The Role of Digital Product Passports in ESG Transformation

As ESG practices and corporate sustainability reporting regulations evolve, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: data is the foundation of sustainability credibility.

Yet, for many organisations, the product-level data needed to meet the rising expectations of regulators, investors, and increasingly sustainability-conscious customers remains scattered, incomplete, or inaccessible.

Organisations implementing Digital Product Passports in ESG and operational strategies are solving this issue. DPPs help them connect product, supply chain, and sustainability data into a unified data infrastructure, future-proofing their business against ever-changing sustainability regulations.

EU Sustainability Framework

The EU has raised the bar for corporate reporting with a renewed sustainability framework, spearheaded by the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP).

As part of the CEAP, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) sets out new ecodesign rules for products from 33 initial industry categories to improve the circularity and sustainability of products on the EU market.

Part of the initiative is a mandate for each regulated product to be furnished with a Digital Product Passport (DPP) – a tool for sharing product sustainability data throughout the product’s lifecycle.

DPPs form the informational backbone of the EU’s refreshed sustainability framework, enabling direct compliance with the ESPR, providing customers with sustainability information for more informed purchase decision-making, and generating a verifiable audit trail to streamline ESG reporting.

Digital Product Passports in ESG Transformation

Under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), companies must provide verifiable data spanning materials, manufacturing, and supply chains.

The problem is often structural: ESG data often lives at the enterprise level, while the most critical sustainability insights exist at the product level.

Without a way to connect the two, ESG reporting remains reactive and limited in impact. Digital Product Passports bridge this divide by connecting product-level insights seamlessly with stakeholders throughout an organisation’s value chain.

A DPP is more than a compliance tool - it’s a data framework that ties physical products to their verified digital records.

By capturing details such as material origin, recyclability, and environmental performance, DPPs enable:

• Transparency and visibility across the entire value chain.
• Traceability and direct links between components, suppliers, and sustainability outcomes.
• Accountability and consistent, auditable data for ESG disclosures.

With DPPs, sustainability data becomes structured, interoperable, and verifiable - the three attributes essential for credible ESG transformation.

Supporting CSRD Compliance and ESG Frameworks

DPPs map naturally onto the data requirements of CSRD and broader ESG frameworks:

• Lifecycle and circularity data strengthen resource-use and wastereporting.
• Supply chain traceability supports Scope 3 emissions calculation.
• Verified product lifecycle data simplifies auditing and compliance processes.

Rather than treating CSRD as an additional reporting layer, DPPs allow enterprises to operationalise it - embedding sustainability intelligence directly into products and systems.

How Service Integrators Drive Impact: Building Digital Product Passports into your ESG Transformation Offering

Service integrators and advisory firms sit at the crossroads of strategy, technology, and data. They help clients translate sustainability commitments into actionable systems - and DPPs expand that toolkit.

With DPP integration, service providers can:

• ‍Extend ESG transformation projects to the product and material level.
• ‍Build interoperable data architectures that unify compliance and performance.
• ‍Help clients prepare for the next generation of sustainability regulation.

DPPs enable integrators to create long-term data foundations that make ESG transformation measurable and future-ready.

At Provenant, we’re building the data infrastructure that underpins product transparency

Our DPP platform is designed to be EU-aligned, API-driven,and ecosystem-connected - enabling clients and partners to integrate DPP capabilities seamlessly into existing systems.

Using the Provenant platform, organisations can align with EU DPP to meet ESPR compliance demands while simultaneously satisfying the data needs for CSRD requirements. We’re also working to build a multi-standard DPP, meaning that organisations will be able to take advantage of the potential power of the new UN DPP via the UNTP.

Conclusion

The utility of Digital Product Passports in ESG stems from the DPP’s ability to provide a framework for linking every product to verified, transparent information across its lifecycle.

With Provenant, integrators and their clients can build the data foundation for ESG transformation via Digital Product Passports - turning sustainability ambition into measurable, verifiable action.

Provenant’s dedicated partner programme includes consultants, system integrators, distributors, technical infrastructure providers and more. Our service partners are a key piece of our DPP network, enabling us to deliver Digital Product Passport solutions to a multitude of clients across various industries.

If you’d like to learn more about, or become part of, Provenant’s partner programme, click here.