.png)
If you were to open up your available data today on the environmental impact of your products, we guess it would be either like opening a can of worms or opening the same can, but without the worms. Empty.
If not, we congratulate and commend you. That would make you stand out from the crowd.
Most companies wanting to continue to do business in the European Union will need to get that act together. Soon.
When the regulations on digital product passports (DPP) start coming into effect in just a few years, products sold in the European Union will be required to be accompanied by a range of data on sustainability, circularity, reparability, and responsibility.
The empty can
Currently, few if any companies have data available to be able to comply with DPP regulations. Nobody, yet, knows exactly all data that will be required for all affected industries. The deadline for that work is at the end of 2025. But we know enough to realise that few if any have all data available that will be required. And the deadline for compliance of the first industries is at the end of 2027.
If "your can is empty" you had better start looking for the kind of data you will need to get compliant. In your production and design specifications, with your sub-suppliers, in your logistics.
Start informing yourself and start turning stones to see where and how such data can be found.
The can of worms
If you're among the few to have some of data available that will be needed, chances are that:
It is not available in suitable data formats.
It doesn't comply with the required standards.
It's locked into proprietary systems or maybe only available in spreadsheets on somebody's hard drive, impossible to reach for anybody else.
You might not have to work as hard as those "with empty cans" to find the data (although we're pretty sure you will need to supplement what you have). You're lucky "only" having to make sure your data is made available transparently, in the requested data formats, and meeting the requested standards. Probably finding a suitable system to help you do it, too.
You might need to work on the supply of data from your supply chain, though.
That is probably a big enough task to warrant getting started now, just the same.
We're here to help
We're here to help you to get started, to guide you on your way to build your digital data supply chain for DPP data. Not as much in "unearthing the worms" as in making them easily and transparently available, in compliance with standards and formats, and advising you on the path to compliance. Just reach out!
Image by BrianAJackson on iStock
Comments