Sustainability & Digital Product Passport
How digital product identity is enabling transparency, circularity, and regulatory compliance across the European Union and beyond.
What is the Digital Product Passport?
The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a structured digital record that accompanies a product throughout its lifecycle. It contains information about a product's origin, composition, environmental impact, repairability, and end-of-life handling. The goal is to give consumers, regulators, and recyclers the data they need to make informed decisions.
The DPP is a central component of the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which was formally adopted in 2024. It extends the principles of the original Ecodesign Directive beyond energy-related products to cover a much broader range of goods sold in the EU market.
EU Regulatory Timeline
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| July 2024 | ESPR regulation formally adopted and published in the EU Official Journal |
| 2025-2026 | Delegated acts define DPP requirements for priority product categories (batteries, textiles, electronics) |
| 2027 | First Digital Product Passports expected to be required for batteries (building on the EU Battery Regulation) |
| 2028-2030 | DPP requirements expected to expand to textiles, electronics, construction products, and other priority categories |
What Data is Required?
While exact requirements will vary by product category (defined in delegated acts), the ESPR framework identifies several key data categories:
Materials & Composition
Bill of materials, substances of concern, recycled content percentage, and material origin traceability.
Recyclability & End-of-Life
Disassembly instructions, recyclability score, recommended disposal methods, and take-back program information.
Carbon Footprint
Lifecycle carbon footprint data, energy consumption during use, and supply chain emissions where applicable.
Repair & Durability
Repairability score, spare parts availability, repair manuals, and expected product lifespan or durability rating.
How Closient Helps
Closient provides the digital infrastructure to support DPP compliance. Because each product on Closient is identified by a GTIN with a GS1 Digital Link, sustainability data can be attached directly to the product's digital identity and made accessible via QR code scanning.
- Structured sustainability fields on hosted product pages for materials, recyclability, and environmental data
- GS1 Digital Link resolution with the gs1:sustainabilityInfo link type for machine-readable access
- EPCIS event tracking for supply chain transparency and provenance documentation
- Serialized product identity (SGTIN) for per-item passport data when category rules require it
Key Terms
- ESPR
- Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation — the EU framework mandating DPPs
- DPP
- Digital Product Passport — the structured digital record for a product
- Delegated Acts
- Category-specific rules that define exactly which data must be in each product's DPP