Emerging digital product passport initiatives require improved data structuring to support life cycle assessment

Abstract

Persistent data gaps limit the quality of life cycle assessments (LCAs), which frequently rely on incomplete, outdated, or non-comparable process data. Digital product passports (DPPs), initially developed for supply chain traceability, regulatory compliance, and circular economy objectives, also hold potential to address long-standing data challenges in LCA. Based on 20 selected, publicly documented DPP initiatives assessed as of April 2025, this Comment examines how emerging DPP practices structure information relevant to LCA. These initiatives indicate that core attributes, including material composition, recycled content, hazardous substances, and product carbon footprints, are now common and could provide a basis for improved LCA practice. However, contextual quantitative and qualitative data needed for representative life cycle inventories (LCIs) and methodologically consistent LCAs remain limited, particularly for production characteristics, energy use, end-of-life (EoL) parameters, and data-quality metadata. To enhance the utility of DPPs for LCA, future developments should prioritise the inclusion of disaggregated LCI data and the integration of EoL information as scenario input. Embedding established LCA principles in DPP architectures would support consistency, scalability, and transparency, helping transform DPPs from static compliance tools into dynamic infrastructures for actionable sustainability assessment.

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