DIGITAL PRODUCT PASSPORTS

A Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a digital profile for each product that makes key information accessible and actionable. It brings together data on materials and origin, supplier certifications, environmental impacts, and circularity attributes. By structuring this information in a standardized way, DPPs enable consistent data collection and sharing across the value chain.

Fairly Made’s methodology is based on Life Cycle Assessment, a recognized approach used to evaluate the environmental impact of a product across its entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to production, use, and end-of-life. This enables a more comprehensive understanding of impact, going beyond single indicators such as carbon emissions to include a broader set of environmental criteria (European Environment Agency, n.d.).

The methodology follows a structured framework defined in the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 international standards, consisting of four main steps: 

1. Defining the scope and objectives.
2. Compiling a life cycle inventory of relevant data.
3. Assessing environmental impacts using established calculation methods.
4. Interpreting the results. 

Data inputs combine primary supplier data with secondary data from established databases, supporting a consistent and robust assessment of environmental impacts across products. 

As a multi-step and multi-criteria approach, LCA captures the complexity of a product’s life cycle while translating it into measurable indicators. The results support the identification of environmental hotspots, comparison of product scenarios, and more informed design and sourcing decisions. These insights are integrated into DPPs, providing a structured and consistent basis for environmental information. 

To make these impacts easier to interpret, Fairly Made groups them into a set of 16 environmental impact criteria, in line with standardized Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) methodology.  

Each criterion represents a specific type of impact, such as climate change, water pollution, or resource use, by combining multiple emissions into a single, measurable indicator. For example, GHGs such as carbon dioxide and methane are grouped under the ‘climate change’ category and expressed in CO₂ equivalents. 

Together, these criteria provide a structured overview of a product’s environmental footprint, helping translate complex data into insights that support decision-making and transparent communication.