Transitioning to a circular and climate-neutral economy requires reliable mechanisms to generate, structure, and exchange sustainability information across value chains. This paper investigates the conceptual and technical relationship between Digital Twins (DTs) and Digital Product Passports (DPPs). It demonstrates how DTs can act as enablers for DPP implementation. The study reviews relevant research and regulations. It applies a multidimensional DT characterization to position a DT-based DPP, and derives key design elements covering data structures, access rights, interoperability, identifiers, storage, and data carriers. Summaries of major DPP pilots and an EV battery use case illustrate practical application. The results show that DPPs can function as standardized, verified data layers within DT ecosystems, enabling traceability, compliance, and circularity.
Ebel et al. (Thu,) studied this question.