The context
In Europe, the arrival of the digital passport, or Digital Passport Product, is taking shape. This tool is an integral part of the publication of the European ESPR regulation (Regulation on the Ecodesign of Durable Products) in July 2024, which replaces the 2009 directive on ecodesign for energy-related products (by definition non-binding, Editor’s note). How does it work? For every product sold in the European market, a digital passport containing all the information about manufacture and life cycle will be provided to the end customer. The EU is following in the footsteps of China, where DPP tests are currently being carried out on lithium batteries (with the CAICT institute). In Australia, the government is also considering introducing this type of passport by 2028. Tests are underway, such as Circular Design Thinking, which is developing passports for furniture and agricultural equipment.
Last month, the father of the DPP, Ilias Iakovidis, Senior Advisor at DG Connect at the European Commission, reiterated the objective in Brussels. “In a world of finite resources, brands and retailers are already facing the fact that they will be able to sell fewer items, that these items will last longer, and this in a context of slowing population growth.” The DPP is one of the tools for shifting from a linear economy, in which products consume ever more raw materials, to a circular economy. “The regulator is convinced that we need to develop Product As a Service approaches and therefore facilitate the circulation of items relying on data associated with them”, summarised Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel, C.E.O. of Arianee. “The goal is to break out of the deadlock of models that push for more raw materials to be extracted in order to produce more and sell more. As it is not possible to close companies or cut resources through taxation, the DPP is a lever for generating growth that is no longer entirely correlated with the production of new objects. Its data will make it possible to understand how a product is manufactured at the time of purchase, promote its reparability, resale and, where appropriate, better recycling.”
In terms of content, this tool will be a digital repository, including 15 to 20 data points on the material, origin and suppliers. “There is still a lot of uncertainty about what will be expected within this DPP,” sums up Perrine Delobelle, CMO at Tilkal, a digital content centralisation platform.
