Digital Product Passport (DPP): everything you need to know

Have you ever wondered what happens to a product from when it’s made until it’s finally recycled or disposed of? With the exciting new development of Digital Product Passports, this information will soon be at your fingertips. These digital records offer a comprehensive view of a product’s life cycle, creating transparency that makes it easier for consumers, businesses, and regulators to make smarter, more sustainable choices.

In this blog, we will explain everything you need to know about Digital Product Passports. This guide will walk you through what Digital Product Passports are, what they include, how they’re connected to crucial EU regulations, and which sectors will be initially impacted. We’ll also explore the benefits and challenges of creating Digital Product Passports, where to start, and how technologies like automated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools can help develop passports.

PUBLISHED: 22 August 2024

WRITTEN BY: Charlie Walter

What is a Digital Product Passport (DPP)?

Digital Product Passport is a digital twin of a physical product, gathering comprehensive data about a product throughout its life cycle.

Digital Product Passports create much-needed transparency around product sustainability as they provide detailed data about the sustainability impact of each stage of a product’s life – from the raw materials used to make it through to the manufacturing and distribution of the product to how the product can be disposed of or recycled at the end of its life.

Think of Digital Product Passports as an all-access pass to your product’s life cycle. Each passport is attached to a product via a unique identifier, such as a barcode, QR or NFC tag, which someone can scan on their phone or similar device to retrieve real-time information.

For instance, imagine buying a cotton t-shirt with a QR code on the care tag. By scanning the code with your phone, you can instantly access information about the location and sustainability impacts associated with where the cotton was grown, the factory where it was created, and tips on how to recycle it when it’s worn out.

One of the most exciting aspects of a Digital Product Passport is its dynamic nature. It’s not a static record but a continuously updating profile that evolves with the product throughout its life cycle. For example, if a t-shirt is repaired or recycled, information about this will be added to the passport. As a result, Digital Product Passports are always accurate, up-to-date, and trustworthy.

The responsibility for generating these passports lies with the ‘economic operator,’ which is the company that places the product on the market. This is typically the manufacturer of the final product, the brand, or a retailer (for private label products).

By creating this level of transparency, Digital Product Passports play a crucial role in creating more sustainable products, accelerating the transition to a circular economy, and helping companies comply with regulations. Moreover, they empower consumers with the information they need to make responsible choices, putting them in the driver’s seat of sustainability. We’ll delve into these benefits later in the blog.

Why are Digital Product Passports important?

The world generates over two billion tons of waste each year, with most products ending up in landfills or incinerated. To tackle this, we must rethink how we produce, consume, and dispose of products. It’s time to shift from a linear to a circular economy.

But here’s the catch – achieving circularity is tough without detailed data on product’s life cycle impacts or their supply chains. This is where Digital Product Passports step in, offering crucial insights into your product’s journey and its environmental impact. Therefore, Digital Product Passports are a critical initiative to facilitate the much-needed transition to a circular economy.

Digital Product Passports are a vital part of the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), which is driving Europe’s transition to a circular economy. This plan introduces several regulations that require your company to provide detailed sustainability data about your products, which Digital Product Passports can provide. In short, Digital Product Passports are essential for your business to meet current and upcoming regulations, which we’ll explore later in this blog.

But Digital Product Passports aren’t just about ticking regulatory boxes – they’re also about trust. Consumers are increasingly choosing brands based on how transparent they are about sustainability. With Digital Product Passports, your company can back up sustainability claims with accurate, verifiable data, reducing the risk of greenwashing and building stronger relationships with your customers.

Digital Product Passports requirements

Digital Product Passports capture three types of information – the product’s journey, composition and impact. These elements form the foundation of the passport, creating a comprehensive and complete picture of your product’s life cycle.

Importantly, this data isn’t just for internal use; it’s designed to be shared across the entire supply chain, ensuring everyone can access the information about the product’s journey.

Below is an overview of the core information included in Digital Product Passports:

Basic product data: This covers essentials like your product’s name, batch, model, and unique identifiers such as barcodes or QR codes.
Material data: Details on the quantity, origin, and characteristics of materials used in your product, including raw material sources and the suppliers involved.
Environmental sustainability data: Key environmental data on each stage of your product’s life cycle, including resource use, energy consumption and carbon emissions.
Substances of concern (SoC): Any chemicals or hazardous materials in your product.
Use data: Details about how your product is used, maintained, and repaired throughout its life cycle.
End-of-life data: Guidance on how your product can be reused, recycled, or disposed of with minimal environmental impact.

Other key requirements include ensuring that the unique identifier (for example the QR code) is physically present on your product, its packaging, or accompanying documentation. Also, all information in your product’s passport must be structured, machine-readable and searchable. The use of blockchain technology helps meet these requirements and makes sure that the data in the Digital Product Passports is transparent and tamper-proof, providing a secure and reliable source of information.

EU Digital Product Passport regulations

Until recently, companies didn’t focus too much on the sustainability of their products. However, times have changed, and with incoming regulations, not prioritising the environmental impact of your products is no longer an option.

Europe is leading the way with its Circular Economy Action Plan, introducing regulations that encourage your business to adopt Digital Product Passports to improve your product’s transparency and sustainability.

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) stands out as a crucial piece of legislation as it requires the creation of Digital Product Passports for compliance. This differentiation is important as other regulations encourage, rather than mandate, the creation of Digital Product Passports to gather the necessary data to comply with the regulation. Therefore companies in scope of this regulation must create Digital Product Passports.

Below is an overview of the key EU regulations that are driving demand for Digital Product Passports:

Regulation name	Implementation Timeline	Description
Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP)	In effect	Drives Europe’s transition to a circular economy by introducing various regulations. Digital Product Passports are essential for meeting CEAP’s circularity objectives.
Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)	Phased implementation, starting in 2026	Aims to make products more durable, energy-efficient, reusable and recyclable. Digital Product Passports are required to meet regulatory requirements.
New EU Battery Regulation	Implementation starting in 2026	Focuses on making batteries more sustainable, safe and recyclable. Digital Product Passports will be helpful for compliance as they will provide data on the entire product life cycle needed for reporting.
EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles	In effect	Aims to improve the circularity of textiles in clothing, buildings and vehicles. Digital Product Passports will provide the data needed to meet reporting requirements.
Construction Products Regulation	To be confirmed	Ensures construction materials meet circularity and safety standards, with Digital Product Passports playing a pivotal role in complying with circular economy-related criteria.
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)	Phased implementation, starting in 2025	Expands the scope and rigour of corporate sustainability reporting, with Digital Product Passports helping provide the verified data needed for compliance.

Below is an overview of the key EU regulations that are driving demand for Digital Product Passports:

Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP)
Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)
New EU Battery Regulation
EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles
Construction Products Regulation
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

Digital Product Passports and Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)

Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is a significant milestone in advancing the circular economy across Europe. It builds on the existing Ecodesign Directive by expanding the scope of the regulation beyond energy-intensive products and introducing eco-design requirements for products. The goal? To make products more circular and sustainable, which means creating products that are designed to be durable, repairable, reusable, and recyclable. This progressive regulation will significantly impact how products are designed, manufactured and marketed in Europe.

This regulation mandates the creation of Digital Products Passports. These passports are vital to tracking and reporting detailed environmental data throughout a product’s life cycle and helping companies meet the eco-design requirements. Businesses will struggle to comply without having Digital Product Passports for their products.

Batteries, textiles, and electronics are the initial focus areas for ESPR due to their environmental impact and high potential for circularity. These sectors will need Digital Product Passports by 2026. After that construction, packaging, furniture, chemical and telecommunications will follow. Eventually, ESPR and Digital Product Passports will apply to 30 product categories.

The urgency is real for businesses in the initial sectors. Gathering data, setting up systems, and aligning with ESPR requirements should be top priorities for companies in these industries. And for those in industries that will be affected post-2026, don’t wait too long! Early preparation is crucial to staying ahead and ensuring a smooth transition when Digital Product Passports become needed.

How will Digital Product Passports affect different industries?

As mentioned, the ESPR regulation’s initial focus sectors are batteries, textiles, and electronics. Therefore these are the first industries that will need to create Digital Product Passports.

Let’s explore how Digital Product Passports will drive sustainability in these industries.

Fashion

An astounding 92 million tonnes of textile waste is generated each year, and it’s only expected to grow. The fashion sector is a significant contributor to textile waste. With rising consumer awareness of the sector’s environmental impact and challenges like greenwashing and unclear supply chains, Digital Product Passports will provide much-needed transparency. By delivering detailed product life cycle data, Digital Product Passports will help fashion companies comply with both the EU’s Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and the ESPR regulation and the data will accelerate initiatives aimed at reducing the environmental impact of textiles.

Batteries

Batteries, which are essential to the EU’s transition to electric cars and clean energy, face significant environmental challenges throughout their life cycle. With the battery market expected to grow rapidly, reducing their impact becomes more pressing. Digital Product Passports will be essential for companies to meet the new EU Battery Regulation and ESPR requirements. Moreover, the data from these passports will be a driving force behind circularity initiatives, such as the EU Battery Regulation’s focus on creating second lives for electric car batteries, such as energy storage.

Electronics

E-waste, the fastest-growing waste stream worldwide, remains a significant challenge. The ESPR regulation mandates Digital Product Passports in electronics to enhance transparency around electronic products’ composition, repairability, and recyclability. This use of Digital Product Passports will improve transparency, significantly reduce e-waste, and extend the lifespan of electronics.

Benefits of Digital Product Passports

Digital Product Passports are the ultimate source of truth, providing accurate, transparent data about every stage of your product’s life.

This level of transparency unlocks a range of benefits for your business, including:

Data-driven strategies: Digital Product Passports provide detailed environmental data on the product’s materials and processes at each life cycle stage. You can use this data to build data-driven strategies to measure and reduce your product’s environmental impact.
Unlock circularity potential The circularity data Digital Product Passports provides, for example, end-of-life data, creates opportunities for your company to scale circular business models and improve product design for circularity.
Optimised supply chains: Real-time data on your product’s supply chains helps optimise processes to reduce their environmental impact and create a more efficient supply chain.
Regulatory compliance: Digital Passports provide the data your company needs to comply with regulations and future-proof the business.
Market differentiation: Early adopters of Digital Product Passports can use them to showcase their commitment to sustainability, setting your brand apart and leading transparency. With 46% of customers wanting clarity on product sourcing, Digital Product Passports can be a way for you to verify that your sustainability initiatives are genuine, which will help build customer loyalty.

However, Digital Product Passports aren’t just a win for businesses – they’re a game-changer for consumers too:

Consumer empowerment: Digital Product Passports put the power in the hands of consumers, enabling them to make informed, sustainable choices. With clear, verified information about a product’s environmental impact, it’s easier than ever for customers to support brands that genuinely prioritise sustainability.
Verify green claims: No more falling for greenwashing – digital Product Passports give customers the data they need to verify brands’ sustainability claims.

Challenges of Digital Product Passports

While the benefits of Digital Product Passports are clear, there are challenges to consider. Data collection is one of the biggest hurdles, especially for companies with global supply chains. Gathering accurate and comprehensive data from every supplier can be resource-intensive, especially for smaller companies.

Moreover, your company may face intellectual property (IP) protection concerns. Sharing detailed product information could expose sensitive data. Your business needs to strike a balance between transparency and protecting its IP.

Standardisation and integration are also key challenges. Achieving consistent data standards across industries and regions requires collaboration, and integrating Digital Product Passport systems with your company’s business processes can be complex.

Despite these challenges, it’s essential to remember that companies in your sector face the same issues. Therefore, industry-wide collaboration is critical to enabling the adoption of digital product passports.

Where to start with Digital Product Passports

So, where should companies begin when creating Digital Product Passports? Below are the key steps to get started:

Map the data: Develop a framework for the information that needs to be included in the Digital Product Passport, covering product origin, materials, environmental impact and end-of-life data.
Collaborate across the value chain: Work closely with your suppliers, manufacturers, and logistics partners to ensure consistent and accurate data collection throughout the supply chain. Make sure each member in your value chain understands their role and the data that needs to be collected.
Embrace technology: Utilise data carrier technology like QR codes for the unique producer identifiers to attach the passports to your products. Implement digital infrastructure that supports real-time updates, secure data sharing and standardised data collection.
Test and scale: Begin with small-scale pilots to test the Digital Product Passport implementation. Use these insights to refine your approach and scale up across product lines and supply chains.

Digital Product Passport software

Leveraging technological innovations is a crucial part of creating Digital Product Passports. Blockchain, for example, can make a tamper-proof record of every step in your product’s journey, from raw materials to end-of-life, ensuring transparency by securely storing this data. This means all the information throughout your product’s life cycle can stay secure and traceable, making blockchain a crucial element of Digital Product Passports.

New data carrier technology, such as advanced QR codes and NFC tags, is also revolutionising how passports are attached to products. They simplify the process of accessing and updating product information.

Embracing these technologies is essential for your company to stay ahead of regulations and ensure your Digital Product Passports are reliable and compliant.

Role of automated LCA in creating Digital Product Passports

Automated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools are transformative in providing the data needed to create Digital Product Passports.

Here’s how they help:

Scale with Ease: Automated LCA tools like Root allow your company to conduct thousands of life cycle assessments simultaneously, giving you the data needed to create Digital Product Passports for all your products.
In-depth Environmental Insights: Automated LCA tools provide detailed data across key environmental metrics needed in Digital Product Passports like water use, carbon emissions, and waste. Root’s platform, for instance, provides data on six impact categories that can be used to create passports.
Granular Data: Automated LCA can produce the highly detailed data needed to meet the data requirements of Digital Product Passports. For example, Root’s software can distinguish between different materials and components in your products, creating data with the correct level of granularity needed to develop accurate and compliant Digital Product Passports.

How we can help

At Root, we aim to redefine the norm by making product footprints universal. Our platform conducts automated LCAs for entire product portfolios – helping businesses report effectively on regulations, avoid greenwashing and become industry leaders in sustainability.

Root creates comprehensive LCAs, and the in-depth, holistic environmental data can be used to create Digital Product Passports.

Interested to learn more? Get in touch with our team to discover how Root can help you achieve compliance and drive sustainable growth.