This page outlines TfS’s collaboration with the Chem-X consortium for the development of key Sustainability and Circularity guidelines contributing to the Digital Material Passport (DMP) for chemical products.
Sustainability, Circularity, Chemistry DMP
Content guidelines as foundation for a chemistry Digital Material Passport (DMP)
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What is Sustainability and Circularity in Chemicals?
Sustainability and circularity are essential for the future of the chemical industry.
By minimising environmental impact, using resources responsibly, and keeping materials in circulation through recycling and reuse, companies are shifting from linear to circular models, reducing the impact to the environment, and increasing supply chain resilience.
Driven by evolving European legislation and market expectations, this transition strengthens climate action, resource security, and long-term competitiveness across the sector.
Chem-X and Digital Material Passport for chemical products
Chem-X is the key to a transparent and circular chemical industry. With Chem-X, we want to address the need for a seamless exchange of product information in the value chain across industries. Thereby, we want to enable compliance with different regulatory requirements, support circular business models and increase competitiveness.​
Within the chemical industry, we want to help companies creating a Digital Material Passport (DMP). DMP captures information on chemicals which constitute a final product that is regulatory required to have a Digital Product Passport (DPP).
To lay the foundations for a chemistry DMP, we have been working on six guidelines in which we summarise our common understanding of methodological frameworks, metrics, terminology, and review existing implementations. The guidelines address key topics: business and material identity, circularity and sustainability, material declaration, and verification. The guidelines will be used alongside the information models as prerequisite to develop DMP models.
TfS collaboration with the Chem-X consortium
TfS is an associate partner in the Chem-X consortium, which is developing the DMP for chemical products.
Through its role in the Chem-X consortium, TfS contributes to the development of the “content layer” of the DMP — establishing which sustainability and circularity data should be included and how it is calculated. To achieve this, TfS collaborates with the Chem-X consortium for the development of the Sustainability and Circularity guidelines contributing to the DMP for chemical products.
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The content guidelines for the chemistry DMP
The consultation comprises the following 6 guidelines, tailored for the chemical industry. Please note that the guidelines are working documents. We will continue to develop the guidelines and add further content (e.g. additional metrics).
Sustainability Guideline
Provides a methodological framework for assessing the environmental impacts of chemical products. The guideline covers the following metrics:
- Product carbon footprint (TfS PCF Guideline 3.0)
- Resource use fossil
- Acidification potential
- Water use (water scarcity)
- Ozone depletion potential
- Photochemical ozone creation potential
Material declaration guideline
Provides clear information, showing how to structure chemical material and substance information. It explains how to handle substance declarations at different levels – from general product specifications to specific production batches and individual items.
Companies can utilise this framework to share required chemical information electronically throughout their supply chains while maintaining appropriate confidentiality. The guideline also illustrates how to incorporate Safety Data Sheet information when needed as an additional set of information between supply chain partners.
Business identity guideline
Provides a results-based review and critical assessment of the Business Partner Data Management (BPDM) implementations in Catena-X, Cofinity-X, and Manufacturing-X. It examines how these systems manage identity and data modeling, evaluates their compliance with open standards (e.g., W3C, ISO, Gaia-X), and explores their potential for extensibility beyond the automotive domain. Special attention is given to interoperability challenges, governance models, and data sovereignty concerns that impact multi-sector adoption.
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Verification guideline
Provides a review of existing dataspace projects regarding their verification components and serves as a foundation for developing a verification concept in the Chem-X project. It highlights the importance of credential-based verification, public key infrastructure, and registry services within a decentralised framework, referencing standards such as eIDAS, W3C Verifiable Credentials, and active and ongoing dataspace projects like Catena-X.
Material identity and data chain guideline
Outlines the method and architecture to define and structure a digital MaterialID for chemical products. A digital MaterialID targets to identify a chemical product and, unlike known material identifiers such as CAS-Number, INCI Name, EC-Number, UFI Number, etc., provide a link from the physical product to its digital representation and its product information is made available as a digital material passport (DMP) or digital product passport (DPP).
TfS Scope 3 GHG Methodology
The Sustainability and Circularity Guidelines build on the TfS Scope 3 GHG methodology (Product Carbon Footprint Guideline), extending the scope beyond carbon emissions to include additional environmental and circularity metrics.
This integrated framework enables companies to assess and report broader sustainability and circularity performance for chemical products.
Consultation Process
TfS is committed to transparency and stakeholder engagement.
Currently, the guidelines are working documents. Chem-X invites public feedback to ensure the inclusion of a wide range of perspectives. The broad consent collected will support future adaptations, maximising value for all stakeholders.
How to participate?
- Review the guidelines (see download links above)
- Provide your comments separately for the six guidelines using the feedback tables (see download links above)
- Once you have completed your feedback, please send it to consultation@chem-x.de.
What you should also know?
- The consultation period will remain open until November 30. Late feedback will not be considered.
- In case we are not sure how to interpret your feedback, we will reach out to you via e-mail.
- Please provide only answers that reflect your company’s point of view. We cannot consider inconsistent or contradictory feedback from one company.
- We appreciate feedback and your contribution to a pre-competitive, publicly funded project. To avoid misunderstandings, we would like to point out that your feedback is voluntary and you cannot make any copyright claims from your contributions and/or register Intellectual property.
