EY has published analysis on how EU circularity rules — principally those flowing from the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) — will require companies to restructure their approach to product strategy. The piece sits in a growing body of mainstream consultancy commentary signalling that ESPR is moving from a compliance footnote to a boardroom issue.
The core tension ESPR creates is structural: durability, repairability, recycled content, and end-of-life requirements are not bolt-on additions to an existing product. They demand upstream decisions — material sourcing, component design, supplier selection — made long before a product reaches market. That is a different kind of planning horizon than most brands currently operate on.
The excerpt provides little granular detail, so the specific arguments in EY's piece are best read at source. What matters is the signal: when major advisory firms frame ESPR as a product-strategy question rather than a legal-compliance question, the conversation has shifted.
Pasera's view: verified supply-chain data is the foundation every circularity claim eventually rests on. Brands that start collecting it now will have a measurable advantage when product-category rules are finalised.
Source: ESPR news.
Source: ESPR news ↗
Pasera