Norwegian companies set the standard for the EU's green transition
Digital product passports (DPPs) are becoming an important part of the EU's green transition, enabling businesses to trace the origin of products, report on sustainability throughout the value chain and support a circular economy.
The EU-funded CIRPASS-2 project is developing standards and solutions for digital product passports across four pilot categories: electronics, textiles, tyres and construction materials. Two Norwegian companies, Cobuilder and Kezzler, play key roles in this work – in the construction materials and textiles pilots, respectively.
Benefits for society and the circular economy
CIRPASS-2 has two main objectives: to demonstrate the large-scale issuance of digital product passports and to show how these passports can support circular business models based on reduction, repair, reuse and recycling.
'A digital product passport is a digital representation of a physical product that contains all relevant information about it. This is essential for moving from a linear to a circular economy,' explains Lars Christian Fredenlund, CEO of Cobuilder.
«In practice, this will significantly simplify sustainability reporting, among other things. You can access all the information you need as soon as you submit an order in the system.»
For the construction industry, this means you can see which materials have been used in a building, how they can be reused and how to reduce the environmental impact.
Norwegian expertise creates new opportunities
‘This project is at the very heart of our strategy. For more than 20 years, we have been developing a solution for digital traceability across value chains. DPP is an ideal use case for our technology,’ says Hans Petter Hübert, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Kezzler. He continues:
– We can digitalise anything. Our technology supports digitalisation and traceability down to the individual item, allowing us to track each product from cradle to grave and record key events along the way, such as sales, repairs and resales.
For Cobuilder, which is leading the pilot for construction materials, taking part is a natural continuation of its long-standing work on standardisation and digitalisation in the construction industry.
‘This continues our work to develop common digital standards for the construction industry – essentially a digital dictionary that ensures all building information is understood consistently across countries and systems. This work has now become part of European legislation,’ Fredenlund explains.
European collaboration creates market advantages
'The EU is a hugely important market for Norwegian companies. More than 70 per cent of our exports go to Europe, where companies can build networks, gain market access and acquire knowledge while receiving financial support,' says Eva Langslet, Head of EU Programmes at Innovation Norway.
With more than NOK 6 million in total EU funding for the CIRPASS-2 project, this represents significant resources for innovation.
«Taking part in EU projects gives companies more than just funding. They often join for the money, but later tell us that access to markets, competence building and the opportunity to influence delivered the greatest value.»
She and her colleagues play an important role in guiding and supporting many Norwegian companies that want to take part in EU projects.
‘We help companies identify specific calls in the work programmes and connect them with relevant partners and consortia. Through our offices in Europe, we can also provide practical support and access to markets.’
Shaping the regulations of the future
By actively participating in the standardisation of digital product passports in Europe, Cobuilder and Kezzler have a unique opportunity to shape their development. Kezzler has two representatives in the EU standardisation body working on the DPP system.
'There is close communication between the European Commission and the project, making CIRPASS-2 one of the key forums for putting this into practice,' says Hübert.
Kezzler also has two expert representatives on the European committee working on DPP standards.
- 'This gives us a great deal of credibility! Few organisations are more closely involved in the development of DPP than we are. Being so close to the regulatory developments feels incredibly valuable, and playing such a central role in a project of this scale is both inspiring and educational.'
- Few organisations are more closely involved in the development of DPP than we are. For me personally and for the company, it is extremely valuable to be so closely involved in the regulatory developments.
The benefits for Cobuilder are equally clear.
'When Norwegian companies with our expertise take part in projects such as CIRPASS-2, it opens up opportunities across Europe and beyond. For example, we have been contacted by Canadian organisations that now want to do more business with Europe,' says Fredenlund.
'Norwegian companies should definitely recognise the opportunities this presents. EU projects like these not only provide funding, but also give you access to a large and important network that can lead to partnerships long after the project has ended,' he emphasises.