What you’ll learn:
- Strategies engineers can take to impact the sustainable value chain.
- How upcoming European and U.S. regulations can impact product design.
- Examples of how engineers can remain compliant with these impending regulations.
Designing a product to be more sustainable doesn’t have to be at odds with all other goals of electronic design. After all, most engineers already strive to improve energy efficiency, minimize components and materials, and ensure the longevity and durability of their designs. But for today’s engineers, sustainability is becoming an imperative as both the European Union and the U.S. ramp up regulatory pressures around the environmental impact of electronics. While in the design phase, engineers can consider many factors over a product’s lifecycle, ranging from carbon emissions and energy consumption to the possibilities for reuse, refurbishment, maintenance, and even disposal. Then they can implement strategies into their designs that could impact the sustainable value chain, including:
- Selecting components made from ethically sourced materials.
- Designing products that are more durable, repairable, reusable, and recyclable.
- Minimizing the carbon footprints and other environmental impacts of products.
Now, with new regulations coming out, engineers will find themselves on the front lines of building more sustainable electronics. How? By selecting companies and products that best support these regulatory requirements.
Europe has a head start on the U.S. in sustainability-related regulations. But these rules can still have an effect on U.S. companies and engineers due to the global nature of the electronics industry. Even companies based in the U.S. will need to meet these regulations if they plan to sell electronic products in Europe. EU regulations tend to have a global impact due to the market size of the EU—look no further than the GDPR. This often pushes U.S. firms to adopt similar practices to avoid having to manage different rules for different markets.
What follows are several new regulations from the EU that should be analyzed and understood by the engineering community.
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
The European Commission has legislated a new carbon tariff, which will be placed on carbon-intensive products imported to the EU, taking effect in 2026. The new tariff will be levied on imported goods based on the greenhouse gases emitted during their production. The goal is to reduce carbon emissions and push companies around the world to adopt cleaner manufacturing processes.
To stay competitive under CBAM regulations, a design engineer may want to choose electronic components and other parts from “greener” manufacturers. To reduce the total carbon footprint of a product and the tariffs it would incur when being imported, it makes sense to use products manufactured by companies making strides to decarbonize their processes and that can supply accurate and transparent greenhouse gas emissions data.
The EU Battery Directive
This policy regulates the manufacturing and disposal of batteries in the EU. It’s been supplemented over time by several new mandates, including the “CE” marking affixed to each battery to indicate compliance with Europe’s safety, health, and environmental requirements.
Starting in 2024, mandatory enforcement of safety, performance, and durability requirements has been underway for stationary battery storage systems. Starting in 2027, the EU will require batteries to be labeled with the manufacturer’s name, type of battery, date of manufacture, presence of hazardous substances, and other information that facilitates recycling or reuse. When batteries are used in any end application, product designers should ensure they’re procured from reliable and responsible suppliers.
Further out, the law will also mandate easier battery swapping, allowing consumers to remove and replace the portable batteries in their electronic products at any time. The goal is to extend the useful life of these battery-powered devices before their final disposal.
Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)
This law, which came into force in July 2024, aims to significantly improve the sustainability of products on the market by not only increasing their energy efficiency, but also making them more durable, repairable, and recyclable.
The ESPR is all about pushing companies to design electronics and other products on the EU market to be more circular. The policy also sets out rules on carbon and environmental footprints of the products and requirements around the use of recycled content. It remains in the early stages—specific requirements for implementation will be rolled out in July 2025, including the list of the product groups impacted.
The legislation expands the scope of existing laws that primarily cover energy-related products. It also adds new initiatives such as Green Public Procurement rules on destruction of unsold consumer goods and the Digital Product Passport (DPP).
The DPP is a digital identity card that will store product-related information on a product’s origin, materials, environmental impact, and disposal recommendations. It also contains information to facilitate reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling of the product. Engineers will be able to use the DPP to compare products for use in their designs.
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)
This law requires companies to implement a due diligence process to address the human rights and environmental impacts of both their products and their operations. It applies to both EU and non-EU companies operating in the EU. The directive covers a company’s own operations and entire value chain, including upstream production of goods and services and downstream distribution, transportation, and storage.
Similar to the CSDDD, the German Supply Chain Act (LkSG) is a German law that came into force in 2023. Companies are required to carry out annual human rights and environmental risk analyses of their operations and those of their suppliers, even those in other countries. Ultimately, design engineers need to be aware of the potential impact these laws will have on their suppliers and customers, including their costs and business practices.
Achieving Regulation Compliance
In addition, the U.S. has several requirements for greenhouse gas emissions and other risks related to climate change, but they can vary state by state. For instance, the compliance time for a new California climate disclosure rule could be as soon as this calendar year, depending on the company.
Electronic design engineers can ensure compliance with these regulations in a number of ways:
- Redesigning products so that they consume less power and generate less carbon emissions during production.
- Reworking supply chains to increase local production and fulfillment of components and end products.
- Reusing molds when it comes to manufacturing electrical products.
- Adopting green packaging; for instance, replacing packaging paper with bamboo or other alternatives.
Regulations follow demands set forth by consumers and customers. While it requires buy-in both from suppliers and partners, engineers can make an impact in numerous ways. It’s definitely a balancing act, though. Engineers should focus on areas where they can have the most influence over time as well as work closely with partners like electronic components distributors to stay on top of the latest regulations and design practices to ensure compliance.