Author: Fanny Eliaers

Digital Product Passport & ESPR: Does Product Data Flow Matter More Than Compliance?

The EU’s Digital Product Passport isn’t a distant regulatory abstraction. It’s a structured framework requiring product-level environmental data grounded in Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology and life cycle assessment.

This article will walk you through the regulation, the data structure it requires, the methodology that underpins it, and most importantly, the operating model that makes compliance manageable.

The digital product passport will be rolled out in phases under ESPR, starting with priority product groups. Textiles are listed as a priority under the Commission’s ESPR Working Plan 2025–2030. For fashion brands, that means once the delegated act is adopted, you’ll have a limited transition period to comply; the clock is already ticking.

But here’s what most conversations about digital product passports miss: the passport itself isn’t the hard part. The Joint Research Centre has published preparatory studies outlining the expected structure and data categories, giving a clear indication of direction, even though final requirements will be set through delegated acts.

The hard part is how most brands work today: sustainability teams scoring products for reports, product teams collecting supplier data for eco-design, compliance teams chasing documentation for regulations, all separately, all repeatedly, none of it connected. The DPP doesn’t fundamentally change what data is needed. It standardises it and makes fragmented workflows visible.

And that’s actually good news. Because the brands that have already built systems where data flows once and serves multiple purposes aren’t scrambling. They’re ready.

The Regulatory Framework: ESPR and DPP Requirements

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) establishes the legal foundation for Digital Product Passports across priority product groups. Textiles and footwear are among the first. Products are expected to include verifiable information on environmental performance, durability, repairability, chemical content, and circularity, as defined in upcoming delegated acts.

The ESPR also introduces reporting obligations and phased restrictions on the destruction of unsold apparel and footwear, making end-of-life planning legally required.

The fastest path to DPP readiness is connecting the product data brands already collect into one operational system.

Timeline: Transition Period Following Delegated Act Adoption

The digital product passport registry is scheduled to launch in July 2026. While delegated acts for textiles and footwear have not yet been adopted, if they follow a similar pattern to other ESPR product groups with an 18-month implementation window, brands could be looking at compliance requirements by late 2027 or early 2028. Exact timelines will be confirmed once delegated acts are published.

For brands where environmental data already flows between teams, this is an implementation project. For brands with decentralised workflows, it becomes an opportunity to align systems and teams around shared product data. Suppliers are often asked for similar information by different teams, and consolidating these requests can reduce duplication for everyone.

Where Product, Sustainability, and Compliance Workflows Diverge for DPP

Sustainability teams run LCAs or use scoring tools to benchmark products and generate reports. Product teams collect supplier information, run material comparisons, and make design decisions. Compliance teams chase documentation for regulations, certifications, and chemical disclosure requirements.

Many brands built sustainability, product development, and compliance processes at different times, for different needs. As regulations evolve, those parallel workflows now need to converge. The same product gets assessed twice using different methods. And when the digital product passport requirement lands, there’s no central system ready to feed it. Just fragmented data across teams, tools, and formats and no clear owner.

This isn’t a data quality problem. It’s a data flow problem. When DPPs require product-level data that’s traceable and connected to real supply chain information, that fragmented approach collapses. Without integrated systems, brands may face longer implementation timelines, increased compliance complexity, and strained supplier relationships from duplicate data requests.

Why the Digital Product Passport Requires Integration (Not Just More Data)

The DPP requires one system that serves multiple purposes. The data you publish in a DPP isn’t separate from the data you use for eco-design decisions or sustainability reporting. It’s the same data.

The fragmented approach creates a compliance gap. The DPP doesn’t accommodate three different versions of a product’s environmental profile. It requires one version, methodologically consistent, traceable, and defensible.

But brands that have already built systems where data flows once don’t experience the DPP as a new burden. They experience it as another output from a system that’s already working.

In practice, this looks like teams working from the same product dataset: environmental impacts inform material choices, support sustainability reporting, and feed regulatory requirements, without asking suppliers for the same information multiple times.

What the DPP Actually Requires: Multi-Dimensional, Not a Single Score

Based on the Joint Research Centre preparatory study, the digital product passport for textiles will require information across several core dimensions. This isn’t a single environmental score. It’s a structured dataset combining life cycle assessment with measurable physical attributes, because regulators determined that LCA alone, while central, isn’t sufficient.

The digital product passport brings together environmental impacts, material composition, durability, chemical information, and circularity attributes into a single structured product dataset.

Simple scoring tools or single-number ratings don’t translate to digital product passport compliance. The passport asks for specific, traceable data across multiple domains. Brands using integrated LCA platforms that track these dimensions at product-level are positioned to deliver what the digital product passport requires.

The PEF Foundation: Methodology Matters

The environmental data in the digital product passport is grounded in the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) framework, the EU’s standardised approach to life cycle assessment. We’ve covered PEF methodology, the updated PEFCRs for apparel and footwear, and what adaptation requires in detail here.

When product data flows once and serves multiple teams, DPP becomes an output of existing workflows, not a new compliance burden.

What This Means for Brands Preparing Now

Brands that already connect product, sustainability, and compliance data won’t experience the digital product passport as a disruption. They’ll experience it as another output from systems they already rely on every day.

If your teams currently use separate tools, processes, and datasets, the DPP provides a clear framework for integration. The passport aligns with the principles of effective environmental management: reliable data, used consistently, that actually informs decisions. This is an opportunity to build systems that serve both compliance and better product development.

The Road Ahead: Compliance That Supports Better Products

The digital product passport framework makes environmental performance visible and traceable. That visibility creates accountability. But it also creates clarity.

When sustainability, product, and compliance teams work from the same data, decisions improve. Trade-offs become explicit. Comparisons are valid. Durability gets weighted appropriately against material choice. Chemical content gets factored into recyclability decisions. And when the DPP requires publishing that data, it’s not an exposure risk, it’s a reflection of how the business already operates.

The brands ready for DPPs are building for flow: data collected once, used everywhere, methodologically sound, and connected to real decisions.

The passport is coming, and no matter where you are, you’re not starting from zero. The real work is aligning how you work today with what the DPP will require tomorrow. For brands making that shift now, this won’t be a compliance scramble. It’ll be the natural next step in a system that’s already working for you.

Key Takeaways

ESPR introduces Digital Product Passports starting with textiles
EDPP relies on PEF and LCA alongside physical product attributes
Connected product data allows sustainability, product, and compliance teams to work from the same foundation
Brands that integrate product data now can turn DPP into operational efficiency and competitive advantage

Peftrust is a product-level environmental data platform for apparel, footwear, outdoor, and home goods brands. It turns methodologies such as PEF and the French EcoScore (Cout Environmental) into actionable product data for eco-design, Scope 3 analysis, and day-to-day product decisions, not just reporting.

Product Environmental Footprint (PEF): The Backbone for Eco-Design, DPPs, and ESPR

This was a central theme at the Scandinavian Outdoor Group Sustainability Day 2026 in Stockholm, where sustainability leaders from across the industry gathered to discuss practical approaches to environmental assessment. The consensus was clear: outdoor brands need tools that match their ambition.

Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is becoming a core framework for measuring product-level environmental impact. This article explains what PEF enables today, its limitations, and how it supports eco-design, Digital Product Passports (DPP), and ESPR compliance.

Environmental transparency has never been the issue for outdoor brands. The industry is built on respect for nature, producing gear designed to last, withstand harsh conditions, and align with sustainable values. What has been missing is the infrastructure to back those values: reliable data collection, standardised measurement systems, and frameworks that fit into existing production processes.

Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) has emerged as one of the most robust frameworks for product-level environmental assessment. Each PEF is developed by the European Commission with technical secretariats representing industrial key experts and integral stakeholders, creating and aligning on the unique category rules for each sector The PEFCR A&F (Apparel and footwear) provides the fashion industry and outdoor sector with a standardised method for calculating and communicating the environmental performance of products across their full life cycle.

For outdoor brands, where durability, technical performance, and environmental responsibility converge, understanding PEF is increasingly essential. This article addresses practical questions based on real-world experience working with apparel, footwear, and outdoor brands on product-level environmental assessments.

Building a Solid Foundation for Environmental Transparency

PEF is not about achieving the best score or crafting the cleanest sustainability story. It is about building a solid foundation, one that includes full life cycle assessment, durability modelling, and use phase impacts, one that uses shared rules and databases so results hold together under scrutiny.

For outdoor brands, this foundation is particularly valuable. Products built to last can demonstrate genuine environmental advantages. Repair programmes and quality construction become quantifiable benefits. The values the outdoor industry has long championed, respect for nature, durability, and production, can be substantiated with credible, comparable data.

In practice, the questions brands ask are specific: What is PEF actually useful for today? Where does comparison work, and where do expectations go wrong? Can primary data be used, or is everything locked to defaults? And how do durability and lifetime really affect results? The sections that follow address each of these directly.

What Is PEF and How Does It Work?

PEF is a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology that measures environmental impact from raw material extraction through manufacturing, distribution, use, and end of life. Unlike simplified carbon footprinting, PEF covers sixteen impact categories, including climate change, water use, biodiversity, resource depletion, and ecotoxicity.

The framework succeeds because it addresses three challenges simultaneously: scope, impact coverage, and modelling rules. When brands compare different LCA studies and find wildly different results, it is usually because one of these elements varies between methodologies. PEF standardises all three, creating a common foundation for meaningful comparison.

This standardisation does not eliminate methodological debate, especially on contested materials such as wool or bio-based synthetics. What PEF does is move debates into a defined framework where assumptions become explicit and consistent rather than implicit and scattered. The debates become more visible, which is precisely the point.

Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs)

PEFCRs define how specific product categories should be assessed. For apparel and footwear, these rules ensure valid comparisons: jackets compared to jackets, boots compared to boots. This category-specific approach prevents misleading comparisons between fundamentally different product types.

The rules also specify which data sources are acceptable, how to handle data gaps, and what default values apply when primary data is unavailable. This consistency is what makes PEF results comparable across brands and products.

Why PEF Matters for Outdoor Brands

Outdoor products present unique challenges for environmental assessment. Technical garments and footwear involve complex material combinations, including membranes, treatments, reinforcements, and hardware, that simpler methodologies struggle to capture accurately. A single jacket might include a dozen different materials, each with distinct environmental profiles.

PEF handles this complexity without oversimplifying. Under the PEF methodology, product complexity stays visible rather than being smoothed out. More materials and components mean more data to model. When specific data is unavailable, conservative default values provide a consistent foundation and set the stage for assessment, ensuring results remain comparable while data quality improves over time.

More importantly, PEF models product lifetime and use phase, which matters enormously for outdoor brands where durability is a core value proposition. Washing frequency, maintenance requirements, and expected product lifespan all factor into the assessment.

Durability Becomes a Measurable Advantage

PEF is a weight-based methodology, meaning material mass directly influences the score. However, a heavier product can still score better than a lighter alternative if it lasts longer and replaces multiple products over time. This is not marketing spin. It is how the methodology accounts for durability. When a product lasts twice as long, its environmental burden spreads across twice as many uses.

For outdoor brands built on quality and longevity, this represents a significant opportunity. Repair programmes, durable construction, and longevity design become quantifiable environmental benefits rather than just brand positioning.

Key Benefits of PEF for Sustainability Teams

Data Driven Eco Design Decisions

When disaggregated default data is available, PEF can help build scenarios where environmental impact concentrates within a product’s lifecycle. If raw materials dominate, often accounting for 40% of total impact, material selection becomes the priority. If dyeing and finishing contribute significantly, process innovation matters most.

Design teams can model alternatives before committing to production. What happens with recycled polyester versus virgin polyester? How does a different membrane affect the overall footprint? PEF can help provide quantified answers that inform real decisions.

Product Level Scope 3 Insights

For brands working on corporate emissions accounting, PEF provides the product-level granularity that Scope 3 reporting requires. The full life cycle approach captures upstream and downstream impacts, helping identify which products and categories contribute most to corporate footprint.

Regulatory Readiness

EU policy increasingly references PEF methodology. The Green Claims Directive, Digital Product Passport requirements, and Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation are all leaning towards an alignment with PEF-based approaches. Brands that build PEF capability now are better prepared to apply consistent, product-level LCAs across eco-design, Scope 3 analysis, and future disclosure needs, without having to rework their foundations later.

Understanding the Limitations of PEF

Using PEF effectively requires understanding what it is designed to do, and what it is not.

PEF was not built as a standalone consumer message. It is a technical methodology designed to produce consistent, comparable product-level results across multiple impact categories. For this reason, PEF is most often used as the backbone behind consumer-facing labels or scores, rather than communicated directly. The French environmental display score is a good example of how PEF-based results can be translated into a format that is accessible to consumers.

Data gaps remain, particularly for innovative materials and novel processes common in technical outdoor products. Where gaps exist, conservative defaults apply, which may not fairly represent products that genuinely perform better. The good news is this gap is starting to close as more upstream material producers and process owners can now provide primary datasets, but collecting, validating, and maintaining that data at scale still takes real time and effort.

PEF is a technical methodology, but most of the complexity sits in the rules and calculations themselves. In practice, platforms handle this automatically, allowing teams to focus on understanding the results and using them to inform eco-design, sourcing, and product decisions. The learning curve is real, but it is manageable, and brands do not need to become LCA experts to benefit from the framework.

How to Get Started with PEF

For most brands, PEF works best when approached progressively rather than all at once.

Start with strategic products. Begin with high-volume items, flagship products, or those under stakeholder scrutiny. Working on a focused scope makes internal capability manageable while delivering immediate value.

Build data infrastructure progressively. Start with EF or PEF-compliant databases for defaults, then replace them with primary data for impactful areas, typically materials and key processing stages. Supply chain clarity can become increasingly visible as data maturity develops.

Connect to business processes. The most successful implementations integrate footprint datainto design reviews, material selection criteria, and supplier evaluation frameworks. When PEF results inform decisions, the investment yields returns.

The Road Ahead

The journey from first assessment to mature capability takes time. Data gaps must be filled. Internal processes must adapt. Supply chains must be engaged. But the direction is clear: verified, standardised product environmental data will be increasingly expected by consumers, regulators, and stakeholders alike.

Brands that invest now position themselves ahead of regulatory requirements and competitive pressures. They reduce compliance risk, improve calculation accuracy, streamline supplier exchanges, and build the data infrastructure needed for Digital Product Passport requirements expected from 2027.

PEF offers a proven, structured, internationally recognised approach to meeting that expectation. For brands ready to move beyond approximate claims toward verified environmental performance, it provides exactly what its name promises: a solid foundation for understanding product environmental footprint.

Peftrust is a product-level environmental data platform for apparel, footwear, outdoor, and home goods brands. It turns methodologies like PEF into usable product data for eco-design, Scope 3 analysis, and day-to-day product decisions, not just reporting.

PEF Product Environmental Footprint

Environmental Impact at Scale: How Fashion Brands Turn Regulation into Competitive Advantage

How Fashion Brands Turn Regulation into Competitive Advantage

Fashion brands are now expected to publish product-level environmental scores, often before their data systems are fully ready. In France, this means aligning with the Ecobalyse methodology, while at the EU level similar product transparency requirements are coming through the Digital Product Passport.

For many fashion teams, this requirement arrives before their supply chain data, traceability processes, and LCA workflows are fully in place.

This case study looks at how Kiabi approached that gap. Rather than waiting for perfect data or limiting the effort to a small pilot, Kiabi built an operational system that now supports environmental impact scoring across more than 7,500 products published on Ecobalyse.

The result is not just regulatory alignment, but a structure that can scale, improve over time, and support decisions beyond disclosure.

Why This Case Matters

Many fashion brands face the same practical constraints:

Supply chains spread across multiple tiers and regions
Supplier data that exists, but is uneven or hard to verify
Long onboarding cycles for traceability and digital tools
Difficulty turning traceability data into reliable LCA results

Under regulatory pressure, these issues often lead to rushed disclosures, heavy use of assumptions, or isolated pilots that never scale.

This case study shows what happens when a brand tackles those constraints directly. It documents how Kiabi moved from fragmented data to a working, repeatable system, using real operational inputs rather than one-off calculations.

What you will find in the whitepaper

This whitepaper is not a theoretical overview. It is a concrete account of how environmental impact scoring was deployed in practice, at scale, across a large fashion retailer.

Inside, you will see:
- How traceability data feeds directly into LCA calculations and improves score accuracy
- How responsibilities were structured between the brand, the traceability platform, and the impact calculation engine
- What realistic timelines look like for supplier onboarding and data quality improvement
- How data precision can improve progressively, without waiting for complete supplier coverage
- How environmental impact data can be used internally for sourcing, eco-design, and decision-making, not just compliance
The focus is on execution: what worked, what took longer than expected, and what other brands should plan for if they want to avoid last-minute compliance.

Download the Environmental Impact Scoring Case Study for Fashion Brands

Access the full Kiabi–Peftrust–TextileGenesis case study and learn how environmental impact scoring can be deployed at scale in fashion.

The whitepaper is available in English and French.

“When the Digital Product Passport becomes mandatory, it will be a source of pride for us to meet it. We’re preparing for it — and we’re not afraid.”

Caroline Bottin, Kiabi

Leader pole technique et éco-conception

Environmental Impact Environmental Labelling Kiabi TextileGenesis

Carbon Accounting vs Product-Level LCA

Why the EU Is Raising Sustainability Requirements

Fashion and lifestyle brands in Europe are facing mounting pressure to demonstrate genuine sustainability performance, not just marketing rhetoric. Under the European Green Deal and its related frameworks, the European Union is systematically tightening sustainability standards to make products more circular, transparent and resource-efficient.

From the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles to the forthcoming Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Digital Product Passport (DPP), policymakers are setting clear expectations: brands must not only claim but also prove the sustainability of their products.

By 2030, the EU expects all textile products on its market to be durable, repairable, recyclable and made primarily from recycled fibres – a central goal of the EU Textiles Strategy. However, amidst this regulatory momentum, many brands often conflate two fundamentally different approaches: corporate carbon accounting and product-level life-cycle assessment (LCA). The result is a gap between strategy and action, leading to inconsistent reporting, poor design choices and regulatory risk.

“Corporate carbon accounting and product-level LCA serve two very different purposes, one measures organisational performance, the other guides product design.” Laurent, Bocahut, CEO

What’s the Difference Between Carbon Accounting and Product LCA?

The Macro Lens – Corporate Carbon Accounting

Corporate carbon accounting measures the carbon emissions of an organisation, capturing both direct and indirect emissions. Emissions are classified into three scopes:

Scope 1 encompasses direct emissions from on-site sources, such as manufacturing facilities and company vehicles
Scope 2 accounts for indirect emissions resulting from electricity and energy usage
Scope 3 is a broad category that includes all other indirect emissions (not included inScope 2) that occur in the company’s value chain, including business travel and the end-of-life treatment of sold products.

By regularly assessing their corporate carbon footprint, businesses can understand and analyse the carbon impact of their operations, supply chains, products and services. This tool is crucial for setting climate strategies and establishing science-based targets aiming to reduce carbon emissions.

It forms the backbone of disclosures required by frameworks such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

⮩ However, its focus is organisational rather than product-specific. Whilst tracking emissions is beneficial, it does not furnish stakeholders with meaningful insights at the product level. These aggregated emission metrics demonstrate the overall corporate performance but lack the detail necessary to determine whether a particular jacket, shoe or handbag is environmentally preferable to another, thus lacking the granularity to guide design or sourcing decisions effectively.

The Micro Lens – Product-Level Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)

A product-level life-cycle assessment (LCA), on the other hand, takes a cradle-to-grave view of a specific item, evaluating its complete environmental footprint across multiple impact categories (for example, climate change, water use, resource depletion, eutrophication), from raw-material extraction to manufacturing, transport, use and end-of-life.

The European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) initiative and Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) for textiles and footwear provide harmonised guidance for this purpose.

Product-level LCA turns visibility into action. While carbon accounting provides visibility into overall emissions, product-level Life Cycle Assessment delivers actionability. It enables designers, developers, and suppliers to pinpoint environmental “hotspots” from materials, dyeing, assembly, and transport to packaging and compare alternatives with precision.

⮩ Because 80–90% of apparel’s impact lies within products and their supply chains, not in offices or electricity use, product-level LCA offers the granularity needed to design smarter and reduce impact where it truly matters. It forms the scientific backbone of credible eco-design, transforming data into informed, measurable decisions.

Why Product-Level Impact Matters

Seeing Beyond Corporate Averages

The distinction between carbon accounting and product-level LCA lies in granularity and that difference matters. Without it, companies risk acting on incomplete insights and missing the true levers of impact reduction. Organisation-wide figures may show progress, yet they can mask where most emissions actually occur: in materials, dyeing, assembly, transport, and packaging .

Identifying Real Environmental Hotspots

Without product-level data, brands remain blind to the real “hotspots” in their collections. A fibre switch say, from cotton to organic cotton might look like progress, but its impact depends entirely on farming methods, regional practices, dyeing processes, and logistics. The same design, produced by two suppliers, can have entirely different environmental footprints.

As regulations evolve, the stakes are rising. Companies will need verifiable, product-level evidence, not broad corporate averages, to prove improvement, maintain credibility, and focus efforts where they count most in the product and its supply chain.

EU Regulations Now Require Product-Level Evidence

End of Unverified Claims

Beyond voluntary good practice, EU-level instruments now demand product-level information in many contexts. European regulators are taking steps to prevent vague or unsubstantiated claims, mandating life-cycle substantiation where applicable. The European Commission’s Green Claims Directive proposal (COM/2023/166) reflects this intent.

The proposal, which the European Commission initially published in March 2023, requires that all environmental claims be substantiated by recognised, verifiable methodologies, typically based on LCA to avoid greenwashing.

⮩ Even though the proposal’s legislative future remains uncertain, as the Commission announced its intention to withdraw the proposal in June 2025 for revision, its core principles and objectives continue to influence both EU and national initiatives aimed at improving transparency and substantiation of sustainability claims.

ESPR and Digital Product Passport – Product Proof Required

The ESPR, a central pillar of the Green Deal, will require all major product categories, including textiles, to meet mandatory criteria for durability, repairability and recyclability. The Regulation will also introduce Digital Product Passports (DPPs), which will carry verified environmental data throughout a product’s life cycle. At the same time, the Commission and stakeholders have advanced PEF/PEFCR for apparel and footwear to create a harmonised LCA methodology across the single market.

Similarly, the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles calls for traceable, circular products and the introduction of a legal framework for treating and managing waste and discouraging the destruction of unsold or returned stock. These policy moves make one thing clear: sustainability must be evidenced at the product level, not extrapolated from corporate-level averages.

Avoid Compliance Fatigue:

The policy landscape is not yet fully harmonised. Whilst the European Union regulations are shifting from voluntary reporting to mandatory redesign, national initiatives, most notably France’s score environnemental for textiles, add another layer of complexity, as their methodologies remain uncertain and not yet aligned with PEF standards.

Such regulatory plurality creates confusion amongst brands about which legal standard will ultimately prevail across the EU. Without harmonised indicators, brands face “compliance fatigue” chasing multiple requirements with overlapping metrics and disconnected datasets.

⮩ The solution is to choose a product-level measurement backbone now that can power all frameworks from a single, reliable dataset. That’s precisely what PEF-based product assessment enables: one methodology, many outputs ensuring consistency, credibility, and readiness for whatever regulations come next.

Why Brands Need Both: Carbon Accounting + Product-Level LCA

Corporate carbon accounting and product-level LCA are not competing tools; they are complementary.

Carbon accounting provides the strategic direction to set high-level targets (for example, 50% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2035), aligning corporate action with the EU Climate Law target of net-zero by 2050.

Product-level LCA delivers the operational insight, showing how each product can be improved to achieve those goals.

Bottom-Up Sustainability – The Smart Approach

How Peftrust Bridges the Gap

One sets direction, the other identifies the steps to get there, and when linked effectively, these two perspectives create a feedback loop between design, sourcing and sustainability strategy. Peftrust bridges this methodological gap between corporate and product-level sustainability.

Its digital platform integrates product-level impact data directly into reliable metrics for strategy, reporting and eco-design. It enables fashion and lifestyle brands to navigate the current regulatory fog and prepare for what’s next, all the whilst following a bottom-up approach.

⮩ A bottom-up approach begins with verified, product-level data and builds corporate metrics from that foundation. This method is more constructive and resource-efficient because it ensures that company-wide reporting reflects real, measurable product impacts rather than extrapolating product assumptions from corporate averages. It creates a transparent trail from material choice to market impact, one that can populate the ESPR and DPP frameworks with consistent, verifiable data.

“Real impact lives in the supply chain. Product-level data connects directly to mills, dye houses and factories, basing impact and sustainability on evidence, not assumptions.” – Denby Royal, Head of Sales, Peftrust

Conclusion – From Reporting to Redesign

European sustainability policy is transforming the way fashion operates, from transparency obligations to product circularity requirements. The shift is clear: from reporting to redesign.

Corporate carbon accounting alone cannot guide product decisions because it overlooks where most emissions occur: in product design and supply chains. To thrive under the evolving regulatory regime, brands must integrate both lenses of sustainability measurement: the corporate lens to meet strategic and reporting obligations; and the product lens to drive real environmental improvement. The antidote is a measured, bottom-up approach: robust product LCAs, aligned with PEF/PEFCR where relevant, aggregated to provide transparent corporate metrics.

⮩ With Peftrust, product impact becomes corporate insight. We aggregate product and facility data into consistent Scope 3 metrics, giving brands traceable reporting insights and the power to eco-design products with measurable impact.

Ready to future-proof your sustainability strategy?

Book a demo with Peftrust and turn product impact into corporate insight.

Carbon accounting Ecobalyse ESPR PEF Product-level LCA

BUT & Conforama: Eco-Design as a Strategic Lever

In the face of growing regulatory pressure and consumer demand for transparency, BUT and Conforama have transformed their supply chain by developing an internal eco-score framework.

This whitepaper documents how one of Europe’s largest home furnishing retailers has turned regulatory anticipation into a strategic advantage.

You’ll learn:

How the “Habitons Mieux” eco-score reshaped purchasing decisions and supplier relationships.

Why more than 90% of retailer emissions come from Scope 3, and how eco-design addresses this challenge.

The balance between environmental ambition and profitability, and how early movers gain an edge as regulation harmonizes across Europe.

How Peftrust supports the shift from simplified scoring frameworks to sophisticated, supplier-enriched LCAs.

Download the whitepaper to see how a market leader is using eco-design and regulatory foresight to transform its supply chain and set new industry standards.

This whitepaper is available in French and English versions

Eco-design Ecodesign

Supplier Data for Scalable LCAs – Peftrust x Manteco

Accurate sustainability reporting starts with accurate data. This whitepaper, developed by Peftrust and textile leader Manteco, shows how primary supplier datasets transform lifecycle assessments (LCAs) from estimates into audit-ready environmental intelligence.

It’s a roadmap for fashion and lifestyle companies looking to scale sustainability efforts across products, categories, and markets.

What you’ll learn:

Why supplier-enriched data outperforms generic industry averages in LCA calculations.
How to roll up SKU-level footprints into collection-wide and Scope 3 reporting.
Practical steps to integrate supplier data into compliance workflows (EU PEF, French Ecobalyse, CSRD, ISO 14040).
How Manteco’s fibres, available directly in the Peftrust platform, enable more precise LCAs and scenario modelling for eco-design.

👉 Download the whitepaper to see how supplier-driven accuracy helps brands move from basic compliance to strategic sustainability leadership.

Download the White Paper

Manteco Primary Data Sustainability

Lemaitre Sécurité : Une démarche d’éco-conception guidée par la transparence

Comment un fabricant de chaussures de sécurité transforme sa communication environnementale grâce à l’ACV

Dans un contexte où les entreprises B2B font face à des exigences croissantes en matière de transparence environnementale, Lemaitre Sécurité, fabricant français de chaussures de sécurité, a choisi d’adopter une approche méthodique et rigoureuse. Leur partenariat avec Peftrust illustre comment les outils d’Analyse de Cycle de Vie (ACV) peuvent transformer non seulement la communication d’une entreprise, mais aussi ses processus internes.

Une pression du marché devenue conviction d’entreprise

“À la base, c’est surtout une demande des clients”, explique Manuela, responsable de la modélisation chez Lemaitre. Mais cette motivation initiale s’est rapidement transformée en engagement profond. “C’est plutôt même personnel. Il faut que l’on fasse tous un effort pour l’environnement, pour réduire notre impact environnemental”

Cette évolution reflète une tendance plus large dans le secteur B2B. Comme le souligne Cynthia, responsable marketing : “Tous nos clients nous posent multiples questions sur l’ACV, l’éco-conception, nos politiques environnementales. Le logiciel Peftrust reste quand même un plus pour nous. Tous nos confrères n’ont pas la possibilité de générer une fiche ACV qui donne les différents impacts.”

De la réglementation à l’action concrète

L’entreprise a développé son label interne LSG (Lemaitre Safety Green) pour identifier ses produits éco-conçus, une démarche validée a posteriori par Peftrust. “Le modèle a été créé avant”, précise Cynthia, “et il nous a confirmé que nous avions engagées les bonnes démarches et sélectionné les bons produits éco pour lancer la gamme.”

Cette approche pragmatique s’est intensifiée avec l’arrivée de réglementations comme la loi AGEC en France. “C’est bon, tout le monde y est. Tous nos clients nous demandent tout”, confirme Cynthia, illustrant comment la pression réglementaire catalyse la transformation du secteur.

Un outil qui transforme les processus internes

L’adoption de Peftrust a créé une cascade de changements organisationnels chez Lemaitre :

• Impact sur les achats : “Ça a changé les données que nous demandons à nos fournisseurs”, explique Manuela. “Nous avons créé un processus que nous n’avions pas avant. Nous n’avions pas forcément de fiche technique du fournisseur que nous demandons lorsque nous créons une nouvelle référence de matière.”

• Transformation de la communication : L’entreprise a récemment intégré toutes les informations d’ACV sur son site internet pour les produits modélisés. “Cela nous permet de communiquer plus rapidement. Le client peut voir les données directement sur notre site”, note Cynthia.

• Lutte contre le greenwashing : L’équipe a dû repenser sa communication marketing.”Nous avons dû modifier des logos ainsi que les textes. Nous avons également légèrement modifié la charte graphique”, détaille Cynthia, soulignant l’importance d’éviter les termes et visuels trompeurs.

Les défis de l’éco-conception dans le secteur

Lemaitre fait face à des obstacles spécifiques à son industrie :

1/ La disponibilité des matières : “La recherche de matières recyclées n’est pas simple. Tout le monde n’en fait pas”, témoigne Manuela, citant l’exemple d’un fournisseur de doublure 100% recyclée qui a cessé sa production.

2/ Les contraintes normatives : “Nous sommes soumis à une norme européenne qui nous autorise ou non la mise sur le marché de nos chaussures. Nous ne pouvons pas prendre n’importe quelle matière”, explique Cynthia.

3/ L’approvisionnement local : L’entreprise privilégie les fournisseurs européens et méditerranéens, limitant ainsi ses options mais restant cohérente avec sa démarche environnementale globale.

Une utilisation pragmatique et évolutive

Aujourd’hui, nous utilisons principalement le logiciel pour notre communication. C’est la première étape. La deuxième consistera à utiliser l’outil de comparaison pour modéliser un produit initial et le faire évoluer dans le but de diminuer notre impact environnemental.”, précise Cynthia.

L’importance du support expert

Un aspect crucial souligné par l’équipe est l’accompagnement fourni par Peftrust. “Ce sont quand même des sujets complexes. Être encadré par une équipe qui connaît le sujet et surtout toutes les réglementations ; qui est en plus capable de répondre à toutes nos questions, c’est rassurant et cela nous aide beaucoup”, témoigne Cynthia.

Conseils aux pairs du secteur

Pour Manuela, le message est clair : “Ça ne doit pas être une contrainte. Il faut le voir en positif, c’est pour l’avenir de tout le monde, pas de nous forcément, mais de notre descendance.” Cynthia ajoute une mise en garde importante : “Trouver une solution fiable qui est basée sur des données vérifiées et respecter aussi ce qui a été demandé par la Commission européenne […] C’est vraiment d’être humble dans la démarche et de respecter ses confrères et pas forcément essayer de raconter tout et n’importe quoi.”

Conclusion : Une transformation en cours

L’expérience de Lemaitre Sécurité avec Peftrust illustre parfaitement la transition que vivent de nombreuses entreprises B2B. Partie d’une contrainte client, la démarche s’est transformée en conviction profonde, modifiant les processus internes et la culture d’entreprise.

Leur approche pragmatique – commencer par la communication avant d’intégrer l’outil dans la conception – offre un modèle réaliste pour les entreprises qui souhaitent s’engager dans cette voie. Car comme le résume Cynthia : “C’est une certaine prise de conscience. Avant, on cherchait juste à fabriquer […] Maintenant, on commence quand même à se dire qu’il faut faire quelque chose, on ne peut pas continuer comme ça.”

À propos de Lemaitre Sécurité : Fabricant français de chaussures de sécurité, l’entreprise a investi dans de nouvelles infrastructures éco-responsables depuis 2016 et développé le label LSG pour ses produits éco-conçus.

À propos de Peftrust : Peftrust est une solution de gestion de l’impact environnemental conçue pour l’industrie de la mode. Nous aidons les marques à passer d’estimations approximatives à des données précises, produit par produit, afin de mesurer, améliorer et communiquer leur performance environnementale. De la fiche produit à la stratégie, nous combinons les meilleurs outils d’ACV, des données vérifiées et un accompagnement expert pour accélérer la transition durable de la mode.

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Lemaitre Sécurité: Eco-Design & Transparency Through LCA

How a Safety Footwear Manufacturer is Transforming its Environmental Communication Through LCA

In a context where B2B companies face growing demands for environmental transparency, Lemaitre Sécurité, a French safety footwear manufacturer, has chosen to adopt a methodical and rigorous approach. Their partnership with Peftrust illustrates how Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools and Eco-design can transform not only a company’s communication, but also its internal processes.

Market Pressure Becomes Corporate Conviction

“Initially, it was mainly a client demand,” explains Manuela, modelling manager at Lemaitre. But this initial motivation quickly transformed into deep commitment. “It’s actually rather personal. We must make every effort for the environment, to save the planet.”

This evolution reflects a broader trend in the B2B sector. As Cynthia, marketing manager, emphasises: “All our clients ask us loads of questions about LCA, eco-design, all our environmental policies. And there, the Peftrust software remains a real advantage for us because I know that all our colleagues don’t have the possibility to generate an LCA sheet that gives the different impacts.”

From Regulation to Concrete Action

The company developed its internal LSG label to identify its eco-designed products, an approach validated retrospectively by Peftrust. “The model was created beforehand,” Cynthia specifies, “but it confirmed that we had taken the right steps and made the right selection of eco products to launch the range.”

This pragmatic approach intensified with the arrival of regulations such as the AGEC law in France. “Right, everyone’s on board now. All our clients are asking us for everything,” confirms Cynthia, illustrating how regulatory pressure catalyses sector transformation.

A Tool That Transforms Internal Processes

The adoption of Peftrust created a cascade of organisational changes at Lemaitre:

• Impact on Purchasing: “It changed the data we ask from our suppliers,” explains Manuela. “We created a process we didn’t have before. We didn’t necessarily have supplier technical sheets that we request as soon as we create a new material reference.”

• Communication Transformation: The company recently integrated all LCA information on its website for modelled products. “It allows for quicker communication. The client can see directly,” notes Cythia.

• Fighting Greenwashing: The team had to rethink its marketing communication. “We had to modify logos. We modified texts. We changed the graphic charter a bit,” details Cynthia, underlining the importance of avoiding misleading terms and visuals.

The Challenges of Eco-Design in the Sector

Lemaitre faces obstacles specific to its industry:

• Material Availability: “The search for recycled materials isn’t simple. Not everyone makes them,” testifies Manuela, citing the example of a 100% recycled lining supplier who ceased production.

• Regulatory Constraints: “We are subject to a standard that allows us to sell shoes on the market. We can’t take just any material,” explains Cynthia.

• Local Sourcing: The company favours European and Mediterranean suppliers, thus limiting its options but remaining consistent with its overall environmental approach.

Pragmatic and Evolving Usage

Currently, Lemaitre uses Peftrust primarily for communication rather than for upstream eco-design. “We use it more to communicate today, more than to eco-design. That’s step 1. And step 2 will be product eco-design,” specifies Cynthia.

The Importance of Expert Support

A crucial aspect highlighted by the team is the support provided by Peftrust. “These are still complex subjects. And being guided by a team that knows the subject, that’s capable of answering all our questions, that’s aware of all regulations, that helps,” testifies Cynthia.

Advice to Industry Peers

For Manuela, the message is clear: “It shouldn’t be a constraint. You have to see it positively, it’s for everyone’s future, not necessarily ours, but our descendants’.” Cynthia adds an important warning: “Find a reliable solution that’s based on verified data and also respect what was requested by the European Commission […] It’s really about being humble in the approach and respecting your colleagues and not necessarily trying to tell all sorts of nonsense.”

Conclusion: A Transformation in Progress

Lemaitre Sécurité’s experience with Peftrust perfectly illustrates the transition that many B2B companies are experiencing. Starting from a client constraint, the approach transformed into deep conviction, modifying internal processes and company culture.

Their pragmatic approach—starting with communication before integrating the tool into design—offers a realistic model for companies wishing to embark on this path. As Cynthia summarises: “It’s a certain awakening. Before, we just sought to manufacture […] Now, we’re starting to tell ourselves that we must do something, we can’t continue like this.”

About Lemaitre Sécurité: French safety footwear manufacturer, the company has invested in new eco-responsible infrastructure since 2016 and developed the LSG label for its eco-designed products.

About Peftrust: Peftrust is an environmental impact management solution designed for the fashion industry. We help brands move from rough estimates to precise data, product by product, to measure, improve and communicate their environmental performance. From SKU to strategy, we combine the best LCA software, verified data and expert support to accelerate fashion’s sustainable transition.

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Ecodesign Beyond Carbon: Tools for Smarter LCAs

Ecodesign Beyond Carbon: Tools & Tactics for Smarter LCAs

What Should We Be Measuring in Mixed-Material Apparel?

This is a question we heard recently, directly from a client.

While our initial response was short and practical, we thought it deserved a deeper dive.

As sustainability becomes a core business requirement, brands involved in designing apparel that uses both natural and synthetic fibres must take a more comprehensive approach to environmental impact.

For example, the production of synthetic fibres, including polyester, is heavily reliant on petroleum, resulting in resource depletion and considerable greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, natural fibres, such as cotton, require substantial water resources and may contribute to environmental degradation

To navigate these challenges, our sustainability experts have identified several key factors that should shape ecodesign strategies:

1/ Water consumption
Critical for both fibre production and dyeing processes

2/ Human toxicity
Addresses health impacts from dyes, finishes, and synthetic components

3/ Resource depletion
Covers fossil fuels (synthetics) and biotic resources (natural fibres)

4/ Carbon footprint
Important but only one piece of the sustainability puzzle

By addressing these impact areas, brands can create more environmentally responsible products with a comprehensive sustainability perspective.

Leveraging platforms like Peftrust can further enhance this transition, providing the tools needed to improve sustainability across the industry.

Why Ecodesign Needs an Upgrade in 2025

Research indicates that up to 80% of a product’s environmental impact is determined during the design phase. Yet, many brands treat sustainability as an afterthought, focusing primarily on carbon emissions without considering other equally important factors.

As industries face increasingly complex environmental challenges, sustainability is no longer optional – it’s essential for business success and regulatory compliance. With evolving frameworks such as the Digital Product Passport (DPP) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), brands must transition from good intentions to robust, data-driven ecodesign strategies that address the full spectrum of environmental impacts.

By implementing multi-impact assessment approaches in the design phase, brands can:

* Make evidence-based material and process selections

* Ensure compliance with emerging regulations

* Build consumer trust through transparent sustainability claims

At Peftrust, our recent Coffee Pause Webinar with industry expert, Gianluca Manago, highlighted that effective ecodesign requires a comprehensive understanding of the entire product life cycle – not just carbon reduction. This article shares key insights to help brands navigate the evolving ecodesign landscape.

Four Essential Ecodesign Principles Every Brand Should Know

1/ Multi-Impact Assessment: Moving Beyond Carbon

While carbon reduction remains crucial, focusing solely on carbon footprints creates significant blind spots in sustainable strategies. Apparel brands must evaluate the environmental trade-offs of their design choices. True sustainable design requires considering multiple environmental factors:

* Water consumption
Critical for manufacturing processes like textile dyeing, which heavily impacts freshwater resources

* Resource depletion
Affects both non-renewable resources (fossil fuels) and renewable resources (cotton, wood)

* Human toxicity
Chemicals in dyes, coatings, and finishes impact both environmental and human health

Neglecting these trade-offs leads to misleading sustainability claims and poorly informed design choices. As our demonstrations have shown, brands must adopt comprehensive impact assessments to make truly sustainable design decisions.

2/ Data-Driven Decision-Making: The Foundation of Effective Ecodesign

Accurate, structured data is the cornerstone of successful ecodesign implementation. Brands need reliable Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies to evaluate environmental trade-offs and identify areas for improvement.

Digital tools that streamline sustainability assessments help brands:

* Stay ahead of compliance requirements

* Enhance sustainability reporting accuracy

* Make informed material and process selections

Without high-quality data, brands risk inaccurate sustainability reporting and poor compliance with EU regulations such as the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology – the standardised approach for calculating environmental impacts.

Our LCA experts highlight that many industries struggle with obtaining granular environmental data, often relying on assumptions. Therefore, engaging diverse stakeholders is crucial for gathering accurate information and driving meaningful adoption.

Peftrust’s multi-impact LCA tools empower brands to make informed choices using structured, regulation-ready data that aligns with evolving industry standards.

3/ Colour Matters: The Hidden Environmental Impact of Colour Choices

Dyes and pigments influence far more than aesthetics—they significantly affect a product’s environmental footprint. The choice of colourants determines:

* Water usage
Some dyes require intensive water consumption, increasing resource strain

* Toxicity profiles
Certain synthetic dyes release harmful chemicals affecting ecosystems and human health

* End-of-life impact
Natural and synthetic colourants create different challenges for recycling and decomposition

By understanding these implications, designers and product teams can make more sustainable colour choices without compromising visual appeal. Integrating colour impact assessments into design processes ensures responsible material selection across industries.

4/ Human Expertise Remains Essential in the Age of AI

While artificial intelligence plays an increasingly significant role in sustainability analysis, human expertise remains indispensable. AI-powered tools can streamline data collection and basic assessments, but strategic decision-making requires human oversight:

* Interpreting complex environmental trade-offs

* Evaluating ethical considerations

* Applying industry-specific knowledge to findings

Our experts emphasise that AI is a powerful complement—not a replacement—for thorough, expert-led sustainability assessments.

Peftrust integrates AI-powered insights with expert-led decision-making, ensuring that sustainability strategies remain grounded in practical industry knowledge.

Ecodesign in Action: The Peftrust Platform Approach

Ecodesign focuses on minimising environmental impact throughout a product’s lifecycle. Our platform helps companies integrate eco-friendly materials, enhance durability, and implement energy-efficient processes. To illustrate the power of ecodesign, we examined a case study involving the redesign of a jacket, which demonstrated notable improvements in sustainability profile:

Component	Original Material	Eco-Designed Material	Sustainability Rationale
Outer Shell	61.86% PET (fossil-based)	36% Post-consumer recycled PET + 24% fossil PET	Reduces carbon emissions and fossil resource use by replacing virgin PET with recycled inputs while maintaining performance
Padding	25.77% Virgin polyester wadding	21.25% Chemically recycled PET + 3.75% Recycled wool	Blending in natural recycled fiber reduces fossil use, supports circularity, and improves thermal regulation.
Lining	10.31% Nylon 6 (fossil-based)	10% Recycled nylon	Recycled nylon cuts environmental toxicity and fossil resource depletion
Trims	2.06% PVC (fossil-based)	3% Bio-based PE (e.g. sugar beet origin)	Switch to bio-based plastic reduces non-renewable input and improves circularity potential.
Coating/Finish	Fluorinated DWR coating (PFC-based) (assumed baseline)	2% PVC monolithic coating (same for both)	Replacing PFC-based water repellents improves environmental and human health impacts, especially in wet weather gear.

Key Impact Gains with Eco-Design

* ↓ 5% overall PEF score reduction

* Notable reductions in climate, resource depletion, and environmental health categories

* Strategic material swaps improve traceability, circularity, and compliance readiness (e.g. DPP, PEFCR)

Why 5% Matters

It might sound small — but apply this across a full collection with thousands of units, and the impact compounds dramatically.

One improved jacket → less carbon, less waste, better materials.

A hundred? A thousand? That’s where the future of scalable, sustainable design begins

Further improvements could be achieved by altering energy mixes, transportation modes, dyes, etc.

This example demonstrates how targeted material substitutions yield significant environmental improvements without compromising product quality.

Scaling Ecodesign with Peftrust Platform

The Peftrust ecodesign platform provides a comprehensive toolkit for sustainability improvement:

* See the full picture
Track your product’s environmental performance across key categories in intuitive views from products to full collections

* Comparative analysis library
Facilitates detailed comparisons between product designs, materials, and energy mixes to identify ROIs and align budgetary and sustainable targets

* Scenario modelling
Enables testing of different design approaches in real-time to maximise impact reduction before anything goes to production

* Material impact assessment
Quantifies how material changes affect environmental performance

* Comprehensive database precision
Leverages our secondary database of over 5,500 environmental datasets and tools to help map your primary data faster

Why Database Precision Matters: The Peftrust Advantage

When sourcing a tool for eco-design comparison, it’s crucial to ensure that the underlying database is comprehensive and reliable. A robust platform should provide a diverse dataset across materials—offering the depth necessary for accurate and meaningful comparisons, even when primary data is limited.

Peftrust stands out by combining a robust and evolving library of high-quality secondary data, your primary data and verified supplier or manufacturer-level inputs, enhancing the precision of each assessment.

This combination enhances the precision and provides tools that enable you to pinpoint areas for improvement and ensure that your assessments are informed, consistent, and credible, ultimately leading to more effective ecodesign decisions.

This robust foundation enables:

* More relevant impact assessments across product categories

* Accurate scenario-building and alternative modelling

* Informed decision-making aligned with sustainability goals and regulatory requirements

How Peftrust Supports Your Sustainability Journey

Whether you’re beginning your sustainability journey or scaling across multiple product lines, our tools make environmental improvement both seamless and impactful. Peftrust helps brands navigate the evolving ecodesign landscape with confidence by aligning with the following:

– European PEF methodology
The EU’s standardised environmental footprint calculation approach

– PEFCR Apparel and Footwear standards
Industry-specific environmental assessment guidelines

– ISO 14026 communication principles
International standards for environmental claims

AFNOR certification (the French standardisation association) has again validated our implementation of the Environmental Footprint Methodology. This third-party verification confirms our dedication to providing regulation-ready impact assessments for apparel & footwear. This gives brands the confidence that their results are credible, communicable, and audit-ready.

Take the Next Step in Your Ecodesign Journey

We invite you to experience how Peftrust can transform your approach to sustainable product design.

Contact Peftrust today to get a free custom Environmental Product Passport

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Leveraging Primary Data for Sustainable Leadership

The Ultimate Guide

Sustainability Leaders play a crucial role in guiding organisations towards environmental responsibility, with a key focus on reducing supply chain emissions. However, achieving meaningful sustainability outcomes requires accurate and reliable data.

The key to this achievement lies in collecting and utilising primary data.

Before delving into its significance, it is essential to define the three categories of data:

* Primary data: data collected directly from suppliers, manufacturers, or business operations.

* Secondary data: data derived from industry-average/third-party sources, incl. existing environmental databases & reports.

* Tertiary data: aggregated data from secondary sources, often used for broad market insights but lacks specificity.

The Significance of Primary Data for Sustainability Leaders

1/ Distinction Between Primary and Secondary Data

Primary data offers real-time, untainted, and specific insights essential for precise carbon footprint assessments (not just on CO2, but across all PEF environmental impact indicators like water, land, resource use, etc).

It enables brands to have visibility of their production ecosystem and allowing Sustainability Leads to identify and address emission hotspots to formulate targeted reduction strategies.

In contrast, secondary data relies on generalised industry averages, which may obscure critical areas for potential emissions reductions.

2/ The Impact of Primary Data on CO₂ Emission Reductions

Industry research underscores the efficacy of primary data in reducing carbon footprints. A study from McKinsey and MIT Climate Grand Challenges found that transitioning from secondary to primary data led to a 20% to 45% reduction in carbon emissions within the textile industry.

For instance, Unilever effectively integrates primary data into its supply chain management, enabling precise emissions tracking and targeted sustainability initiatives (World Economic Forum).

In a recent communication with Jessica Cederberg, a sustainability coach and founder of JCW Kommunikation, she highlighted the significant impact of primary data in shaping sustainability strategies to reduce emissions.

With more than 30 years of global experience in sustainability and business development, Jessica has collaborated with international brands to incorporate sustainability as a strategic advantage. She shared valuable insights regarding the importance of primary data in reducing carbon emissions.

“Studies and industry examples indicate that companies shifting to primary data collection from suppliers have observed emission reductions.

Primary data offers accurate insights into specific environmental impacts at each stage of the supply chain, allowing brands to better address high-impact areas like raw material sourcing, production, and transportation.”

Jessica Cederberg

3/ The Risks of Relying on Secondary Data

A lack of primary data may lead organisations to overlook significant sources of emissions, undermining the accuracy of reporting and the effectiveness of sustainability strategies.

An overreliance on secondary data may result in “carbon tunnel vision,” causing organisations to neglect broader environmental impacts, such as water usage, biodiversity, and circularity.

That said, secondary data still plays an important role in filling data gaps when primary data is unavailable. To maximise reliability, organisations should use tools like Peftrust’s Data Precision Ratio, which helps:

* Evaluate the influence of each data point on environmental scores

* Identify critical areas where primary data is essential

* Understand how missing data affects assessments and where default values may reduce accuracy

The Peftrust Data Precision Ratio (DPR) tool helps brands assess how primary vs. default data impacts their PEF and French eco-scores.

It highlights critical data points, shows where missing data lowers precision, and optimises resource allocation for better transparency.

🌟 Why the Stars? The star ratings indicate data accuracy levels by helping brands prioritise key primary data, pinpoint missing data’s impact, and optimise eco-scores

This allow brands to identify critical primary data points, assess how missing data affects final evaluations and understand where default values may lead to reduced precision. Jessica articulates this perspective as:

“Data isn’t just about looking back at past emissions; it’s about looking forward to anticipate where changes can be made for future impact”

Six Essential Steps for Effective Primary Data Collection and Utilisation

1/ Engagement with Internal Stakeholders

Sustainability is not confined to a single area – collaboration across various departments is imperative. Aligning sustainability objectives with internal teams in areas such as procurement, logistics, and operations ensures that primary data is seamlessly integrated into existing systems such as PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).

By actively engaging internal stakeholders, organisations can break silos, build a data-driven structure, and accelerate sustainability efforts. For instance, hosting training sessions, workshops, and discussions can ensure that employees understand the importance of primary data and how it influences compliance and carbon footprint reduction.

2/ Mapping the Supply Chain

At the heart of supply chain mapping is collecting primary data from suppliers. This involves suppliers declaring the networks they work with and source from, including subcontractors, raw material sources, and manufacturing sites. The aim is to obtain timely, accurate and comprehensive information that can be verified using transactional documents. Primary data collection is necessary to understand the specifics of the supply chain. In this regard, Jessica emphasises a pivotal shift:

“As the power dynamics shift, it’s crucial to recognise that your suppliers hold the key to data—this is no longer just a “nice-to-have” but a “must-have” for your company’s sustainability journey.”

3/ Collaborate with Suppliers

A comprehensive understanding of the supply chain, encompassing Tier 1 and deeper suppliers, is crucial. Identifying suppliers possessing sustainability certifications or advanced data systems fosters enhanced data accuracy.

It is essential to work collaboratively with suppliers to emphasise the importance of emissions data. Organisations and suppliers should work on shared goals, providing support and guidance to help suppliers improve data accuracy and explore low-impact solutions together. According to Jessica:

“The shift in power means suppliers will need to share data now, and this will directly affect their relationship with your business. It’s no longer just about data collection but fostering a mutual commitment to sustainability goals.”

4/ Implementation of Data Collection Tools

To streamline data accuracy, businesses should invest in digital platforms. Adopting digital platforms that which aid in centralising and automating the data collection process helps organisations structure their data collection. These tools can integrate directly with suppliers and traceability platforms or with internal systems (PLM, ERP), ensuring consistency and accuracy.

Beyond data collection, advanced impact calculation tools, can effectively support businesses in data mapping, enabling them to improve their sustainability performance. This should include validating data quality through consistency checks on primary data and precision assessments.

An effective data strategy should include tools which aid users in refining the depth of their data, validate inputs, and align with specific organisational objectives, thus optimising their data collection efforts.

5/ Analyse and Act on the Data

Once collected, primary data should be leveraged to identify high-emission hotspots in production. Sustainability leaders must interpret insights, identify key trends, and implement data-driven strategies to enhance environmental performance.

Analysis of primary data enables organisations to prioritise sustainable materials, optimise transportation logistics, and execute targeted measures for reducing their environmental footprints, for instance, switching to low-impact raw materials, using low-carbon transportation, and durability testings.

6/ Ecodesign Progress Monitoring and Transparent Reporting

Establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) aligned with ecodesign principles and science-based targets is crucial for compliance with evolving regulations, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Product and Sustainability teams often operate in silos – one approaching challenges top-down, the other bottom-up – each with its own timelines, KPIs, and strategies for sustainable production. Eco-design, powered by primary data, bridges this gap. By integrating real-time, product-specific insights with a strong secondary database, companies can:

* Ensure accurate sustainability assessments

* Track material efficiency and reduce waste

* Measure real progress in lowering environmental impact

Regular assessments ensure data accuracy, track material efficiency, and highlight progress in reducing environmental impact. By integrating ecodesign into monitoring frameworks, organisations can move beyond product-level insights to assess the full sustainability footprint of their operations, fostering transparency and continuous improvement in circularity, resource optimisation, and lifecycle impact reduction.

Conclusion

Incorporating primary data into sustainability strategies is no longer optional. It is essential for accurate emissions tracking, regulatory compliance, and long-term environmental responsibility. Continuing the shift from secondary to primary data is a big leap.

Peftrust is here to support organisations so they can pinpoint emission hotspots, optimise supply chains, and drive meaningful carbon emission reductions. Moreover, collaborating with suppliers, leveraging digital tools, ensures transparency and accountability.

Sustainability Leaders must act now and start understanding what kind of primary data they should be collecting as weightening plays a huge role, at the same time, integrating an effective data collection framework can enhance their emission reduction performance.

Stay Connected

* Take the first step toward data-driven and automated compliance

* Register for our upcoming March webinar on data driven eco-design

* Schedule a demo with our team or email us at sa***@******st.com

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