and ecological integrity.  

SCS Consulting Services and our highly experienced LCA team are here to support your organization as you integrate the changes in LEED v5 and manage compliance with all relevant requirements. In addition to scheduling a call with us at your convenience, we recommend studying all the supporting resources about LEED v5 provided by the USGBC.  Our teams can support product teams with LCA and EPD services to achieve recognition in LEED v5.