New STARK Group report: EU requirements are changing the roles across the construction industry

The report reveals that product environmental documentation is moving from a specialist requirement in selected projects to becoming a market standard across the construction industry, and an increasingly important prerequisite for market access. New requirements for carbon footprint data and environmental documentation mean that the ability to document the environmental performance of products increasingly influences which products are selected for construction projects.

This is changing the roles across the value chain. Suppliers will need to provide more comprehensive and verified product data, while tradespeople and builders will increasingly need to document their material choices.

This gives distributors a more central role in ensuring customers have access to the documentation, product data and guidance they need to navigate the new requirements. Distributors such as STARK Group are becoming not only suppliers of physical products, but also of data.

Louise Askær-Hune, Senior Director Group Sustainability & ESG at STARK Group, says:

"The construction industry is facing a significant shift. Data and documentation are becoming an increasingly important part of the decisions made across the value chain. At the same time, we see a strong need to make this new complexity manageable. The companies that can turn data, documentation and guidance into simple and value-adding solutions for customers will be best positioned in the market of the future."

As part of this development, STARK Group has invested in climate data, digital tools, and training sustainability ambassadors to help customers and suppliers navigate increasing requirements for product data and documentation.

"We have been preparing for this development for several years. The report shows that documentation, data and guidance will become an increasingly important competitive factor in the construction industry. This gives us, as a distributor, a new and more central role as a partner helping customers and suppliers navigate increasing requirements," says Louise Askær-Hune.

The Sustainability Market Outlook Report was developed by The Footprint Firm in collaboration with STARK Group and is based on analysis of regulatory developments, market dynamics and trends across Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Austria and the UK.

The development is driven in part by new European legislation, including the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which from 2026 will gradually introduce stricter requirements for environmental data, carbon footprint and documentation for building materials.

Key findings from the 2026 Sustainability Market Outlook Report

• Environmental documentation is becoming a market standard: The share of building materials sold into projects requiring environmental documentation is expected to increase from approximately 14% today to around 40% by 2030.
  
  
• The market is moving towards documented products: Products without verified environmental data are expected to decline from approximately 55% today to around 35% by 2030. At the same time, verified environmental data is expected to become a baseline requirement across the building materials market.
  
  
• Customers need more guidance: 40% of SMEs are concerned about increasing compliance requirements, while 65% already seek guidance on sustainability and documentation requirements from their building materials distributor.