For fashion and textile brands operating in the EU market, the Digital Product Passport may be one of the most visible indicators of a company’s environmental performance. This so-called “digital twin” will provide a thorough overview of an individual product’s sustainability throughout its lifecycle.
This will be a big change in business practices for many companies, affecting everything from labeling to enhanced tech implementation. To gain a further understanding of EU regulations and their impact on your brand, we recommend reading this article as well as exploring our Textile Regulations Hub. In this blog, we’re taking a deep dive into the EU’s Digital Product Passport and what it means for fashion and textile brands.
The Digital Product Passport (DPP) has been in the works for several years when it was first announced in the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textile. In 2022, it was further refined in the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which guides the EU’s approach to regulating more environmentally sustainable and circular products.
In addition to requirements on how products are made, the ESPR also potentially seeks to provide a framework for how companies communicate a product’s sustainability to both consumers and authorities.
According to a communication by the European Commission, “Digital product passports will be the norm for all products regulated under the ESPR, enabling products to be tagged, identified and linked to data relevant to their circularity and sustainability.”
While the technical specifics and implementation of the DPP are still evolving, it’s essentially a digital record of a product’s key characteristics throughout the entire lifecycle. It may include information such as a product’s origin, material composition, and carbon footprint. Efforts to create more circularity within the fashion and textile industries mean that the DPP will likely also detail repair and recycling instructions.
While many products already have a “passport”—often a physical label that includes information such as material composition or country of origin—the new DPP will legally require more extensive reporting. There are two components of the Digital Product Passport that fashion and textile brands should be aware of:
This level of data collection and analysis will demand a comprehensive carbon management solution for large fashion and textile brands. At Carbonfact, our database of fashion-specific heuristics paired with our Uncertainty metric—which aids in data collection—enables us to provide comprehensive environmental LCAs for regulatory requirements like the Digital Product Passport.
Although the final list of requirements and implementation procedures for the DPP has not been released, we do know broadly what it will entail. Fashion and textile brands can expect to:
This information isn’t just for consumers. The DPP also aims to support businesses along the supply chain. By providing easy-to-access information about their work, the DPP can help them improve environmental performance and save costs.
The first draft of the DPP is expected to be released in 2024, which should detail the information to include on a passport, the type of data carriers to be used, and other specifications. Regarding environmental footprint data, conversations are still ongoing regarding reporting. It will likely be based on the EU Product Environmental Footprint.
From there, the latest reports indicate that the DPP will be rolled out by industry between 2026-2030. Because the fashion and textile industries are significant contributors to global carbon emissions, it’s a safe bet to plan on implementing the DPP sooner rather than later.
The Digital Product Passport launch may seem like it’s a long way off, but there are actions you can take now to ensure your brand is ready.
Carbonfact is actively involved in efforts to guide the development of the DPP. We are currently working with a consortium of climate tech startups like CommonShare, certification bodies, and brands such as AdoreMe to propose a solution to the DPP at the EU level. As such, we’re following this topic closely and will update as soon as further information is released in 2024.
For now, here’s what to know: the DPP will require numerous KPIs to be reported and displayed. Carbonfact can seamlessly provide a product’s environmental score and other sustainability indicators. We offer robust carbon management, encompassing all emissions categories (Scope 1, 2, and 3) and environmental data points, empowering brands to leverage their data for the creation of a Digital Product Passport. Connect with our team today.