Improving ecodesign of products and development of testing methods for products prioritised under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation

Expected Outcome:

In supporting the implementation of the European Green Deal, and in particular the circular economy action plan (CEAP), the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), and the Right to Repair initiative, successful proposals will help reach the Green Deal objectives of lower resource consumption and less environmental impact. They will contribute to the expected impacts of this Destination, notably to innovative business and governance models that foster safe and sustainable product design.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• material and product manufacturers apply the ecodesign principles in developing and manufacturing products and are equipped with methods to assess the performance and potential compliance of their products with the ecodesign requirements to be developed under ESPR, as well to drive sustainability innovations;
• market surveillance authorities and notified bodies are equipped with methods for the verification of compliance of products with the ecodesign requirements;
• consumers have access to reliable and verified information about the ecodesign performance of products;
• consumers benefit from more sustainable and circular products, i.e. durable, reliable, reparable, reusable, upgradable, recyclable products including increased recycled content.

Scope:

The Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products (ESPR)^[1] lays down requirements for products placed on the EU market to improve their environmental sustainability. First, the Commission adopts a working plan prioritising product groups, based on the prioritisation criteria laid down in the text of the regulation. Second, the Commission will develop targeted performance and information requirements known as ‘ecodesign requirements’ for prioritized products. This will be done on a product-specific basis or horizontally (for several product groups with similar technical characteristics which would allow requirements to be defined horizontally) through “preparatory studies”. The ecodesign requirements will need to address the environmental impacts of the product(s) in question in a meaningful way, making reference to the methodologies prescribed in the ESPR. The projects are expected to generate knowledge and data which will serve as a scientific basis for and feed into the consequent “preparatory studies”.

Each applicant should choose at least one of the following product groups^[2]: detergents, paints, chemicals, non-ferrous metals, home/interior textiles, footwear or toys. For the analysed product groups, proposals should include in the scope representative sub-categories of the product groups on the EU market making reference to relevant European, international and national classification systems and standards, where existing.

Projects are expected to:

• assess how product parameters (as per Annex I of the ESPR) relevant for circularity can be determined for the given product group and explore potential new parameters with the aim of improving the circularity performance of the product;
• assess the performance of products in relation to the specific product parameters (following or building on the methods used in ESPR) and explore pathways to their improvement;
• focus on those product parameters having impact on product aspects contributing to circularity, i.e., durability, reliability, reusability, upgradability, reparability, possibility of maintenance and refurbishment, presence of substances of concern, resource use and resource efficiency, recycled content, possibility of remanufacturing and recycling, possibility of recovery of materials, expected generation of waste materials, and premature obsolescence, as well as social sustainability requirements, which are currently not covered by ESPR;
• develop, test and validate product-specific testing methods for the determination and verification of product performance in relation to the said specific parameters;
• provide analyses and recommendations for additional mechanisms and incentives to reward design for circularity and product durability – such as extended guarantees, VAT reduction, and others – and which best mitigate potential trade-offs;
• map the material flows relevant for the given product group and assess the impacts of potential requirements on these flows within and across value chains (requirement on e.g. recycled content in one value chain can impact availability of secondary raw material in another value chain, etc.);
• develop quantitative and qualitative data on relevant aspects of consumer behaviour in relation to the product parameters for the given product groups.

Proposals should take into account all provisions of the ESPR. The ESPR provisions aim at improving the overall sustainability of the product(s) in question, and by improving the product aspects set out in that regulation (see Art. 5; Annex I). In addition, the revised version of the MEErP methodology by JRC^[3], and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation: Study on new product priorities^[4] published in 2024 should all be reference points. The series of standards on material efficiency for energy-related products EN455XX must be considered as well. In relation to the presence of substances of concern, building on the relevant provisions in the ESPR, the proposals should take into account the principles of Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD)^[5] applied to chemicals and materials.

For the individual products within the product groups, the proposals should assess the existing methods for the setting of the ecodesign requirements in relation to the specific parameters (as set out in Annex I of the ESPR) with the objective to improve the product aspects (as set out in Article 5 of the ESPR) and, as appropriate, develop them further based on the nature of the product, its most relevant aspects and its impacts over its life cycle. In doing so, the projects should make use of the work already done in assessing the setting of requirements under Directive 2009/125/EC and the continuing efforts to develop and improve science-based assessment tools, such as the updated Methodology for Ecodesign of Energy-related Products (MEErP).

Also, proposals should take into account: relevant technical information in particular of Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 on the EU Ecolabel, Directive 2010/75/EU on Industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control), technical screening criteria adopted pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2020/852 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment, the “do no significant harm” principles and green public procurement criteria.

The development of a product specific testing method should include not only the development of the method from the theoretical point of view, but also its proper testing and validation to evaluate its suitability, repeatability, and reproducibility in practice. Projects should demonstrate advances in the development and/or application of related digital/AI computational tools, methods or technologies in the area of assessing ecodesign requirements and developing methods for the verification of performance and involve relevant Member States Authorities responsible for enforcement.

As part of the project, proposals should address the knowledge gap in capacity and skills, especially for SMEs, potentially limiting the understanding of upcoming ecodesign requirements especially if trickling down from upstream in their product value chains as well as when conducting the assessments of compliance with ecodesign requirements. Learning and training materials should be developed for dissemination and training purposes within the relevant companies and value chains.

Successful proposals are encouraged to cooperate with the JRC to foster coordination with on-going JRC science for policy activities to foster the implementation of the European Sustainable Product Regulation.

[1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of 13 June 2024 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products, amending Directive (EU) 2020/1828 and Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC, text here.

[2] Products and product groups which have been prioritized by JRC in the study Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation: Study on new product priorities https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/sites/default/files/2024-12/JRC138903_01.pdf

[3] Review of the MEErP - Publications Office of the EU (europa.eu)

[4] Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation: Study on new product priorities https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/sites/default/files/2024-12/JRC138903_01.pdf

[5] JRC Publications Repository - Safe and Sustainable by Design chemicals and materials - Methodological Guidance (europa.eu)