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If you haven’t heard about the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) yet, you will.
If you’re a producer or reseller of products or inputs to products for the EU market and haven’t yet made yourself familiar with it, you will have to.
This guide is a good place to start.
What is the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)?
The ESPR is an EU framework regulation that became effective on 18 July 2024. It is part of the greater EU Green Deal policy for “Net zero by 2050”. The European Commission describes it as “the cornerstone of the Commission’s approach to more environmentally sustainable and circular products”. If you’re into EU-lingo, you can read it in full here, in any of the 23 EU languages or in English.
How products are designed, produced, transported, used and disposed of, impact our environment and future generations. The aim of the ESPR is to reduce that impact long term. To reduce the EU contribution to climate change, pollution and depletion of resources. The over-arching purpose is to make sustainable products the norm.
Why is ESPR important for sustainability and the circular economy?
The ESPR aims at the root of the environmental impact of products: the design. Design impacts everything from materials, production methods, impact from use, repairability, recycling, disposal, biodegradability…everything.
If a product isn’t designed with a replaceable battery for example, it can never become circular.
The ESPR replaces the previous Ecodesign Directive
The ESPR reaches further than the old Ecodesign Directive of 2009 and covers a much wider range of products. While the 2009 Ecodesign Directive applied only to energy-related products, the ESPR covers almost all kinds of physical products.
The main exceptions, among few are:
Food and feed
Medicinal products
Why? You may ask. As they are among the most tightly regulated industries already. Adding further regulations wouldn’t make sufficient difference to warrant the effort.
The ESPR also reinforces the range of ecodesign requirements, comprising durability, circularity and climate footprint.
Objectives of the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation
The obvious objectives of the ESPR are environmental:
Improve circularity
Improve recyclability
Improve durability
Improve repairability and possibilities for refurbishment
Improve upgradeability
Reduce energy needs – in production, transportation and use
Reduce emissions and other kinds of pollution – from production, transportation and use
Reduce generation of waste from production and use
Increase resource efficiency
Increase portion of recycled content and materials
Address the presence of substances that inhibit circularity or are of other concern for the environment, humans or other living creatures
A secondary objective of the ESPR is strengthening the EU Single Market by addressing diverging regulation in Member States. More unified regulations will improve the freedom of movement of products between EU Member States, creating opportunities for innovation and job creation, maybe especially in areas of maintenance, repair and recycling.
Key Legal Frameworks of the ESPR
The ESPR contains three main legal frameworks, targeting different aspects and levers to reduce the environmental impact of products and consumption:
The Digital Product Passport Regulation
Rules to address destruction of unsold consumer products
Green Public Procurement
The role of DPPs in ESPR
Maybe the most impactful part of the ESPR is the Digital Product Passport regulation[1] .
Digital Product Passports are intended to leverage the purchasing power of informed consumers to drive the development towards circularity and reduced environmental impact of products.
Think of DPPs as a digital identity card for products, components and materials. An identity card providing, on top of straightforward identification details, data on environmental impact, materials and their origins, sustainability, circularity, energy requirements, repairability, recyclability and responsible disposal – from cradle to grave.
The requirements will vary with industries and types of products, of course. The relevant details differ, of course, between tyres, lubricants, clothes, furniture and electronics, as do the environmental challenges.
DPPs shall be easily accessible electronically and uniform (per product type), for ease of comparison.
In addition to environmental data, DPPs are supposed to carry available valid and verified certificates on responsible sourcing and production. About things like deforestation, child or forced labour, ecological production etc.
How Digital Product Passports Will Improve Transparency
A key aspect of DPPs is the transparency they will bring. Available product data on environmental performance will become extensive, uniform and comparable. Instead of producers being able to greenwash through cherry-picking good-looking characteristics, consumers, retailers and business partners will be able to see the full picture.
Rules on the Destruction of Unsold Consumer Products
In addition to issues of the environmental impact of the design of products, a substantial issue is overproduction, prominent in textiles and especially in fast fashion. Unsold products, including returns from online shopping, are currently destroyed or end up in landfills, in the EU or in the Third World.
Obviously, this is an issue both of waste of valuable resources as well as of the handling of the volumes of waste, and the pollution caused by mountains of unsold goods, especially when containing chemicals detrimental to people or environment.
How ESPR Restricts the Disposal of Unsold Goods
Initially, and for the first time in the EU, the ESPR introduces a ban on the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear. Although the ban initially is restricted to those product categories, it may well be extended to other industries if need be.
However, large – and later medium-sized – companies across ALL product sectors will be required to publicly disclose annual information on destructed unsold consumer goods as well as the reasons for destruction. Such transparency is sure to at least create pressure from media and the public to reduce such destruction, or possibly further bans on new industries.
Alternative Solutions: Recycling, Donation, Resale and Right-sizing production
If you aren’t allowed to destruct unsold goods, what are your alternatives? And which challenges might they bring? (limiting us to the only industries currently in scope: textiles and footwear)
Recycling – may sound like a no-brainer. Recycle the unsold goods as raw materials to produce new things. But can everything be recycled? Ant to produce what?
Take a look at some of your shoes. What are they made of? Unless they were expensive leather shoes, they are most probably a messy mix of different kinds of plastic and rubber. Not the easiest to separate for recycling
Textiles sold via dropshipping have repeatedly been proven to contain forbidden chemicals, notably PFAS. You don’t want them in your recycled products either. And what about all the counterfeit products? The original might be possible to recycle but counterfeiters make money from cutting corners and are highly unlikely to have used the same materials as in the originals. And do you really think that the people who couldn’t care less about immaterial property rights care any more about consumer protection legislation or health § safety? How do you sort those out from the recycling process?
For recycling to work, you need three things:
Responsible producers who follow regulations
More effective ways of purging those who don’t
Design for recycling
Donation – Already wide-spread, but by consumers. Not that much by producers themselves. The logistics for donations are already in place. Their capacity only needs to be increased. But who pays for it? And are all textiles and footwear suitable for donation? How about high heels in the refugee camp with only dirt roads? And how do producers feel about seeing their brand being used by an unintended “target audience”?
Resale – Similar to Donation, but usually more local. Looking at today’s volumes of unsold textiles and footwear building up as mountains of trash in third world countries the question is inevitable, how big is the risk of the “donation and resale market” becoming saturated?
Right-sizing – should be the desired solution, long term. Producing less based on speculation over what might be the trend. Building less stock of goods before obtaining a better grasp of market demand, shorter and more agile supply chains. Instead of worrying about how to dispose responsible of the surplus, we should produce less of a surplus in the first place. THAT is the intention of this regulation.
Green Public Procurement (GPP) and ESPR
The third legal framework is all about walking the talk. The EU and public authorities in EU member states are substantial purchasers of works, goods and services. Around €1.8 trillion according to the EU. Obviously, such purchases have a substantial effect on the environment all by themselves.
Therefore, the ESPR intendsintend to steer these funds in a more sustainable direction through mandatory Green Public Procurement rules, defined by product or product categories.
Obviously, such a purchasing power has the potential toof boost demand for circular and sustainable products, in favour of our environment.
Implementation of the ESPR: What Businesses Need to Know
As previously mentioned, ESPR became effective already in July 2024. Currently the Commission is working on the first ESPR working plan, setting out which products will be prioritised, initially and over the coming years. Based on that, detailed rules will be worked out in consultation with an Ecodesign Forum.
How the ESPR impacts manufacturers, retailers, and supply chains
The impact on manufacturers, retailers, and supply chains cannot be overestimated, at least if your industry or products is on any of the lists.
Mind you, for the last link in the supply chain to be able to provide the complete information on final products required for DPP’s or Green Procurement, they will need data from the entire chain, EVEN if your product may not necessarily be on the list.
This also means that the impact of ESPR will reach well beyond the borders of the Common Market. Anyone producing or processing raw materials, building components or other inputs to products that, at the end of the process, are intended for sale in the EU, will need to extract and provide the required data from themselves and upstream in their supply chain for later presentation in DPP’s or to procuring authorities in the EU.
You may want to compare it with US embargo rules in shipping: If you want your ship to be allowed to carry goods for the US military, it had better not visit any harbours of embargoed countries.
Key changes in product design, data collection, and reporting
The obvious purpose of the ESPR is to drive change in how products and production is designed. To favour a reduced environmental impact in production and more circularity throughout product life span; easier to repair, easier to exchange parts, easier to upgrade or repurpose and – finally – easier to recycle or dispose of responsibly.
This is, of course, a paradigm shift in product design where focus for ages has been on aesthetics and compactness at the expense of those very aspects. Exchangeable batteries in electronics, anyone?
The initial impact, though, is likely to be a mad scramble just to obtain the required data, from your own link in the supply chain as well as all those previous links. The life-time carbon footprint or energy consumption are unlikely to be lying around waiting in anyone’s top drawer.
But that data will need to be maintained. Another essential aspect is to obtain a sensible, effective and distributed way of handling, maintaining and presenting that data.
Steps businesses must take to prepare for ESPR compliance
As per the previous paragraphs, getting compliant is not sufficient. ESPR is not a “drive-by project”. Being, and remaining ESPR compliant is a fundamental change of how businesses are run, how production and procurement is executed, suppliers selected and data managed and distributed. Putting it simply, there are four main areas to attend to. The first ones being immediate and the last two long term:
Obtain the required data
Establish processes and systems to handle and maintain the data
Change business processes and mindsets to integrate environmental data in how you ALL think of your product
Continually work on designs of products and processes to avoid ending up “too low” in the environmental ranking in your product category.
This is another topic we have written about several times before:
ESPR Timeline: When Will Regulations Take Effect?
The ESPR has already taken effect, on 18 July 2024. There will be a transition regime until 2030 where it will gradually replace the old Ecodesign Directive of 2009.
The Ecodesign Forum was established late 2024 to elaborate on products and categories to include and when.
Q2 2025, the first ESPR working plan, presenting their work will be published.
At the end of 2025, the details on DPP data required for the first product categories will be published.
By the end of 2027, those products will be required to comply.
How ESPR Affects Different Industries
Over time, all industries are expected to be covered, except Food & Feed and Pharma.
The implementation of ESPR will be gradual, by industry and product category. Which industries will go first for ESPR as a whole, we will see for sure when the first Delegated Act(s) for Digital Product Passports are published late 2025.
So far, the industries slated for early introduction of DPP are:
Batteries (a separate, but parallel directive)
Textiles and footwear
Iron and steel
Electronics and ICT
Furniture – is said to being about to be delayed
Chemicals, detergents and paints
Aluminium
Tyres and lubricants
As this is the list for DPP’s, please note that the Rules on the Destruction of Unsold Consumer Products explicitly are aimed at Textiles and Footwear, but that ALL industries will be required to report on volumes of unsold products being destroyed.
How ESPR might change Buying Behaviour
Although we doubt that consumers will be overly concerned with the detailed “environmental ranking” of products, we’re pretty sure that products at the bottom of the ranking will have a tough time, having to redesign and reconsider designs and methods. At least initially, environmental impact will improve by cutting away the worst performers rather than us seeing a battle for first place.
As ESPR, especially DPP, intends to leverage the purchasing power of informed, responsible consumers, we have touched on this topic before in more detail:
How DigitalProductPassport.com Helps Businesses with ESPR Compliance
Our work at DigitalProductPassport.com focuses on:
Spreading information on ESPR and Digital Product Passports, actively and as a hub for interested parties to gather and exchange ideas and experience, primarily through this website and through presenting at industry events and conferences.
Providing training on ESPR and Digital Product Passports to companies, authorities and trade organisations
If you’re interested in us speaking or training your leaders, employees or members, please get in touch.
International Perspectives on ESPR & Global Sustainability Standards
As described above, the impact of the ESPR regulations will reach well beyond the Common Market, as all manufacturers of inputs to products to be sold there, will need ESPR data to be supplied with those inputs to be at all able to piece together the data asked from them for the totality.
Keep in mind the “Brussels Effect” as described here, that it is often more efficient for manufacturers to comply with the strictest of rules for any market served, than to manage a range of product versions designed to just match the standards of the market intended for that very batch.
A recent example is the Brits being furious about soft drink manufacturers in the UK adapting to the recent requirement by the EU for the tops of bottles to remain attached to the bottle.
How ESPR aligns with global sustainability regulations and how it can make impact on a global scale
As with the GDPR, with ESPR the EU is ahead of the game, setting direction. To our knowledge, there is no such comprehensive regulation available anywhere else…yet.
In line with the GDPR, it’s not too far-fetched that we will see other countries, states and organisations to gradually start implementing similar regulations in decades to come.
Future development within ESPR
The ESPR package of regulations is supposed to happen gradually, industry by industry, product category by product category. It will not happen overnight.
Naturally, big reforms usually need tweaking along the way:
The sequence of industries and product categories might get modified.
New knowledge on environmental impact may lead to changes in which data is required.
We might see exceptions or approaches directed at small or artisan businesses, challenged with the capabilities and infrastructure required to obtain and handle the data.
Adjustments might be called for due to production process or supply chain issues that create more complexity than they add value.
We have speculated that lacking consumer enthusiasm may lead to adding health & safety data to what is required for Digital Product Passports.
We expect a new to emerge by producers to think of “what their product actually is”. With ESPR, environmental data about the product will become as essential for being able to sell it as the product itself.
We also foresee that once the infrastructure is in place for companies to handle the data, they will start see what else it can be used for.
We foresee companies finding ways to add marketable value – in data – to their physical products, developing new business ideas and concepts
We also see how the distributed approach of for ESPR/DPP data handling hasto carry the potential toof revolutionise the handling of product data in general. Instead of slow and error-prone copying of data from one system to another, the new paradigm becomes “leave and maintain it at the source and only fetch the current version when needed”. An enormous potential of simplifying for anyone using product data in on- or offline publishing, in design systems…..
Next steps for businesses, policymakers, and industry leaders
The immediate step for anyone who might get affected is to get informed.
What you do after that, differs depending on if and when you will get affected, and of your role.
If you’re producing products that will be affected early on, you should next:
Check your data gaps and start filling them
Inform and prepare your organisation
Take stock or your available technology’s ability to support ESPR and DPP
Take the measures needed:
Try to get involved in the EU processes to develop ESPR and the relevant standards
Obtain such technology if needed
Make organisational changes
Change the way you design products and production processes to improve your “environmental performance” to avoid being at the bottom of that list (that’s likely to take time, so you might just as well get started straight away)
Start thinking of how you can change this apparent challenge into an opportunity for business development (to motivate yourself and your organisation to do this wholeheartedly instead of with heels in the ground)
Image by jyugem on iStock
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