Measuring Sustainability in Lighting: Why LCAs and EPDs Matter
Sustainability has become a key part of how lighting projects are evaluated today. Performance, energy efficiency and cost still matter, but customers are increasingly asking "What is the environmental impact of this luminaire throughout its lifetime?"
Answering that question requires more than good intentions. It requires relevant, reliable data. Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are the best tools we have to provide that data to customers working to fulfil their net zero vision. They transform environmental performance into transparent, measurable information that customers can use with confidence when making decisions.
Looking Beyond Energy Consumption
When people think about the environmental impact of a luminaire, they often focus on energy consumption during operation. While that remains important, it is only part of the picture. Every product has a story that begins long before it is installed and continues long after it reaches the end of its service life.
Raw materials must be extracted or recovered from existing resources. Components are manufactured and assembled. Products are transported, used, maintained, reused and eventually recycled, recovered or disposed of. Understanding this complete picture is the purpose of a Life Cycle Assessment.
What Exactly Is an LCA?
A Life Cycle Assessment is a globally recognised methodology that evaluates the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire life cycle. International standards such as ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 provide the framework that ensures the process is performed in a consistent and transparent way.
Using specialised assessment tools built by environmental experts (we use Sphera’s LCA For Experts product), the product is assessed based on detailed models that take into account factors such as global warming potential, water use, energy demand, resource consumption and other environmental impacts.
The result is a much deeper understanding of how a product interacts with the environment over time. For customers, this means decisions can be based on measurable facts rather than assumptions.
LCA, All the Way (Through Product Development)
An LCA is not just for customers – it helps our engineers throughout the design process. When designers are evaluating different materials, manufacturing methods or product architectures, LCA helps reveal the environmental consequences of those choices.
For example, what happens when recycled aluminium is used instead of virgin material? How much can the environmental impact be reduced through improved recyclability? Could a different design extend product life, thus lowering the environmental burden?
LCA data can help answer all these questions. This allows environmental considerations to become part of the design process instead of being addressed only after a product reaches the market.
Environmental Data for the Real World
Collecting environmental data is important. Making that data understandable and useful is just as important. This is where Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) come in. Developed in accordance with ISO 14025, an EPD takes the results of an LCA and presents them in a clear, standardised format that communicates a product's environmental performance.
For customers and procurement teams, an EPD turns complex environmental data into practical information that can support product selection and sustainability-focused decision-making. Rather than relying on broad environmental claims, users have access to documented data on:
- Environmental impacts across the product life cycle;
- Material composition;
- Recycled content;
- Resource and energy consumption;
- Other key sustainability indicators.
As sustainability requirements become increasingly important in public tenders and procurement processes, this level of transparency is becoming more valuable than ever. It enables stakeholders to make decisions based on verified environmental data, gives them greater confidence in the sustainability credentials of the products they choose, and makes compliance with local laws on green procurement simpler.
Different Routes to an EPD
Not every project needs the same level of environmental information. Sometimes an existing third-party-verified EPD is enough. In other cases, a project may require a declaration tailored to a specific product, customer requirement or tender.
Schréder has a growing portfolio of generic EPDs registered under the PEP Ecopassport® programme, operated by France's PEP Association. These declarations follow international standards, giving customers clear and credible information about a product’s environmental performance.
When a tender has more specific requirements, a project-specific EPD can be developed, independently verified and registered under the same programme. Covering both grid-connected luminaires and solar lighting solutions, Schréder’s EPD portfolio helps customers access the information they need to make more informed sustainability and procurement decisions.
Can You Compare EPDs?
Customers trying to choose the most sustainable option to meet their carbon reduction targets often ask us if they can compare EPDs. The short answer is yes... but only when the conditions are right. An EPD is an excellent tool for transparency, but it is not intended to be a simple ranking system between manufacturers. For a meaningful comparison, several factors must be aligned:
- Products must perform the same function.
- The functional unit1 must be identical.
- The same life cycle stages must be included.
- Product category rules2 must match.
- Data sources and modelling assumptions should be consistent.
Without this alignment, two EPDs may appear comparable while actually representing very different methodological choices.
For example, one study may use a different functional unit, be based on a longer or shorter service life for the asset, or rely on different environmental datasets. The numbers may look similar, but they could be telling very different stories. That is why EPDs should be viewed as tools that support informed decision-making rather than quick product comparisons.
Transparency Builds Trust
We hope this blog has made the world of LCAs and EPDs a bit simpler to understand. They provide structure, transparency and credibility in a complicated area. They help transform complex environmental impacts into digestible information that can be used in real-world decision-making.
At Schréder, we see LCA and EPDs as much more than compliance exercises. They are practical tools that help customers understand the environmental performance of lighting systems, enabling more informed procurement decisions. They also support our own internal design process. As sustainability expectations continue to grow, transparency will play an increasingly important role - and these certifications form a vital part of that process.
About the authors
Kateryna Kozak has been a Sustainable Product Specialist at Schréder since 2025. She specialises in developing and verifying Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) models, assessing the environmental performance of lighting products throughout their life cycle. A key part of her work is translating complex environmental calculations into clear, practical and accessible sustainability information for business and customers.
Connect with Kateryna on LinkedIn.
Jozsef Maczko has been Sustainability Manager at Schréder since 2022. Prior to this, he spent three years in the R&D department as a Project Manager, where he was responsible for the development and design of new products. Since 2022, he has been focusing on monitoring the environmental footprint of Schréder’s products, combining his strong product knowledge and technical expertise with his sustainability experience to drive practical and impactful solutions.
Connect with Jozsef on LinkedIn.