The circularity certification schemes upgrade
Circularity certification schemes are undergoing a global overhaul to keep pace with shifting regulations and evolving market expectations. From the European Union’s new Ecodesign Regulation, which weaves circularity principles into product design, to RecyClass’s revamped plastic recyclability methodology ahead of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, certifiers are rewriting the rulebook.
Across sectors, scheme upgrades emphasize:
• transparency in material origins and end-of-life pathways
• clearer consumer information on sustainable attributes
• durability benchmarks that extend product lifespans
• standardized criteria for truly circular products and materials
In the chemical industry, the race toward net-zero hinges on alternative fuels and recycled feedstocks, yet quantifying the environmental footprint of waste-derived and bio-based inputs remains a knotty challenge.
Supply chain tracking systems vary wildly in maturity. In less developed networks, basic traceability gaps persist, nowhere more so than in green hydrogen. Crafting a cost-effective tracking framework grounded in globally agreed hydrogen principles will demand a coordinated push from governments, businesses, civil society, and technical experts.
Meanwhile, carbon removal technologies such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) are still proving their mettle. Certification schemes for negative-emission pathways are on the EU’s horizon, laying the groundwork for credible accounting of future removals.
As regulatory frameworks tighten and consumer scrutiny deepens, robust, harmonized certification systems will be the backbone of a resilient circular economy—ensuring that materials truly cycle, emissions genuinely fall, and innovations earn their green credentials.
Where do efforts stand in 2025?
Each of our three priority supply chains, bio-based materials, hydrogen, and carbon removal, has made strides toward embedding circularity, but the pace and maturity of certification schemes vary widely. Across industries, the shift hinges on using alternative fuels and recycled feedstock´s to cut emissions, yet quantifying impacts and harmonizing standards remains a work in progress.
Use of alternative fuels and recycled materials
The bio-based sector is now wrestling with its own complexities, the identification and integration of robust circularity indicators is especially urgent. Renewable feedstock´s come with intricate value chains that demand bespoke assessment frameworks, not one-size-fits-all rules. In response, ISO 59040 landed this year, formalizing the Product Circularity Data Sheet (PCDS) and giving companies a standardized template to disclose material makeup, production pathways, and end-of-life scenarios.
Meanwhile, the EU-funded BioReCer initiative has defined a suite of circularity indicators tailored to bio-derived products, and SUSTCERT4BIOBASED has developed a meta-methodology to benchmark the robustness and comprehensiveness of existing certification schemes. Together, these tools are reshaping certification from a box-checking exercise into a nuanced, sector-specific gauge of circular performance.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen’s journey is less uniform. Over 30 national and regional certification schemes jostle for relevance, each reflecting divergent policy priorities and emissions accounting approaches. A single, global hydrogen standard feels out of reach this decade; instead, incremental harmonization is the path forward. By aligning on core technical elements, system boundaries, life-cycle GHG methodologies, traceability rules, existing schemes can converge. We’re already seeing GOs evolve into more holistic frameworks like ISCC PLUS, which layer in feedstock verification, cradle-to-grave emissions, and circularity requirements. Initiatives such as the EU’s CertifHy and the European Hydrogen Sustainability and Circularity Panel (EHS&CP) are catalyzing this shift, embedding social and economic criteria alongside environmental metrics, and laying the groundwork for mutual recognition of certificates.
Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage
In parallel, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies are finally stepping into the regulatory spotlight. The EU’s Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF), unveiled in December 2024, establishes a voluntary yet rigorous regime for permanent CO₂ removal, durable storage in products, and carbon farming. By setting clear performance thresholds and monitoring protocols, the CRCF aims to unlock investment, guard against greenwashing, and undergird Europe’s 2050 climate-neutrality pledge. Although CCUS solutions are still maturing, this certification architecture will be critical to verify that captured carbon truly stays out of the atmosphere for generations.
By 2025, circularity certification is maturing across bio-based materials, hydrogen, and carbon removal. New standards, ISO 59040 and tailored bio-indicators for bioproducts, harmonized GHG methods and ISCC PLUS for hydrogen, and the EU’s CRCF for carbon removal, provide clearer rules, aiming to curb greenwashing, and boosting investment. These interoperable frameworks will be essential to a robust circular, low-carbon economy.
