Hedera-powered TrackTrace platform unveiled to support EU digital product passport compliance
The Hashgraph Group has introduced a blockchain solution designed to enhance supply chain transparency ahead of the European Union's 2027 Digital Product Passport mandate.
Swiss technology company The Hashgraph Group, which develops solutions on the Hedera network, has introduced TrackTrace, a new platform specifically created to assist businesses in meeting forthcoming European Union regulatory requirements concerning digital product passports.
According to a Tuesday statement from the company, TrackTrace has been engineered to enhance transparency throughout supply chains by monitoring goods and capturing product information, including data related to emissions, in a format suitable for regulatory compliance reporting and verification of authenticity.
The system creates verifiable records that audit product-specific information, including sustainability attributes, product longevity and repairability metrics, while leveraging agentic artificial intelligence (AI) technology to streamline and automate compliance reporting processes.
This blockchain-powered tool arrives in direct response to the European Union's Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR), which became operational on July 18, 2024. The ESPR establishes a comprehensive framework for product-specific regulations that may require a Digital Product Passport (DPP) to ensure uniformity in how essential product data is documented and distributed throughout various supply chains.
An important initial benchmark is the battery passport mandate under the EU Battery Regulation, which becomes enforceable from Feb. 18, 2027, for specific categories that include electric-vehicle batteries and industrial batteries exceeding 2 kilowatt-hours.
Beginning in July 2027, DPP obligations will broaden to encompass textiles, clothing, iron, steel and additional priority product categories.
EU climate targets drive data demands
Through the European Green Deal, the EU seeks to restructure the economic bloc toward greater resource efficiency and achieve emissions reductions of at least 50% by 2030. The initiative also targets achieving net carbon neutrality by 2050 as outlined in the European Climate Act.
"The European Green Deal strives to establish the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 and needs infrastructure it can trust to transform Europe into a modern, efficient, and sustainable economy," wrote Stefan Deiss, co-founder and CEO at The Hashgraph Group.
"With TrackTrace built on Hedera, we deliver that critical trust data infrastructure layer that enables companies to comply with DPP regulation, while strengthening global supply chain integrity and fostering the transition to a sustainable, transparent, and circular economy."
Companies seeking to operate within EU markets will need to utilize platforms like TrackTrace to maintain compliance with ESPR regulations.
According to The Hashgraph Group, the company has partnered with PwC on implementing digital product passport solutions for enterprise customers, and TrackTrace is capable of supporting traceability throughout the entire lifecycle of products. Cointelegraph reached out to The Hashgraph Group seeking additional information regarding this partnership.
TrackTrace builds on identity tools
The new TrackTrace platform has incorporated IDTrust, The Hashgraph Group's pre-existing decentralized identity technology, to deliver verifiable credentials through a decentralized framework.
This integration facilitates the connection between tangible physical events and their corresponding digital records within a tamper-resistant ecosystem, where digital business operations and permanent data audit records are secured on the Hedera network.
According to Hedera, it operates as the world's most energy-efficient distributed ledger technology (DLT) and is overseen by a governing council comprising prominent global organizations including Dell, Deutsche Telecom, EDF, FedEx, Google, Hitachi, IBM, Mondelēz, and Standard Bank, representing more than 30 Hedera Council members in total.
Alternative supply chain traceability platforms in the market include IBM Sterling Transparent Supply which utilizes blockchain technology, TraceX, Circular which focuses on batteries and plastics tracking, and TrusTrace which specializes in fashion and textile industry traceability.