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Product Sustainability Data

Data management and qualityIntermediate Level

Product sustainability data is the information about a product's environmental and social impact, such as materials, carbon footprint, repairability and certifications.

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What is Product Sustainability Data?

Product sustainability data is the information that describes a product's environmental and social impact: what it is made of, where it comes from, its carbon footprint, how long it lasts, whether it can be repaired or recycled, and which certifications it holds. In a product catalog these are ordinary attributes, such as recycled content, material composition, country of origin, repairability score or eco-label, stored per product and backed by supplier documents. It differs from corporate ESG reporting, which covers the whole company, because it belongs to one specific product and travels with it to every channel. EU rules such as the Ecodesign Regulation will require much of it in a Digital Product Passport.

Why Product Sustainability Data matters for e-commerce

Sustainability data is moving from marketing extra to legal requirement. The EU Ecodesign Regulation introduces Digital Product Passports per product group, and rules against greenwashing restrict vague claims such as 'eco-friendly' without proof. Retailers and marketplaces increasingly ask suppliers for these fields before they list a product. For a webshop this means sustainability claims must be specific, consistent across channels and traceable to a source. Keeping the data as structured attributes, instead of loose sentences in a description, makes it possible to filter, check and update it.

Examples of Product Sustainability Data

  • 1Attribute: Recycled content, Value: recycled polyester, share stated per product, Source: supplier certificate
  • 2Attribute: Certification, Value: GOTS, Proof: certificate number and expiry date
  • 3Attribute: Repairability, Value: spare parts available for 7 years, Channel: product page and DPP
  • 4Attribute: Country of origin, Value: Portugal, Use: product page, marketplaces and customs
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How WISEPIM Helps

  • Attribute management lets you add sustainability fields such as material, recycled content and certification to the products that need them.
  • Quality Guard rules flag products where required sustainability fields are empty.
  • Digital asset management keeps certificates and supplier documents next to the product.

Common mistakes with Product Sustainability Data

  • Writing vague claims such as 'eco-friendly' or 'green' without a measurable attribute behind them.
  • Storing sustainability information only inside the description text, where it cannot be filtered or checked.
  • Copying supplier claims without keeping the certificate or its expiry date.
  • Showing different sustainability claims on different channels.
  • Forgetting to update the data when a supplier or material changes.

Tips for Product Sustainability Data

  • Define a fixed set of sustainability attributes per product group before you start collecting.
  • Ask suppliers for the data in a template with fixed fields and units.
  • Store the proof (certificate, test report) with each claim.
  • Show only claims you can back up, and phrase them specifically.
  • Review sustainability data when certificates expire or suppliers change.

Trends around Product Sustainability Data

  • Digital Product Passports under the EU Ecodesign Regulation, starting with priority product groups such as textiles.
  • Stricter EU rules against generic environmental claims and greenwashing.
  • Marketplaces adding sustainability attributes and filters to their category templates.
  • Suppliers sharing sustainability data in structured files instead of PDFs.
  • Repairability and durability information becoming standard product attributes.

Tools for Product Sustainability Data

  • WISEPIM (attributes, Quality Guard rules, asset management)
  • Akeneo
  • Salsify
  • EcoVadis
  • SimaPro

Related Terms

Access Control (PIM)Attribute Dependency ManagementAttribute InheritanceAttribute ManagementAttribute mappingAttribute Scoping

Also Known As

ESG product dataGreen product dataEnvironmental product dataEco-label data

Frequently Asked Questions

It is the information about a product's environmental and social impact, such as materials, origin, carbon footprint, durability, repairability and certifications. It is stored per product as attributes and shown on product pages and channels.

ESG reporting covers a whole company: its emissions, policies and governance. Product sustainability data belongs to one product and travels with it to the webshop, marketplaces and, under new EU rules, a Digital Product Passport.

Material composition, recycled content, origin, certifications and care or repair information are the most common. Concrete values with a recognized label behind them are more useful than general claims.

Send suppliers a template with fixed fields, units and the proof you expect, such as certificate numbers. Import the files into your product system and check that every required field is filled before you publish.

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