How Concular Uses 2050 Materials’ Data Infrastructure to Power CircularLCA

Concular’s CircularLCA platform supports architects, engineers, and developers in producing LCAs and circularity assessments for certification systems such as DGNB, QNG, BNB, and Level(s). To increase coverage, data quality, and consistency across projects, Concular integrated 2050 Materials’ product-level API. The result is a unified LCA workflow that combines Concular’s building-level analysis with 2050 Materials’ verified EPD data at scale.

This case study outlines why Concular adopted 2050 Materials’ API, how the integration works inside CircularLCA, and the measurable improvements in completeness and transparency for end users.

CircularLCA aims to simplify an area that is usually fragmented:

• sourcing EPDs from multiple databases,
• checking conformity for different certification versions,
• resolving inconsistent categorisation of products,
• and applying the correct modules and indicators.

Concular’s users often import large BIM models or component lists — 10,000+ objects per building. Without a consistent data layer, LCA results depend heavily on manual matching or partial datasets.

The team needed a scalable way to:

• link thousands of building components to up-to-date EPDs,
• ensure compatibility with DGNB/QNG/Level(s) requirements,
• preserve traceability from EPD metadata to LCA calculations.

2050 Materials provides an API that aggregates and normalises more than 180,000+ verified construction products and EPDs from global programme operators. Concular selected 2050M for three reasons:

1. Coverage and consistency
The API provides unified metadata (manufacturer, dataset type, validity date, material category, etc.) that can be consistently mapped inside Concular’s own categorisation system.

2. Technical integration fit
The API offers product-specific lookup, filtering, and module-specific values (A1–A3, A4–A5, B-modules, C-modules, D). This aligns with CircularLCA’s calculation engine and certification exports.

3. Reliability and version control
All datasets carry source information, links back to the PDF EPD, validity ranges, and conformity flags — necessary for DGNB audits and transparent reporting.

1. Searching and selecting EPDs inside the platform

CircularLCA’s “Externe EPD-Datenbanken” modal now queries the 2050 Materials API in real time. Users can filter by:

• database
• manufacturer
• material
• material category
• production country
• product type
• product type category

This enables the same type of structured search Concular previously built manually, but now backed by a consolidated EPD data engine.

>159,000 EPDs available directly within CircularLCA, with structured preview tables for all indicators across modules A–D.

2. Viewing full dataset metadata

Once an EPD is selected, CircularLCA displays all metadata retrieved via the API:

• issue date & validity date
• dataset type (specific, average, industry dataset)
• registration number
• manufacturer & production site
• conformity to DGNB 2018, DGNB 2023, Level(s), QNG
• links to source PDF and to the 2050 Materials product page

This level of transparency removes ambiguity around dataset selection, a problem Concular’s consultants faced before the integration.

3. Automatic calculation across building-scale inventories

When users upload BIM models or component lists, CircularLCA automatically:

• identifies material categories per component,
• connects each item with its matched EPD or generic factor,
• calculates GWP and other indicators per module,
• aggregates results across the building,

and highlights the share of components linked to “conforming” EPDs.

In the above example, CircularLCA evaluates 10,427 objects, with 1,257 already connected to matched EPDs, using modules A1-A3, B4, C3, and C4.

This produces more consistent LCA outputs, especially for certification workflows where module breakdown is strictly audited.

5. Circularity calculations with reliable data inputs

Concular’s CPX (Circularity Performance Index) relies on:

• material origin,
• ease of disassembly,
• reuse potential,
• recyclability,
• and separability.

The underlying EPD metadata delivered via the API (material class, product type, life cycle modules, referenced standards) ensures these indicators operate on trustworthy inputs, not manual assumptions.

Impact

1. Higher completeness across projects

Projects with 10–20k elements can now reach significantly higher EPD-matching rates, reducing the percentage of objects falling back to generic assumptions.

2. Consistent data for DGNB and QNG

With unified conformity flags and metadata, CircularLCA can reliably validate datasets against certification rules without manual verification.

3. Reduced manual matching workload

Concular’s consultants and clients spend less time reconciling product names or browsing external databases — now handled by the API.

4. More transparent reporting

Every dataset includes source links, validity logic, and module-level values, simplifying audits and peer review.

Concular’s integration of 2050 Materials’ API demonstrates the value of embedding a high-quality materials database directly inside building-scale sustainability tools. CircularLCA now offers a more reliable, consistent, and transparent workflow — bridging BIM inputs, EPD data, and certification-ready outputs.

The collaboration shows the strength of an API-first data layer supporting advanced tools in the built environment.