We are proud to announce that iPoint is participating in the CEWI project of Stiftung KlimaWirtschaft, WWF Germany, and Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. Together with more than 40 German enterprises from the automotive and building sector, iPoint is striving to develop project ideas for a climate-neutral and resource-efficient economy – thus advancing the transformation towards the Circular Economy.
CEWI project groups: Focus automotive
Due to steadily increasing CO2 emissions and the high demand for resources, there is a great need for action in the automotive sector with regard to a climate-neutral circular economy. iPoint is involved in two CEWI project groups working on solutions for the automotive industry, the “Vehicle recycling factory” and the “Cyber breakfast on the digital product passport”. They will meet again on January 26-27 during the second of three planned CEWI workshops.
- Vehicle recycling factory
This project group is to design an industrialized, industry-wide vehicle recycling factory for end-of-life vehicles (and test vehicles) with active material flow management of raw materials and vehicle parts. The aim is to establish a circular economy with standardized material flows from end-of-life vehicles as a contribution to achieving the CO2 targets of the Paris Climate Agreement and to meeting legal requirements and recycling quotas with a focus on Scope 3 emissions in companies. - Cyber breakfast on the digital product passport
The aim of this project group is to create a platform bringing together all stakeholders ranging from regulatory bodies, industry associations, and companies to discuss the requirements and challenges of digital product passports. The roundtable is headed and organized by DIN (German Institute for Standardization). Starting February 2022, the companies involved will meet weekly for a cyber breakfast to discuss the prerequisites for the introduction of a digital product passport – the instrument for improving information exchange and interfaces, designing and implementing circular business models, products and processes, and empowering consumers.
Digital product passport: Automotive industry’s practice check
Prior to the CEWI workshops, in summer 2021, iPoint had already connected with other participants from the German automotive industry within the framework of CEWI to discuss the possibilities of the digital product passport and develop joint proposals on its efficacy and dissemination. The digital product passport is seen as the key to creating the necessary transparency for resource and climate protection, which at the same time enables companies to implement sustainable, circular business models. In view of the government coalition talks in Germany in autumn 2021, the collaboration led to a paper that outlines aspects vital to the successful establishment of such a passport, as well as providing recommendations for the new legislative session.
“I am pleased that in the coalition agreement of the new German government presented on November 24, 2021, Circular Economy was clearly anchored as an important measure to develop sustainable business models and accelerate necessary innovations on the way to a resource-efficient and climate-neutral economy. I am convinced that the collective view of everyone involved in the product development process enables a completely different speed of innovation, which is what we need in order to create change in the limited time available” says Joerg Walden, CEO of iPoint-systems. “The coalition agreement also targets the introduction of digital product passports, explicitly mentioning support for companies during implementation and responsible handling of the data collected. Both are important aspects in the automotive industry’s practice check on product passports published by CEWI.”
