Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI
Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI

Project

Impact Assessment of the Sustainable Product Initiative (SPI Project)

Ecodesign for sustainable products: The legislative initiative will entail a revision of the Ecodesign Directive, widening its scope beyond energy-related products and associated environmental provisions, and propose additional legislative measures as appropriate. It will also address the presence of harmful chemicals in products, such as electronics & ICT equipment, textiles, furniture, steel, cement and chemicals.

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Under the European Green Deal, the European Commission presented a New Circular Economy Action Plan in March 2020, in which it announced a sustainable product policy legislative initiative to make products fit for a climate neutral, resource efficient and circular economy, reduce waste and ensure that the performance of frontrunners in sustainability progressively becomes the norm. The ‘take-make-use-dispose' model can be avoided, and much of a product's environmental impacts is determined at the design stage.

 

The technical assistance covers results regarding:

  • A proposal for a revised legislation on sustainable products, with an extended product scope (beyond energy-related products) and an extended set of requirements (beyond energy efficiency) compared to the existing Ecodesign Directive;
  • A proposal for a digital Product Passport containing the information needed to perform circular processes (maintenance, repair, recycling) in an efficient way;
  • The design and evaluation of policy options along environmental, economic and social metrics, taking into account the input from a broad range of stakeholders;
  • A concept for supporting the implementation of the revised legislation on enforcement and monitoring.

Fraunhofer ISI led two tasks:

  • Task 2 – Scoping of product coverage
  • Task 8 – Outline of a methodology for SPI implementation

substantially contributed to:

  • Task 9 – Identification of the policy options and analysis of their impacts

and was involved in the following five tasks:

  • Task 1 – Problem Definition and Objectives/ Intervention Logic
  • Task 4 – Economic and reputational incentives and support measures for sustainable products
  • Task 5 – Support for new and existing circular business models
  • Task 7 – Typologies of requirements to be included in the future Ecodesign legislation or in other complementary legislative proposals
  • Task 13 – Support in case of resubmission to or reservations from the Regulatory Scrutiny Board

 

Deliverables of the project were used by the European Commission in the elaboration of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.

On 30th march 2022, the European Commission has published the proposal for the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation as well as the corresponding impact assessment:

Duration

December 2020 until November 2021

Clients

  • European Commission (DG GROW)

Partners

  • Economisti Associati (Framework contract manager)
  • Trinomics (project coordinator)
  • Technopolis
  • Bio Innovation Service 

Website

Deliverables were used for the proposal for the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation made public on 30th March 2022 by the European Commission: