Enhancing Trust in Global Supply Chains : Conceptualizing Digital Product Passports for a Low-Carbon Hydrogen Market

Title data

Heeß, Paula ; Rockstuhl, Jakob ; Körner, Marc-Fabian ; Strüker, Jens:
Enhancing Trust in Global Supply Chains : Conceptualizing Digital Product Passports for a Low-Carbon Hydrogen Market.
In: Electronic Markets. Vol. 34 (2024) . - 10.
ISSN 1422-8890
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-024-00690-7

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Abstract in another language

Industries and energy markets around the world are facing mounting pressure to decarbonize, prompting them to transform processes and supply chains towards sustainability. However, the lack of credible sustainability data proves to be a considerable barrier for the emerging markets for sustainable products: Against the background of complex and globalized supply chains, it is necessary to verify the sustainability claim of products in order to demand price premiums for sustainable products in the long run. Hence, it is necessary that stakeholders in globalized supply chains are willing to share relevant data along the entire supply chain to enable traceability and reduce information asymmetries. Using the example of international hydrogen supply chains, we study how data can be shared between different stakeholders using Digital Product Passports while addressing stakeholders' concerns about data privacy and disclosure. In our work, we develop design principles that provide insight into how a Digital Product Passport should be designed to verify the hydrogen’s carbon footprint in a reliable way and to ensure the willingness of stakeholders to share their data. We follow a Design Science Research approach to develop and evaluate the design principles. Our research illustrates that the Digital Product Passport must collect data comprehensively and automatically, process it in a decentralised and tamper-proof manner, protect privacy and sovereignty of stakeholders, and ensure interoperability.