The concept of sustainability is often advocated to deal with the environmental challenges that threaten our modern society: despite its many positive sides, the term “sustainability” is though often overused, transformed into a generic marketing lever or, in the worst case, a facade for greenwashing practices.

Greenwashing was first accused in 1986 by activist Jay Westerveld, when hotels begin asking guests to reuse towels, claiming that it was a company water conservation strategy, although, did not have any environmental actions with more significant environmental impact issues (Pearson, 2010): quite some years have gone by but it is still hard for customers to differentiate the reliability of green marketing initiatives and spot them out as real environmental initiatives aimed at safeguarding the environment. This makes the application of sustainable development difficult as customers do not trust statements released by companies and corporate businesses claiming they are sustainable and so that with growing consumer awareness and the urgent need for a real ecological transition, words are no longer enough.

One way for the society to trust the word “sustainability” is to issue a Digital Product Passport (DPP) which is a sort of “digital identity card” (released by the European Union) linked to a single physical good. It is a way to trace the whole system of production: from its first to last stages. It would record, preserve, and share detailed information throughout the product’s entire lifecycle: from the extraction of raw materials to disposal, recycling, and remanufacturing.

The Passport is intended to be  a digital container for products, components, and materials, which will store relevant information to support products’ sustainability, promote their circularity and strengthen and facilitate legal compliance. The idea behind it is to help businesses, consumers, repairers and recyclers, and public authorities access reliable product information in a more transparent and standardised digital way (European Commission, 2026).

The Passport will contain details on the products’ composition and traceability (e.g. the origin of the material, the presence of chemical or critical substances, and supply chain transparency) as well as its environmental impact (LCA) assessing its carbon footprint, water, and energy consumption during production phases. It is not only that, in fact another important feature is the repairability and maintainability of the product: this is essential for the circular economy so it would translate in the disassembly instructions, availability of spare parts, and repair guides to extend the product’s life. In addition, the DPP should assess the percentage of recycled content, the instructions for proper disposal, and indications for recycling centers.

The process looks lengthy and complicated and, in fact, the DPP will be introduced progressively across selected product groups. Initial sectors include certain types of batteries and electric vehicles, with additional product groups expected to follow, such as textiles, iron and steel and construction products. All with the aim of making customers feel that sustainability is possible beyond words.

Despite its application, the DPP is not conceived as a voluntary option for the most virtuous brands, but as a progressive legal obligation integrated into the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan. The EU’s goal is to eliminate products with ‘take-make-use-dispose’ business models from the Union market, instead rewarding durable, repairable, and recyclable design: all under the headline of circular economy.