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
To lay the foundations for a chemistry DMP, we have been working on six guidelines defining product and material-level data, including sustainability and circularity, as well as company-level data:
- Business Identity
- Material ID and Data Chain
- Verification
- Material Product Declaration
- Environmental Sustainability Guideline
- Circularity Guideline
TfS contributed with the writing and publication of the Environmental Sustainability and Circularity Guidelines, which you can find below in their current version 2.0.
The other 4 guidelines can be found at https://www.chem-x.de/publication/.
Please note that the guidelines are working documents. We will continue to develop the guidelines and add further content (e.g. additional metrics). For more information see the section below “Guidelines Writing and consultation process”.
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
- Eutrophication (terrestrial, freshwater, marine)
- Particulate matter
- Ionising radiation
Circularity Guideline
Defines harmonised metrics for measuring circularity in chemical products. The guideline covers:
- Bio/ Renewable/ Recycled/ Reuse content metrics definitions and formulas
- Chain of custody definitions and indicators
- C02-based content (CCU)
- Waste disposal metrics
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.
Guideline Writing and Consultation Process
TfS is committed to transparency and stakeholder engagement.
Currently, the published guidelines are at their version 2.0.
We are now glad to share with you, in draft, the Module 3 (v2.9) of the “Environmental Sustainability Guideline” and “Circularity Guideline”, dealing with a few additional metrics. For this added scope, we want to invite public feedback to ensure the inclusion of a wide range of perspectives, and ask for your contribution to an enhancement of the Guidelines.
The guidelines
The consultation comprises the following two guidelines, tailored for the chemical industry.
Only the sections indicated below are up for consultation. The exact chapters open for consultation are also indicated on the Guideline documents themselves and in the Feedback tables.
Environmental Sustainability Guideline
Provides a methodological framework for assessing the environmental impacts of chemical products. Module 3 of the Guideline (v2.9) – up for review – covers the following impact categories:
- Resource Use, Minerals and Metals (Chapter 6)
- Land Use (Chapter 24)
- Ecotoxicity, freshwater (Chapter 15)
- Human toxicity (Cancer & non-cancer) (Chapter 16)
- Normalisation, weighting, single scoring in LCA (Chapter 17)
- Glossary (Chapter 18)
- Appendix (sections related to the chapters above) (Chapter 21.X)
Previously published metrics in the Environmental Sustainability Guideline (Modules 1 & 2):
- Product carbon footprint (TfS PCF Guideline 3.0)
- Resource use fossil
- Acidification potential
- Water use (water scarcity)
- Ozone depletion potential
- Photochemical ozone creation potential
- Eutrophication (terrestrial, freshwater, marine)
- Particulate matter
- Ionizing radiation
Circularity Guideline
Defines harmonized metrics for measuring circularity in chemical products. Module 3 of the Guideline (v2.9) – up for review – covers the following metrics:
- Material Accounting (Chapter 7)
- Annex III
Previously published metrics in the Circularity Guideline (Modules 1 & 2):
- Bio/ Renewable/ Recycled/ Reuse content metrics definitions and formulas
- Chain of custody definitions and indicators
- CO2-based content (CCU)
- Waste disposal metrics
Consultation process
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, maximizing value for all stakeholders.
Consultation period: October 06, 2026 to October 27, 2026.
How to participate:
Access to the Guideline documents and feedback tables via the Chem-X website.
- Review the guidelines.
- Provide your comments separately for the two guidelines using the FEEDBACK TABLES below each guideline.
- Once you have completed your feedback, please send the completed table(s) to consultation@chem-x.de
What you should also know:
- The consultation period will remain open until October 27, 2026. Late feedback will not be considered.
- In case we are not sure how to interpret your feedback while reviewing it, we will reach out to you via e-mail (via the e-mail used for its submission).
- Please provide only answers that reflect your company’s point of view. We cannot consider inconsistent or contradictory feedback from one company.
- We appreciate your 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 these contributions and/or register Intellectual property.
