Methods for monitoring production chains

Abstract

The disclosure relates to the field of sustainability in particular orchestration of environmental impact by monitoring production networks. The disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, uses, products and computer elements for monitoring and / or controlling production of a product per production stage based on environmental properties.

Description

[0001] METHODS FOR MONITORING PRODUCTION CHAINS

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The disclosure relates to the field of sustainability in particular orchestration of environmental properties of products across production stages. The disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, uses, products and computer elements for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a product, in particular prior to production of the product.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Product supply chains operate in complex structures including multiple tiers. Environmental properties of end products are hence challenging to monitor. Methods for tracking properties of chemical products are disclosed in e.g. EP4203378A1; WO2023117874A1; WO2023117875A1; WO2023117877A1; WO2023117878A1;

[0006] WO2023117883A1; WO2023117888A1; WC2023117891A1; WO2023117893A1; WO2023117895A1;

[0007] WO2023117897A1; WC2023117903A1; WC2023117908A1; WC2023117915A1; WC2023117920A1;

[0008] WO2023117926A1; WO2023117927A1; WC2023117931A1; WO2023117934A1; WO2023117936A1;

[0009] WO2023117937A1; WO2023117939A1; WO2023117946A1; WC2023117950A1; WC2023117951A1;

[0010] WO2023117957A1; WO2023117962A1; WO2023117969A1; WO2023117972A1; WO2023117977A1; WC2023117980A1; WO2023117982A1; WO2023117983A1; WO2023117986A1; WO2023117989A1; WO2023117992A1; WO2023117999A1; WC2023118015A1; WC2023118017A1 .

[0011] SUMMARY

[0012] In one aspect disclosed is a method, e.g. a computer-implemented method, for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a product, e.g. prior to production of the product, wherein the product is produced based on production inputs from one or more production stages, the method comprising the steps of: providing at least one targeted environmental property for the product; requesting and / or gathering one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs of one or more production stages to be used to produce the product, wherein the one or more environmental property responses are requested and / or gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage; determining, based on at least one targeted environmental property for the product and the gathered one or more environmental property responses, production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage; providing one or more request(s) for providing production inputs associated with the gathered one or more environmental property responses to production input producer nodes associated with respective production stages. In another aspect disclosed is an apparatus or a decentral product producer node for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a product, e.g. prior to production of the product, wherein the product is produced based on production inputs from one or more production stages, the method comprising the steps of: an input interface configured to provide at least one targeted environmental property for the product; a property gathering interface configured to request and / or gather one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs of one or more production stages to be used to produce the product, wherein the one or more environmental property responses are gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage; a determination engine configured to determine, based on at least one targeted environmental property for the product and the gathered one or more environmental property responses, production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage; an output interface configured to provide one or more request(s) for providing production inputs associated with the gathered one or more environmental property responses to production input producer nodes associated with respective production stages.

[0013] In another aspect disclosed is a method, e.g. a computer-implemented method, for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a production input to a production stage for producing a product, e.g. prior to production of the product, or a method, e.g. a computer-implemented method, for providing a production input in association with a digital asset related to environmental properties to a production stage for producing a product, e.g. prior to production of the product, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, by an operating apparatus or a computing node, a request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data as generated and / or provided according to any of the methods, apparatuses, uses, computer elements, nodes and / or configurators disclosed herein, validating, by the operating apparatus or the computing node, the request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data, upon validation generating, by the operating apparatus or the computing node, a digital asset by providing a decentral identifier and associating the decentral identifier to the requested production input and the requested environmental properties, upon validation producing and / or providing, by a production system, the production input in association with the digital asset accessible to one or more production input user node(s) associated with downstream production stage(s) for producing the product.

[0014] In another aspect disclosed is a system for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a production input to a production stage for producing a product, or for providing a production input in association with a digital asset related to environmental properties to a production stage for producing a product, e.g. prior to production of the product, the system comprising: an operating apparatus of a decentral production input producer node including an input interface configured to receive a request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data as generated and / or provided according to any of the methods, apparatuses, uses, computer elements, nodes and / or configurators disclosed herein, a validation engine configured to validate the request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated with environmental property data, a generator configured to generate a digital asset upon validation by providing a decentral identifier and associating the decentral identifier to the requested production input and the requested one or more environmental property / ies, and a production system configured to produce and / or provide upon validation the production input in association with the digital asset accessible to the product producer node associated with the product to be produced using the production input.

[0015] In another aspect disclosed is a method, e.g. a computer-implemented method, for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a production input to a production stage for producing a product, e.g. prior to production of the product, or a method, e.g. a computer-implemented method, for generating environmental property responses related to a production input to a production stage for producing a product, e.g. e.g. prior to production of the product, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a request as generated and / or provided according to any of the methods, apparatuses, uses, computer elements, nodes and / or configurators disclosed herein for providing an environmental property response related to the production input to be generated at the production stage and to be used to produce the product, determining available environmental properties for the production input to be generated at the production stage and to be used to produce the product based on the production of the production stage, providing the available environmental properties as environmental property response associated with the production input to be generated at the production stage and to be used to produce the product, e.g. to a product producer node or a downstream producer node.

[0016] In another aspect disclosed is an apparatus or a decentral production input producer node for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a production input to a production stage for producing a product, e.g. prior to production of the product, or a method, e.g. a computer-implemented method, for generating environmental property responses related to a production input to a production stage for producing a product, e.g. e.g. prior to production of the product, the apparatus comprising: an input interface configured to receive a request as generated and / or provided according to any of the methods, apparatuses, uses, computer elements, nodes and / or configurators disclosed herein for providing an environmental property response related to the production input to be generated at the production stage and to be used to produce the product, an access generator configured to determine available environmental properties for the production input to be generated at the production stage and to be used to produce the product based on the production of the production stage, an output interface configured to provide the available environmental properties as environmental property response associated with the production input to be generated at the production stage and to be used to produce the product, e.g. to a product producer node or a downstream producer node.

[0017] Use of a request for providing production input(s) associated with the gathered one or more environmental property responses as generated according to the methods or by the apparatuses disclosed herein by a production input producer of a single production stage for producing and / or providing the production input in association with the digital asset accessible to one or more production input user(s) of downstream production stage(s) for producing the product.

[0018] A decentral product producer node associated with the production stage producing the product, the decentral product producer node being configured to provide at least one targeted environmental property for the product, to gather one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs at one or more production stages used to produce the product, wherein the one or more environmental property responses are gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage, to determine, based on at least one targeted environmental property for the product and the gathered one or more environmental property responses, production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage, to provide one or more request(s) for providing production inputs associated with the gathered one or more environmental property responses to production input producers per production stage.

[0019] A decentral producer node associated with at least one production stage for producing the product, the decentral producer node being configured to receive a request to provide environmental property data to be provided with a production input to be used to produce a product generated and / or provided according to any of the methods, apparatuses, uses, computer elements, nodes and / or configurators disclosed herein, to determine environmental properties available for the requested production input based on the production, in particular of the production inputs, at the respective production stage and to provide environmental properties available for the production input to be used to produce the product.

[0020] A decentral producer node associated with at least one production stage for producing the product, the decentral producer node being configured to configured to receive a request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data generated and / or provided according to any of the methods, apparatuses, uses, computer elements, nodes and / or configurators disclosed herein, to validate the request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data, to generate a digital asset upon validation by providing a decentral identifier and associating the decentral identifier to the requested production input and the requested environmental properties, to trigger upon validation production and / or providing of the production input in association with the digital asset accessible to one or more production input user(s) of downstream production stage(s) for producing the product.

[0021] A product configurator configured to provide one or more product representations, wherein the product representation includes environmental properties selectable by a user, wherein the product configurator is further configured to provide at least one targeted environmental property for the product as selected by the user, wherein the product configurator is further configured to generate a request to produce a product based on at least one targeted environmental property selected by the user, wherein the product configurator is further configured to receive at least parts of one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs at one or more production stages to be used for producing the product e.g. for validation by the user, wherein the one or more environmental property responses are gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage and the production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage are determined based on the at least one targeted environmental property for the product and the gathered one or more environmental property responses.

[0022] A product configurator configured to provide one or more digital product representations, wherein the digital product representation includes environmental properties selectable by a user, wherein the product configurator is further configured to provide at least one targeted environmental property for the product as selected by the user, wherein the product configurator is further configured to trigger the methods for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a product according to any of the methods, apparatuses or uses disclosed herein and / or wherein the product configurator is further configured to receive at least parts of one or more environmental property responses as generated by the methods for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a product according to any of the methods, apparatuses or uses disclosed herein for validation by the use.

[0023] A product configurator configured to provide one or more digital product representations, wherein the digital product representation includes environmental properties selectable by a user, wherein the product configurator is further configured to provide at least one targeted environmental property for the product as selected by the user, wherein the product configurator is further configured to perform the following steps: requesting and gathering one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs at one or more production stages used to produce the product, wherein the one or more environmental property responses are requested and / or gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage; determining, based on at least one targeted environmental property for the product and the gathered one or more environmental property responses, production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage; providing one or more request(s) for providing production inputs associated with the gathered one or more environmental property responses to production input producer nodes as-sociated with respective production stages. EMBODIMENTS

[0024] With circular economy production stages become more closely connected regarding environmental impact of each production stage. In particular, production inputs may be provided in association with environmental properties. This way the environmental properties of production inputs across different production stages may be tracked. However, the end-product producer cannot influence the environmental properties of production inputs used across production stages leading to the end-product production.

[0025] As end customers become more aware of environmental properties of products they buy, there is a need to provide the end-customer with a possibility to monitor and / or control environmental properties of end products. This is particularly relevant when end-customers configure their product to be produced and provides for a further configuration dimension allowing end-customers to monitor and / or control their environmental footprint through the products they configure and buy. To enable such configuration the production stages leading to the end-product need to be connected in way that enables end-consumer configuration of environmental properties. The disclosure provides for such connection by 1) an end-customer facing configurator that allows for environmental property configuration of the end-product plus environmental property responses from the production ecosystem of the product and 2) a digitally connected production ecosystem with functionalities for data retrieval from participants of the production ecosystem. This way configurable products can be tailored to and produced in accordance with the end-customer's needs.

[0026] In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure will be outlined by ways of examples. It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to said embodiments and / or examples.

[0027] Environmental properties of the product may relate to a property that quantifies the environmental impact of the product. The environmental property may relate to at least one impact category related to environmental performance. The environmental property may be determined based on a pre-defined rule set for defining environmental properties for different impact categories. Such pre-defined rule set may relate to a standardized set of rules applicable across production stages. The environmental property may relate to a set of environmental properties relating to different impact categories, such as greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution or usage or the like. The environmental property may relate to an aggregated environmental property or a set of aggregated environmental properties. For example, the aggregated environmental property may relate to reduced emissions with respect to a reference product, alternative material content used to produce the product, renewable energy used to produce the product, net zero product or other environmental impact categories.

[0028] Environmental property may relate to the environmental impact. Such property may be a property of the product or any production input used to produce the product. The environmental property may indicate an environmental performance of one or more production input(s). The environmental property may be derived from properties of the production inputs, the production processes and / or the production stages used to produce the product. The environmental property may be associated with the environmental impact of one or more production input(s) at any stage of the production. The stages of the production may include at least the stages of providing raw material, producing products such as end products, producing production inputs such as intermediate products, using products, or any subset of stages. The environmental property may be specified or may be derived from any activity of one or more entities participating at any stage of the production of product(s).

[0029] The environmental property may include one or more characteristic(s) that are attributable to environmental impact of the material or product. The environmental property may include environmental, technical, recyclability or circularity characteristics(s) associated with the environmental impact of one or more material(s) or product(s).

[0030] Environmental characteristic(s) may specify or quantify ecological criteria associated with the products environmental impact. Environmental characteristic(s) may be or may be derived from measurements taken during the production of one or more product(s). Environmental characteristics may be determined at any stage of the product production and may characterize the environmental impact of the product for such stage or up to such stage. Environmental characteristics) may for example include carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, resource usage, air emissions, ozone depletion potential, water pollution, noise pollution or eutrophication potential. Environmental characteristic(s) may for example include product characteristics related to the production of the product like bio based, vegan, halal, kosher, palm oil-free, natural or the like.

[0031] Technical characteristic(s) may specify or quantify product performance at least indirectly associated with the environmental impact. Technical characteristic(s) may be or may be derived from measurements taken during the production of one or more product(s). Technical characteristics may be determined at any stage of the product production and may characterize the product performance for such stage or up to such stage. Technical characteristic(s) may for example include product composition data, bill of materials, product specification data, product component data, product safety data, application property data, application instructions or product quality data.

[0032] Circularity characteristic(s) may specify or quantify the products life cycle characteristics associated with circular uses. Circularity characteristic(s) may be or may be derived from measurements taken during the production of one or more product(s). Circularity characteristic(s) may be or may be derived from circular data recorded in one or more prior production(s) including reuse. Circularity characteristics may be determined at any stage of the product production and may characterize the reuse or recycling performance for such stage or up to such stage. Circularity characteristics) may for example include recycling data, reuse rate, recycling rate, recycling loops, reuse reused product performance, reused product quality or the like.

[0033] Recyclability characteristic(s) may specify or quantify the material or product life cycle characteristics associated with recycling uses. Recyclability characteristic(s) may include the composition of the material including specifically tailored constituents making the material suitable for recycling. Recyclability characteristic(s) may be or may be derived from measurements taken during the production of one or more materials or product(s). Recyclability characteristic(s) may be or may be derived from recycling data recorded in one or more prior production(s). Recyclability characteristics may be determined at any stage of the material or product production and may characterize the recycling performance for such stage or up to such stage. Recyclability characteristic(s) may for example include recycling data, recyclability data, or the like.

[0034] At least one targeted environmental property may relate to one or more environmental properties selected by a user upon configuration of the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to at least one property associated with the product to be produced. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a set of environmental properties related to components of the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to at least one aggregated environmental property based on the set of environmental properties related to components of the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to an at least one environmental property based on a set of environmental properties related to one or more production inputs for producing the product.

[0035] A product configurator associated with a product producer node may be configured to generate a request for gathering one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs of one or more production stages used to produce the selected product with the selected environmental properties. The at least one targeted environmental property for the product may be selected by a user via a configurator interface configured to provide one or more digital product representations. The digital product representation may include environmental properties selectable by a user. The product configurator may further be configured to provide at least one targeted environmental property for the product as selected by the user.

[0036] The product may be an end-product to be configured by a user of the product. The product may be produced based on or produced from production inputs from one or more production stages. Production input(s) to one production stage may correspond to the production output(s) of previous production stage(s). The product may be composed of components or component assemblies produced based on or produced from production inputs from one or more production stages. The production stages may relate to different stages of the production chain of the product. The production stages may include at least the product production stage, the component assembly production stage, the component production stage, the chemical production stage or any combinations thereof.

[0037] The production stages may include one or more production processes to produce the production outputs from production inputs. The production stages may produce production outputs used as production inputs for the next production stage. The production stages may produce the production inputs for the production stage producing the product.

[0038] The production stages may be connected through a pee-to-peer communication network configured to transact data related to the production inputs. The production stages may be associated with nodes of the peer-to-peer network. The peer-to-peer network may include nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage. The production input producer nodes may be associated with production stages producing respective production inputs. The production input user node(s) may be associated with downstream production stage(s) producing the product.

[0039] Per production stage one or more environmental property responses may be provided on request. The one or more environmental property responses may relate to production inputs at one or more production stages to be used to produce the product. The one or more environmental property responses may relate to environmental properties of the production inputs to be used to produce the product. The one or more environmental property responses may include one or more environmental property responses from one or more nodes of the peer-to-peer network associated with the production input producers. The one or more environmental property responses may include one or more environmental properties associated with respective production inputs.

[0040] In one embodiment the one or more environmental property responses are requested and / or gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage prior to production of the product. This way it may be digitally determined based on which production inputs the product is to be produced specifically in relation to at least one targeted environmental property. Further the production chain including multiple production stages producing production inputs may be monitored and / or controlled in a reliable manner to select production inputs to produce the product that fulfill or meet the requested at least one target property. This way the end user of the end product can be assured, and the required trust can be build specifically if products with reduced environmental impact are associated with higher prices for end users.

[0041] In another embodiment the one or more environmental property responses are requested and / or gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage to be stored in a data bases as property data relating to a digital representation of the product. The digital representation of the product may provide selectable environmental properties of the product. The selectable environmental properties may be stored as property data in relation to the product representation, e.g. as total for the product or per component of the product or both. Additionally or alternatively, the one or more environmental property responses may be requested and / or gathered per product to be produced with at least one target environmental property. For example, the environmental property responses may be gathered per product with at least one target environmental property selected by a user. This may allow to update a data base associated with the product producer or to request environmental responses on a more granular product to be produced or selected by a user basis.

[0042] In another embodiment the at least one targeted environmental property relates to or includes at least one total emission value and / or at least one total content value associated with the production of the product based on production inputs to one or more production stages and / or production processes used to produce the product.

[0043] The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to or include a total emission value associated with the production of the product based on production inputs to one or more production stages and / or production processes used to produce the product. The production inputs may relate to multiple production stages for producing one or more components or component assemblies for the product. The production inputs may relate to production chain of the product, component and / or component assembly. The production inputs may relate to chemical production inputs used to produce discrete products, components and / or component assemblies. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to an aggregated emission value depending one or more environmental properties of the product and / or production inputs used to produce the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total emission value aggregating the emission values per production stage of the production chain of the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total emission value aggregating the emission values based on the production processes and production inputs used per production stage. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total emission value aggregating the emission values of production inputs to be used to produce the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total emission value aggregating the emission values per production input to be used to produce the product. The emission values per production input may be aggregated emission values per production stage. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total product carbon footprint.

[0044] The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to or include a total content value associated with the production of the product based on production inputs to one or more production stages and / or production processes used to produce the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to an aggregated content value depending one or more environmental properties of the product and / or production inputs used to produce the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total content value aggregating the content values per production stage of the production chain of the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total content value aggregating the emission values based on the production inputs used per production stage. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total content value aggregating the content values of production inputs to be used to produce the product. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total content value aggregating the content values per production input to be used to produce the product. The emission values per production input may be aggregated content values per production stage. The at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a total recycled, bio-based and / or renewable.

[0045] Total values may relate to values aggregated over production inputs along the production chain e.g. for the product or product components. Emission value may relate to product carbon footprint (PCF) associated with the product or corresponding production inputs. Emission value may relate to PCF contributions such as Scope 1 contributions based on production processes used for the respective production stage, Scope 2 contributions based on energy or utilities used for the respective production stage and / or Scope 3 contributions based on PCFs of production input's used for the respective production stage. Content value may relate to alternative production input used for producing the production output per production stage. Content type may relate to bio-based, renewable and / or recycled content. Examples of alternative production input content include non-fossil materials used for production such as biobased, recycled and / or renewable production input or content or material. By providing total emission and / or content values as options for the targeted environmental property the user is enabled to select and tailor the product based on total impact and the methods, apparatuses, uses, computer elements or node orchestration for producing the product can be adapted to dynamically adjust to the user's needs. The product producer can hence query the production chain and select input producer's according to the total targeted values. This gives flexibility in production input producer selection to the producer while meeting the user's needs.

[0046] In another embodiment the at least one targeted environmental property relates to one or more emission value(s) and / or one or more content value(s) associated with at least one component of the product and / or one or more production input(s) used to produce the at least one component. The one or more targeted environmental property / ies may be provided per one or more component(s) of the product. The one or more targeted environmental property / ies may be determined based on a digital representation of the product, wherein the digital representation may represent the one or more components and / or production inputs of the product. The one or more targeted environmental property / ies may be determined based on a digital representation of the product and a total emission and / or content value. The one or more targeted environmental property / ies may be determined by determining from the digital representation of the product the production stages and / or production inputs required per one or more component(s) and / or production inputs and determine the component-based and / or production input-based emission and / or content value from the total emission and / or content value. The component-based and / or production input-based emission and / or content value from the total emission and / or content value may relate to an estimated value based on production stages and / or production inputs per one or more component(s) and / or production inputs. More components may for example relate to component assembly. The digital representation of the product may include component-related and / or production input-related data. The component-related and / or production input-related data may include production stage(s) and / or production input(s) required per component and / or production input. The component-related and / or production input-related data may include component-based and / or production input-based emission and / or content value ranges.

[0047] By providing one or more emission value(s) and / or one or more content value(s) associated with at least one component of the product and / or one or more production input(s) used to produce the at least one component the user is enabled to select and tailor the product per component or production input used and the methods, apparatuses, uses, computer elements or node orchestration for producing the product can be adapted to dynamically adjust to the user's needs. The product producer can hence query the production chain in a targeted manner based on one or more emission value(s) and / or one or more content value(s) and select input producer's according to the one or more emission value(s) and / or one or more content value(s). This enables targeted production input producer selection for the producer meeting the user's needs.

[0048] In another embodiment the request for providing one or more environmental property responses includes the at least one targeted environmental property. The request may include one or more targeted environmental properties specific to the production input(s) requested, particularly the production component(s) requested and / or the production input(s) requested per production stage. The request may include one or more targeted environmental properties related to at least one total emission and / or content value specific to the production input(s) requested, particularly the production component(s) requested and / or the production input(s) requested per production stage. The request may include one or more targeted environmental properties related to one or more emission and / or content value(s) specific to the production input(s), particularly the production component(s) requested and / or the production input(s) requested per production stage. For example, the request may include one or more identifiers related to the production input producer node and the production input requested. The request may include one or more identifiers related to the targeted environmental property type and the corresponding targeted environmental property of the production input requested.

[0049] In another embodiment the one or more environmental property responses are requested and / or gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage in a staggered manner following the production chain or a decentral manner per production input of the production chain. The at least one targeted environmental property may be provided to nodes associated with one or more component producers, wherein the one or more environmental property responses are gathered based on the at least one targeted environmental property per component as gathered by nodes associated with the one or more component producers. Nodes associated with the component producers may request and / or gather one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs at one or more production stages used to produce the component and may provide gathered one or more environmental property responses to node associated with the product producer. The one or more environmental property / ies may be requested and / or gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per component and provided to node associated with the product producer. The at least one targeted environmental property per component may be provided to nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage and / or may be gathered by node(s) associated with the component producers. By direct peer-to-peer communication with the component producers and direct peer-to-peer communication the component producers with production input producers for producing the component, the product producer may select production components that are used to produce the product while the component producers may select the production inputs used to produce the component. This way the production input selection may be staggered along the production chain allowing more flexibility on the component producer side and simplifying the product production for product producer.

[0050] In another embodiment the at least one targeted environmental property is provided to nodes associated with the one or more production input producers, wherein the one or more environmental property responses are gathered based on the at least one targeted environmental property per production input provided by nodes associated with the one or more production input producers. Node(s) associated with the product producer may request and / or gather one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs at one or more production stages used to produce the product. The one or more environmental property / ies may be requested and / or gathered from nodes associated with the product producer per production input. The at least one targeted environmental property per production input may be provided to nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage and / or may be gathered by the node associated with the product producer. The at least one targeted environmental property per production input may be provided to nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage. The one or more environmental property responses may be gathered based on the at least one targeted environmental property per production input. By direct peer-to-peer communication with the production input producers the product producer may select production inputs that are used to produce the product along the production chain. This way the production input selection may be controlled by the product producer.

[0051] In another embodiment providing, e.g. gathering, of the at least one targeted environmental property includes determination of an accessibility of nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage and based on such determination the at least one targeted environmental property is gathered from nodes associated with one or more component producers and / or nodes associated with the one or more production input producers along a production chain. Accessible nodes may include nodes associated with the production input producers authenticated and / or authorized for data transactions with other producer nodes, such as the product producer nodes or downstream or upstream producer nodes. Nodes may be accessible if the respective participant is associated with a registered node of the network, the node is registered with the network, the node is configured for data transactions with the requester node, the node has a contract for data transactions with the requestor node, the node is authenticated and or authorized for data transactions with the requestor node or any combination thereof. Nodes associated with one or more component producers may include nodes associated with the production stage preceding the product production. Nodes associated with the one or more production input producers along a production chain may include nodes associated with one or more or each stage of the production chain e.g. for the product or per component of the product. Nodes associated with one or more or each stage of the production chain may include nodes associated with production stages preceding the product production along the production chain. Nodes associated with one or more or each stage of the production chain may include nodes associated with production stages that relate to the product or one or more components of the product.

[0052] In another embodiment the gathered one or more environmental property responses are environmental property responses available from the production input producer node(s) as determined by the production input producer node. Availability may depend on the production of the production input by the production input producer. Availability may depend on the production setup including the production inputs and production processes used by the production input producer to produce the production output of the production stage.

[0053] In another embodiment determining production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage includes determining components and / or production inputs per production stage to be used for producing the product relating to one or more production stages, e.g. components and / or production inputs relating to one or more production stages. The determination may include generating based on the digital product representation and the gathered one or more environmental property responses the combination of component(s) and / or production input(s) per production stage to be used for meeting the at least one targeted environmental property. If the at least one targeted environmental property is provided per one or more component(s) of the product, the determination may include generating based on the digital product representation and the gathered one or more environmental property responses the combination of component(s) to be used for meeting the at least one targeted environmental property. If the at least one targeted environmental property is provided for one or more production input(s) per production stage of the product, the determination may include generating based on the digital product representation and the gathered one or more environmental property responses the combination of production input(s) per production stage to be used for meeting the at least one targeted environmental property.

[0054] As disclosed above the at least one targeted environmental property may be requested, and the request may not include the at least one targeted environmental property. In another embodiment determining production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage includes rejecting one or more environmental property responses not meeting the one or more targeted environmental property / ies and / or determining the combination of component(s) and / or production input(s) per production stage to be used for meeting the at least one targeted environmental property based on one or more environmental property responses meeting the one or more targeted environmental property / ies.

[0055] As disclosed above the at least one targeted environmental property may be requested, and the request may include may the at least one targeted environmental property. Based on such request node(s) associated with production input producer(s) meeting the at least one targeted environmental property may provide one or more environmental property responses. In another embodiment determining production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage includes gathering one or more environmental property responses based on a determination of meeting the one or more targeted environmental property / ies by the nodes associated with production input producers and / or determining the combination of component(s) and / or production input(s) per production stage to be used for meeting the at least one targeted environmental property based on one or more environmental property responses meeting the one or more targeted environmental property / ies.

[0056] In another embodiment determining production inputs includes selecting one production input producer per production input based on environmental property response by production input producer. Determining production inputs may include generating per selected production input a request to the production input producer nodes associated with respective production input. The generated request may include production input data associated with the selected production input(s) and the gathered one or more environmental property responses for the selected production input(s). The generated request may include production input data associated with the selected component(s) and the gathered one or more environmental property responses. The request may be provided to nodes associated with component producers for determining component input requests to nodes associated with input production producers along the production chain of the respective component. The component input request may include production input data associated with the selected production input(s) per component and the gathered one or more environmental property responses for the respective production input(s) per component.

[0057] The environmental property responses may be gathered based on generated environmental property responses including, based on the request for providing an environmental property response related to the production input to be generated at the production stage and to be used to produce the product, determining available environmental properties for the production input to be generated at the production stage and to be used to produce the product based on the production of the production stage and providing the available environmental properties as environmental property response associated with the production input to be generated at the production stage and to be used to produce the product, e.g. to a product producer node or a downstream producer node. The environmental property responses may be gathered based on generated environmental property responses including, based on the received request to provide environmental property data to be provided with a production input to be used to produce a product, determining environmental properties available for the requested production input based on the production, in particular of the production inputs, at the respective production stage and providing the environmental properties available for the production input to be used to produce the product.

[0058] The request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data may trigger: validating, by the computing node, the request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data, upon validation generating, by the computing node, a digital asset by providing a decentral identifier and associating the decentral identifier to the requested production input and the requested environmental properties, upon validation producing and / or providing, by a production system, the production input in association with the digital asset accessible to one or more production input user node(s) associated with downstream production stage(s) for producing the product.

[0059] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0060] The description of drawings is provided for illustrative purposes and shall not be considered limiting. The embodiments and examples are illustrative embodiments and examples to further line out the concepts lined out herein. The figures include schematic illustrations and shall not be considered limiting. Other embodiments and examples that fall under the concepts lined out herein are possible and may not be explicitly described herein.

[0061] Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a production ecosystem with multiple production stages.

[0062] Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a product configurator for selecting products and targeted environmental properties.

[0063] Fig. 3 illustrates an example of a method for monitoring and / or controlling production of the product over multiple production stages of a component production chain.

[0064] Fig. 4 illustrates another example of a method for monitoring and / or controlling production of the product over multiple production stages of a component production chain. Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a nested product production chain including production processes and respective inputs.

[0065] Figs. 6a-c illustrate decentral network environments connecting network nodes associated with producers at different production stages of the production chain for the retrieval of environmental property responses.

[0066] Fig. 7 illustrates an example of a method for monitoring and / or controlling production of at least one production input at a production input production stage.

[0067] Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a network with nodes configured for data transactions between producer nodes of the product ecosystem.

[0068] Fig. 9 illustrates an example of data transaction protocols between producer nodes of the product ecosystem.

[0069] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0070] Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a production ecosystem with multiple production stages.

[0071] The product ecosystem 100 may relate to the production of one or more end products through production across different participants of a production chain. The participant network of the product ecosystem 100 may be associated with the decentral peer-to-peer network for exchange of environmental properties associated with raw material(s), chemical product(s), discrete product(s), component(s), component assembly / ies, end product(s), recycled materials) and / or their respective production. The participant network 130 may include one or more network participant(s) 102 associated with decentral participant node(s) 108. The network participants may be part of the product ecosystem 100 including with raw material (s), chemical product(s), discrete product(s), component(s), component assembly / ies, end product(s), recycled material (s) and / or their respective production. The product ecosystem may include production chains to produce one or more end-product(s). The production ecosystem 100 may include multiple participants 102 producing the product and component(s) thereof, decentral network participant(s) 102 may include e.g. a chemical producer 102.1 , a component producer 102.2, a component assembly producer 102.3 and / or a product producer 102.4. The decentral network participant(s) 102 of the product ecosystem 100 may be associated with the production the product. The decentral network participant(s) 102 may be associated with a participant node 108 and a decentral participant identifier for identifying the respective participant node(s) 108. The decentral participant identifier may uniquely identify the decentral network participant and its associated decentral participant node 108 of the decentral peer-to-peer network. The decentral network participant(s) 102 may be connected via material or component flows 104 and data flows 110.

[0072] The material flow 104 may be a product material flow. The product material flow may refer to a material flow 104 where raw material such as fossil or non-fossil, e.g. recycled or bio-based, material is used to produce different end products. The material flow 104 may correspond to the flow of materials, components produced based on the materials or component assemblies produced based on the components from one decentral network participant to a downstream participant. The material flow 104 may refer to a continuous or a discontinuous flow. The material flow 104 may include any means of transportation suitable to transport the material, component or component assembly from the upstream participant to the downstream participant. The means of transportation may include pipes, containers, barrels, packages. The material flow 104 may be associated with raw materials used to produce the chemical product, such as non-fossil materials 106.1 or fossil materials 106.2. The raw materials may be provided to chemical product producer 102.1 for producing chemical product(s) and / or intermediate chemical product(s) (not shown). The material flow 104 may be associated with chemical product(s). The chemical product(s) may be provided from chemical product producer 102.1 to component producer 102.2 for producing discrete product component(s). In contrast to chemical production, the discrete product component(s) produced may be distinct units sold as individual product component(s). The material flow 104 may be associated with component(s) produced based on chemical product(s). The component(s) may be provided from the component producer 102.2 to the component assembly producer 102.3 to produce component assembly / ies. The material flow 104 may be associated with component assembly / ies produced based on component(s). The component assembly / ies may be provided from the component assembly / ies producer 102.3 to the product producer 102.4 to produce product(s). The product ecosystem may be associated with different products that may be available on end consumer markets such as cars, furniture, sports equipment, or the like.

[0073] For example, the chemical producer 102.1 may produce chemical products based on fossil materials 106.2 and / or non-fossil materials 106.2. Alternative or non-fossil materials may include materials that are alternative chemical input materials to fossil input materials. Alternative materials may include any type of input material that can replace fossil input materials for chemical processing, such as steam cracking, refining or combustion. Alternative materials may include hydrocarbon mixtures suitable for chemical processing together with or in exchange for fossil input materials. Fossil input materials may include oil, coal and natural gas. Fossil input materials may be non-renewable, non-recycled and / or non-bio-based materials. Examples of alternative materials include recycled, renewable and / or bio-based materials. Recycled materials may be produced from material waste. Renewable materials may be produced by using renewable energy to produce mixtures of hydrocarbons. Bio-based materials may be produced from renewable materials or materials from natural resources such as plants, agricultural residue, or food waste. The multiple alternative input materials may relate to one or more alternative input material type(s), wherein the alternative input material type may include recycled, bio-based and / or renewable input material. The multiple alternative input materials may relate to one or more source material type(s) the multiple alternative input materials are produced from. The source material type may relate to an origin of the source material. The source material type may relate to waste type, natural resource type and / or renewable energy type. The produced chemical products may be provided to the component producer 102.2 for producing the component based on the chemical product. The component may be provided to the component assembly producer 102.3 for producing the component assembly based on the component. The component assembly may be provided to the product producer 102.4 for producing the product based on the component assembly. This way the product ecosystem 100 includes different production stages of the product performed by different producers 120.

[0074] The participants 102 of the product ecosystem 100 may be connected through a decentral peer-to-peer network. The participants 102 may be associated with network nodes 108. The decentral participant nodes 108 may be under control of the respective decentral participant associated with the respective decentral participant node 108. The decentral participant nodes 108 may form decentral peer-to-peer network. The decentral network may include a peer-to- peer communication network. The decentral network may be configured to perform data transactions 1 10 according to at least one network protocol. The data transactions 110 may be based on at least one transaction protocol including authentication and / or authorization mechanism(s). Based on the authentication and / or authorization mecha- nism(s) a peer-to-peer communication between decentral network nodes 108 associated with network participants 102 may be established. The one or more authentication mechanism(s) may be associated with or linked to the decentral identifier associated with each participant 102 and / or participant node 108. The one or more authentication mechanism(s) associated with the decentral identifier may be accessible by the decentral participant nodes 108. The decentral configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens control over data transactions by the data owners of the decentral network by allowing for data sovereignty.

[0075] Data transactions between decentral network participant nodes 108 may be based on a decentral identifier associated with respective chemical product, component, component assembly and / or product data to be accessed. The decentral identifier may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the respective chemical product, component, component assembly and / or product and associated respective chemical product, component, component assembly and / or product data. The decentral identifier may uniquely identify the respective product within the decentral network. The decentral identifier may be associated with further decentral identifier(s), such as decentral identifier(s) of product(s) used to produce the product. This may allow to track the product(s) used to produce a product, such as an end-product. The decentral identifier may be included in a digital access element associated with the product.

[0076] The data flow 110 (e.g. data transactions, depicted by dashed lines) between decentral network participant nodes 108 may be directly or indirectly associated with the material / component flow 104 (e.g. material od component transfers, depicted by solid lines) between the decentral network participants 102. For instance, data flow 110 may be directly associated with material flow 104, if data associated with an input material provided from the raw material producer to the chemical product producer 102.1 is accessed by decentral participant node 108.1 associated with said chemical product producer 102.1. For instance, data flow 110 may be indirectly associated with material flow 104, if data associated with a chemical product produced by chemical product producer 102.1 is accessed by decentral participant node 102.4 associated with the product producer 102.4.

[0077] The decentral participant nodes 108 may be decentral computing nodes. The decentral computing node may be any device or system that includes at least one physical and tangible processor, and a physical and tangible memory capable of having thereon computer-executable instructions that are executed by a processor. The memory may take any form of volatile or non-volatile storages and may depend on the nature and form of the computing node.

[0078] At least part of the decentral participant nodes 108 may be configured as decentral data providing network nodes. At least part of the participant nodes 108 may be configured as decentral data consuming network nodes. The participant of the decentral participant network may be associated with a decentral data providing network node and / or a decentral data consuming network node depending on whether data is provided to downstream participants and / or consumed from upstream participants. For instance, component assembly producer 102.3 may be associated with decentral data providing network node configured to provide product data to a downstream participant (e.g. endproduct producer 102.4). In addition to or alternatively, end- component assembly producer 102.3 may be associated with a decentral data consuming network node configured to access data associated with a discrete product produced by an upstream participant (e.g. end-product producer 102.4).

[0079] The decentral network nodes may be configured as decentral infrastructure service nodes (not shown in FIG. 1). The decentral infrastructure service nodes may not be associated with a participant 102 of the product ecosystem 100. The decentral infrastructure service nodes may provide services for decentral participant nodes 108, such as verifying the identity of the decentral network participant nodes 108 prior to performing a data exchange or transaction. The decentral network participant nodes 108 may be associated with or configured to provide certificate , such as X.509 certificate®. The certificate® may be associated with decentral infrastructure service node(s) including e.g. a certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service providing dynamic property tokens (e.g. OAuth Access Tokens). This way the decentral network participant nodes 108 may be associated with a unique identifier embedded in a X.509 certificate that is configured to identify the respective decentral network participant node 108. The information required to verify the certificate may be provided via an authentication registry associated with the certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service. For instance, in the IDSA Reference Architecture Model, Version 3.0 of April 2019, a decentral data providing network node associated with a data owner, a Certification Authority (CA), a Dynamic Property Provisioning Service (DAPS) and a decentral data consuming network node associated with a data consumer may be used to verify the identity prior to performing a data exchange (not shown).

[0080] Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a product configurator for selecting products and targeted environmental properties.

[0081] In the example the end-product is a car, which shall not be considered limiting. Other end products like clothes, personalized cosmetics, furniture, bikes or the like may be equally suitable for selection of environmental properties that may be influenced through the production of the product along the value chain of production participants e.g. as illustrated in the context of Fig. 1 . This way the end customer may be enabled to select available environmental property options for producing a car with reduced environmental impact or net zero impact. This gives end customers the flexibility to decide about the impact of end products the end customer buys. To enable such flexibility the production of the end-product may be digitally controlled across multiple producers of the production chain. In the example, the product is a car to be selected and / or configured by an end customer. The car configurator may allow for multiple options regarding targeted environmental properties. The targeted environmental properties may be selected by the user. This allows the end user of the car to tailor the attributes of the car to be produced by the car producer. Hence the user may personalize the product, in the example the car, not only to common properties such as appearance but also with respect to the environmental impact the product has.

[0082] For example, the drive may be selected to include an electric drive corresponding to lower emission properties upon use. Further for example, targeted environmental properties such as recycled, renewable and / or bio-based content may be selected for different parts of the car. The targeted environmental properties may include the option for a battery with recycled material content such as recycled electrode active material like anode or cathode active material. Similarly, the targeted environmental properties may include the option for bodywork, interior and supplies like tires with recycled, renewable and / or bio-based material content. The color may include the option to select the targeted environmental property relating to a low emission coloring process.

[0083] Based on the selections of targeted environmental properties, the environmental impact and / or the total environmental impact for producing the car may be generated and displayed. For example, the total environmental impact may be provided as a relative impact compared to a conventional reference design of the car. The conventional reference design may for example be based on a design based on fossil material inputs, standard production processes or other commonly used production excluding the environmental property options for environmental impact reduction. The environmental properties related to the production of the pend product are mere examples and shall not be considered limiting. The environmental properties may depend on the product and the components or materials used to produce the product. The environmental properties may depend on the production processes and / or the input materials or components used to produce the product. The environmental properties may hence depend on the end product to be produced and the production chain used to produce such end product across different participants of the production chain.

[0084] Fig. 3 illustrates an example of a method for monitoring and / or controlling production of the product over multiple production stages. The example method illustrates a simple example logic of the methods disclosed herein and different embodiments are possible such as the more detailed embodiments described in the context of Figs. 4, 5, 6a-c.

[0085] One or more products and associated one or more targeted environmental properties may be selected e.g. by the user of the product configurator illustrated in Fig. 2. Such selection may be performed based on a web interface by a user such as the end customer e.g. as illustrated in the context of Fig. 2. The selection may relate to targeted environmental properties of the product to be produced and / or used. The selection may include the product and at least one targeted environmental property for the product. The targeted environmental property may relate to or includes a total emission value and / or a total content value associated with the production of the product based on production inputs to one or more production stages used to produce the product. The targeted environmental property may relate to or include one or more emission value(s) and / or one or more content value(s) associated with at least one component of the product and / or one or more production input(s) used to produce the at least one component. The targeted environmental property may relate to or includes a total targeted environmental property e.g. based on an aggregation of one or more component environmental property / ies. The selection may include components of the product and associated one or more targeted environmental properties per component. The selection may include environmental property types for the product and / or per component of the product. Environmental property types may relate to emissions associated with the production of the product and / or production inputs, such as components or materials, of different production stages used to produce the product. Environmental property types may relate to alternative material content associated with the production of the product and / or production inputs, such as components or materials, of different production stages used to produce the product. In the context provided here, production of the product may include multiple production stages e.g. as described in the context of Fig. 1 .

[0086] Based on the selected product, a component-based representation of the selected product including property data per component may be provided. The property data may relate to production processes used to produce the product and / or production inputs, such as components or materials, of different production stages used to produce the product. The property data may relate to component-based properties reflecting processes used to produce the product and / or production inputs, such as components or materials, of different production stages used to produce the product. The property data may relate to production input, such as component or material, IDs and environmental properties the production input producer may be able to provide with the produced production input.

[0087] Depending on the selected targeted environmental properties one or more production input producer such as component producer IDs may be selected. Based on the selected targeted environmental properties production processes, production inputs, such as components or materials, of different production stages to be used for producing the product may be determined. Such selection may be performed based on the property data including environmental properties the production input producer may be able to provide with the produced production input. For example, the production input producer IDs or component producer IDs may be selected based on the at least one targeted environmental property for the product and / or a total targeted environmental property. Further for example, the production input producer IDs or component producer IDs may be selected based on one or more targeted environmental properties per component. The selection may include aggregation of the environmental properties per production input or component such that the at least one targeted environmental property for the product and / or a total targeted environmental property may be reached. The production input producer IDs or component producer IDs may be provided in relation to the components to be used for producing the product.

[0088] A request for providing production inputs such as components to be used for producing the product to component producers may be generated and provided. The request may relate to production input, such as component, producer IDs. The IDs may include participant identifiers of the decentral peer-to-peer network as described in the example of Fig. 1 . The request may further relate to the component and associated environmental properties of the component to be produced or used. The request may be provided for access by network nodes associated with production input, such as component, producers of the product ecosystem. The request may include a trigger for providing and / or producing the production input or component with corresponding environmental properties. In this embodiment the end product producer may have access to the component-based representation of the selected product including environmental property data associated with environmental properties per component to be produced or used for the product. Hence the product producer may hold a knowledge base of possible components including respective environmental properties. Such embodiment may allow for reliable tailoring of environmental properties of products produced along production chains that obey limited dynamics in production processes and / or production inputs per production stage or tier. For production chains with more dynamic changes in production processes and / or production inputs per production stage, the environmental property data may require more frequent update in relation to environmental properties of different production stages. For example the environmental property responses may be gathered through the peer-to-peer communication network.

[0089] Fig. 4 illustrates another example of a method for monitoring and / or controlling production of the product over multiple production stages. The example method illustrates a simple example logic of the methods disclosed herein and different embodiments are possible such as the more detailed embodiments described in the context of Figs. 4, 5, 6a-c.

[0090] One or more products and associated one or more targeted environmental properties may be selected as described in the context of Fig. 3.

[0091] Based on the selected product a component-based representation of the selected product may be provided. The component-based representation may relate to component IDs and in contrast to Fig. 3 may not include environmental property data. Since environmental properties of the produced components may depend on availability of inputs and / or production processes at different production stages, the environmental property data may be requested directly and / or on-demand from the producers at different production stages.

[0092] The environmental property data may be requested and provided as environmental property responses based on production input, such as component, producer IDs e.g. by network nodes associated with the production input, such as component, producers. The upstream producer such as the component producer may in a similar way request environmental property responses from component suppliers, upstream producers or production input producers up to the chemical producer of the production chain. The environmental property data to be gathered or environmental property responses may relate to component-based environmental properties. The environmental property responses may include production input producers such as component producer IDs and environmental properties the production input producer such as component producer may be able to provide on production of the production input such as component.

[0093] The request for providing environmental property responses may follow different schemes. The request for providing environmental property responses may include the production input, such as component ID. Based on the request, the one or more environmental property responses may be gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage. For example, the one or more environmental property responses may be gathered from nodes associated with the component producers for the component production stage, which depends on environmental property responses gathered from nodes associated with the component input producers for the component input production stages. In this embodiment nodes may be requested based on participant IDs and optionally their role description along the production chain, such as component producer.

[0094] In addition to the participant ID, the request may include the at least one targeted environmental property selected by the user. The at least one targeted environmental property may be provided to nodes associated with the one or more production input producers. The one or more environmental property responses may be gathered based on the at least one targeted environmental property per production input, such as component, provided by nodes associated with the one or more production input, such as component producers. In this embodiment nodes may be requested based on participant IDs and the at least one targeted environmental property. Environmental property responses may be provided based on the at least one targeted environmental property. For example, the at least one targeted environmental property may relate to a specific component of the product and the at least one targeted environmental property may be provided to the nodes associated with respective component producers, along the production chain, such as component producer.

[0095] Based on the targeted environmental properties and received environmental property responses for production inputs, such as components, to be used for producing product may be determined e.g as described in the context of Fig. 3 in connection with the property data. In other words, the property data provided in the embodiment of Fig. 3 by a data base associated with the product producer may be provided by requesting to provide environmental property responses per input production stage, such as the comment production stage.

[0096] A request for providing production inputs such as components to be used for producing the product to component producers may be generated and provided e.g. as described in the context of Fig. 3.

[0097] Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a nested production chain including production processes and respective inputs.

[0098] The product ecosystem 100 e.g. as described in the context of Fig. 1 may include multiple nested production stages of the production chain. Fig. 5 illustrates examples of nested production stages for illustrative purposes only and multiple more nested production stages may be part of the production chain.

[0099] The example illustrates four production stages. Production stage 1 may be associated with the product producer. The production stage may include one or more production processes using one or more production inputs per production process. The production inputs to Production Stage 1 may be provided by Production Stage 2. Production stage 2 may be associated with component or component assembly producers. The production stage may include one or more production processes using one or more production inputs per production process. The production inputs to Production Stage 2 may be provided by Production Stage 3. Production stage 3 may be associated with chemical material producers. The production stage may include one or more production processes using one or more production inputs per production process. The production inputs to Production Stage 3 may be provided by Production Stage 4. Production stage 4 may be associated with raw material producers. The production stage may include one or more production processes using one or more production inputs per production process. The production inputs to Production Stage 4 may be provided from further upstream production stages.

[0100] More concretely, inputs to the product of production stage 1 - in this example the car as product - may be provided by production stages 2 - in this example the belt buckle and the battery to be used for producing the car. Moving upstream for the battery as one input to the car, production stage 3 may provide anode and / or cathode active material to produce battery cells and / or battery modules comprising one or more cells. Moving one level further upstream for the cathode active material, production stage 4 may provide raw materials to produce cathode active material from fossil and recycled material. Based on the recycled material used to produce the cathode active material, the environmental property of recycled content used to produce the battery at production stages 3 and 2 may be tracked digitally across production these production stages up to production stage 1 for the end product - in this example the car. Examples for digitally tracking environmental properties across production stages are disclosed in e.g.

[0101] EP4203378A1; WO2023117874A1; WO2023117875A1; WO2023117877A1; WO2023117878A1;

[0102] WO2023117883A1; WO2023117888A1; WO2023117891A1; WO2023117893A1; WO2023117895A1; WO2023117897A1; WO2023117903A1; WO2023117908A1; WO2023117915A1; WO2023117920A1; WO2023117926A1; WO2023117927A1; WO2023117931 A1 ; WO2023117934A1; WO2023117936A1; WO2023117937A1; WO2023117939A1; WO2023117946A1; WO2023117950A1; WO2023117951A1; WO2023117957A1; WO2023117962A1; WO2023117969A1; WO2023117972A1; WO2023117977A1; WO2023117980A1; WO2023117982A1; WO2023117983A1; WO2023117986A1; WO2023117989A1; WO2023117992A1; WO2023117999A1; W02023118015A1; WO2023118017A1 which are herewith incorporated by reference. In particular, the generation of product passports including at least one decentral identifier and at least one representation to environmental property data associated with the product may be used for tracking the environmental properties upon providing of production inputs across production stages or along the production chain up to the product production.

[0103] Figs. 6a-c illustrate decentral network environments connecting network nodes associated with producers at different production stages of the production chain for the retrieval of environmental property data.

[0104] The network illustrated in Figs. 6a-c includes network nodes associated with producers at different production stages 1-4. For example, the producers may include the product producer, component assembly producers, component producers and / or chemical product producers. The producers may be associated with network nodes that may be communicatively coupled though the peer-to-peer decentral network. The methods as described for example in the context of Figs. 3 and 4 may be used to trigger requests and / or to transact data between different network nodes associated with different producers at different production stages 1-4. The network nodes may be configured to communicate according to one or more network protocols for data transactions. The data transactions may be based on at least one transaction protocol including authentication and / or authorization mechanism(s) e.g. as described in the context of Fig. 1.

[0105] For example, the decentral network node may be related to a decentral participant identifier. The network participant may be associated with the participant node and the decentral participant identifier for identifying the respective participant node(s). The decentral participant identifier may uniquely identify the decentral network participant and its associated decentral participant node within the decentral peer-to-peer network. The decentral participant identifier may uniquely identify the decentral network participant node of the decentral network. The decentral participant identifier may correspond to or be derived from a public key of a private-public-key-pair associated with the respective decentral network participant.

[0106] The product producer node of production stage 1 may be configured as data consumer node. The product producer node may be configured to query an infrastructure node of the decentral network (not shown in Figs. 6a-c) using the participant ID and a service description relating to the providing of possible environmental properties for production inputs to be used to determine decentral participant identifier(s) of decentral data provider(s) associated with the production inputs providing possible environmental properties for production inputs. The determined decentral participant identifier(s) may then be used by product producer node to query the infrastructure node to determine endpoints of production input producer node(s) associated with the determined decentral participant identifier(s). Based on the obtained endpoint(s) and authentication and / or authorization mechanisms the product producer node may gather possible environmental properties for production inputs from production input producer node(s).

[0107] The gathering of targeted environmental property responses for production inputs may as illustrated in Fig. 6a follow a nested or staggered approach, where targeted environmental properties are gathered per production stage of production inputs according to the production chain. For example, recycled content as targeted environmental property may be gathered by product producer node of production stage 1 from component assembly producer node at production stage 2. To provide recycled content as targeted environmental property, component assembly producer node at production stage 2 may gather recycled content as targeted environmental property from component producer node at production stage 3. Further to provide recycled content as targeted environmental property, component producer node at production stage 3 may gather recycled content as possible environmental property from material producer node at production stage 4. The recycled content to be provided as environmental property may be retrieved and / or gathered by the nodes at each production stage and provided to the next production stage. For example, the component assembly producer node at production stage 2 may provide the retrieved and / or gathered recycled content to be provided as environmental property in association with the component assembly to be produced or used to the product producer node. Similarly, bio-based and / or recycled content as targeted environmental property may be gathered per production stage and the retrieved and / or gathered bio-based content to be provided as environmental property in association with the component or component assembly to be produced or used may be provided to the product producer node. This way the product producer node may gather and / or retrieve environmental property data associated with production inputs based on real time data provided by the respective producers. The gathering of targeted environmental property responses for production inputs may as illustrated in Fig. 6b follow a decentral star approach with the product producer node as central node, where targeted environmental properties are gathered per production stage of production inputs by the product producer node. For example, recycled content as targeted environmental property may be gathered by product producer node of production stage 1 from component assembly producer node at production stage 2, from component producer node at production stage 3 and / or from material producer node at production stage 4. The recycled content to be provided as environmental property may be determined per component based on the component-based representation including all production stages. This way the product producer node may gather and / or retrieve environmental property data associated with production inputs based on real time data provided by the respective producers directly and may select the participants to provide the recycled content as environmental property per production stage.

[0108] The gathering of targeted environmental property response for production inputs may as illustrated in Fig. 6c follow a decentral star approach with an intermediary as central node, where targeted environmental properties are gathered per production stage of production inputs by the intermediary node and provided to the product producer node. For example, recycled content as targeted environmental property may be requested by product producer node from intermediary node. Recycled content as targeted environmental property may be gathered from component assembly producer node at production stage 2, from component producer node at production stage 3 and / or from material producer node at production stage 4. The recycled content to be provided as environmental property may be determined per component based on the component-based representation including all production stages. This way the intermediary node may gather and / or retrieve environmental property data associated with production inputs based on real time data provided by the respective producers directly and / or may select the participants to provide the recycled content as environmental property per production stage. The intermediary node may provide the environmental property data associated with production inputs and / or selected participants to the product producer node.

[0109] The request for providing components to be used for producing the product to component producers may be generated and provided following any of the communication approaches lined out above. The request may relate to production input producer IDs. The IDs may include participant identifiers of the decentral peer-to-peer network as described in the example of Fig. 1. The request may further relate to the production input and associated environmental properties of the production input to be produced or used. The request may be provided for access by network nodes associated with production input producers of the product ecosystem. The request may include a trigger for providing and / or producing the production input with corresponding environmental properties.

[0110] Fig. 7 illustrates an example of a method for monitoring and / or controlling production of at least one production input at a production stage. As described in the context of Figs. 3-6, the production input producer nodes may be requested to provide environmental property data or environment property responses on environmental properties to be provided with the production input to be used to produce the product.

[0111] The production input producer nodes may determine environmental properties available for the requested production input based on the production, in particular based on production inputs and / or production processes, for the respective production stage and / or production processes. The targeted environmental properties requested may relate to one or more environmental properties such as PCF contributions, alternative production input content or the like. Examples of PCF contributions include Scope 1 contributions based on production processes used for the respective production stage, Scope 2 contributions based on energy or utilities used for the respective production stage and / or Scope 3 contributions based on PCFs of production input's used for the respective production stage. Examples of alternative production input content include non-fossil materials used for production such as bio-based, recycled and / or renewable production input or content.

[0112] To determine environmental properties available for the requested production input a digital twin of the production inputs and / or processes at the respective production stage may be provided. The digital twin may include a digital representation of the production inputs and / or processes at the respective production stage. The digital twin may include a digital representation of environmental property contributions per production input and / or process at the respective production stage. For example, environmental property contributions such as PCF contributions or alternative production input content may be provided per production input and / or process at the respective production stage. The environmental property contributions may be separated by environmental property type such as emission type or alternative production input or content type. Based on the digital representation of the production inputs and / or processes at the respective production stage, the environmental properties available for the requested production input may be determined. The environmental property types corresponding to the targeted environmental properties may be selected and the contributions per selected environmental property type may be determined based on the digital representation of the production inputs and / or processes at the respective production stage.

[0113] If a total targeted environmental property is requested, the environmental properties available for the requested production input may be determined based on an optimization algorithm. The objective function may relate to the targeted environmental property and environmental property contributions as provided by the digital representation of the production inputs and processes. The objective function may be optimized with respect to environmental property contributions to reach the total targeted environmental property. The objective function may be optimized with respect to environmental property contributions and one or more effort variables to reach the total targeted environmental property. The effort variables may relate to the production effort such as changes in the production, costs of production inputs such as alternative materials, availability of production inputs such as alternative materials, costs for production supplies or utilities such as energy, availability of production supplies or utilities such as energy or combinations thereof. For example, methods as described in the context of WO 2024 083920 A1 may be utilized for multiple production stages, which are herewith incorporated by reference in particular relating to the methods, apparatuses and systems for controlling, monitoring, revising and / or generating an environmental impact parameter of a production process, e.g. with multiple production stages, for producing a product is provided. The methods may comprise controlling, monitoring, revising and / or generating a product identifier for identifying the product and / or for identifying the production process and receiving at least one feasibility process parameter. The at least one feasibility process parameter may comprise at least one of a target value for the environmental impact parameter for the production process, e.g. with multiple production stages, of the product and / or a quantity for at least one measure for influencing the total targeted environmental property for the production process, e.g. with multiple production stages, of the product.

[0114] Environmental properties available for the requested production input may be provided as environmental property response to the requesting nodes, such as the node associated with the product producer or a downstream producer. Based on the environmental property response the requesting nodes, such as the node associated with the product producer or a downstream producer, may generate a request to provide the production input and the associated environmental properties. The request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product associated with environmental properties may be received by the node associated with the production input producer. As described in the context of Figs. 3-6, the production input producer nodes selected for providing the production input may receive the request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data.

[0115] If the request to provide the production input is received, the production input producer node may validate the request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data. Validation may be based on the current production of the production input at the respective production stage. For example, the current production may provide for certain environmental properties such as alternative production inputs. For example, the chemical producer may produce chemical products based on alternative materials such as recycled, bio-based and / or renewable materials. The content of alternative material may be mass balanced via a digital storage structure related to the alternative material input types used for production of chemical products. The digital storage structure may include an accounting system for mass balancing content of alternative material used to produce chemical materials. The accounting system relate to amounts of alternative material used to produce chemical materials. The accounting system relate to amounts of alternative material used to produce chemical materials per alternative material type, such as recycled, bio-based and / or renewable materials. Based on the requested environmental property data and the amount of alternative material required to accommodate such request, the amounts of alternative material stored by the accounting system and hence used to produce chemical materials e.g. per alternative material type may be checked to be sufficient. If the amount of alternative material stored by the accounting system is insufficient, the request may be declined. If the amount of alternative material stored by the accounting system is sufficient, the request may be validated. Further for example, the current production may provide for certain environmental properties such as Scope 1, 2 or 3 carbon footprint contributions. For example, the chemical producer may produce chemical products based on alternative materials such as recycled, bio-based and / or renewable materials using processes powered by renewable energy thus allowing for a reduced Scope 2 and 3 contributions. Based on the requested environmental property data and the alternative material and renewable energy required to accommodate such request, the availability of alternative material and renewable energy may be checked. If the alternative material and the renewable energy is not available and thus the reduced Scope 1 and 3 contributions are not feasible, the request may be declined. If the alternative material and the renewable energy is available and thus the reduced Scope 1 and 3 contributions are feasible, the request may be validated. Similar to the example of the chemical producer, discrete producers such as component or component assembly producers may validate the request from the product producer.

[0116] If the request is validated, the production input may be produced by the production at the respective production stage. If the request is validated, the production input may be associated with the requested environmental properties. The production input may be produced and / or provided in association with the digital asset related to environmental properties and available to production input user.

[0117] Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a network with nodes configured for data transactions between producer nodes of the product ecosystem.

[0118] The decentral network may include multiple participants of the product ecosystem as for example illustrated in Fig. 1 . The participants may be associated with network nodes configured to provide and / or consume data from other nodes of the network. One possible setup includes peer-to-peer communication between network nodes. The production input producer node may be configured as environmental property response or data provider. Product producer or intermediary node may be configured as environmental property and / or product requestor or data consumer. In other embodiments as for example illustrated in Figs. 6a-c the nodes associated with different production stages such component producer nodes, the component assembly producer nodes or chemical producer nodes, may be configured as data provider and / or data consumer nodes.

[0119] The decentral network may provide for infrastructure services such as identity and access management, participant discovery and / or managed ID wallets. The services may be provided by infrastructure nodes of the decentral network. The managed Identity wallet may provide for authentication and / or authorization of the data consumer and provider. As for example described in the Catena-X Standard Documentation, CX-0017 Company Role by the Connector v.1.1.0 (2023) the basic attribute used for any data exchange may be the membership issued to the data consumer or provider at onboarding in the form of a Verifiable Credential. These Verifiable Credentials may follow the Verifiable Credentials Data Model v1 .1 , W3C Recommendation, 03 March 2022. These Verifiable Credentials may be exchanged and validated between data providers and consumers or connectors to allow for data transactions such as described in Catena-X Standard Documentation, CX-0018 Eclipse Data Connector (EDC) v2.0.1 (2023). A participant discovery service may allow for discovery and retrieval of participant IDs and associated endpoints such described in Catena-X Standard Documentation, CX-0001 EDC discovery API v1.0.2 (2023) and described in Ca- tena-X Standard Documentation, CX-0053 BPN Discovery Service APIs vl.0.0 (2023). This way the respective nodes configured as data consumer and requesting data from nodes configured as data provider may discover participant IDs (BPN) with respect to their role in the production chain and related endpoints for sending the request.

[0120] In an example, environmental property responses associated with production inputs may be retrieved and / or gathered by the nodes at each production stage and provided to the next production stage up to the product production stage. For example, the component assembly producer node at production stage 2 may provide the retrieved and / or gathered recycled content to be provided as environmental property in association with the component assembly to be produced or used to the product producer node. Similarly, bio-based and / or recycled content as targeted environmental property may be gathered per production stage and the retrieved and / or gathered bio-based content to be provided as environmental property in association with the component or component assembly to be produced or used may be provided to the product producer node. This way the product producer node may gather and / or retrieve environmental property data associated with production inputs based on real time data provided by the respective producers.

[0121] A server associated with the product producer node may be configured to generate query data to query production input producer node(s) associated with endpoint(s), e.g. as may be obtained by participant discovery service configured for discovery and retrieval of participant IDs and associated endpoints. The query data may include data related to authorization rule(s). Data related to authorization rule(s) may include key value pairs defining such rule(s) in access elements associated with such participants and stored by the decentral registries. The server may be configured to generate a request for gathering the decentral identifier(s) associated with said production input IDs. The request may include at least a part of the received end point(s) related to participant IDs and the query data. The request may be provided to the product producer node. Product producer node may be configured - in response to the request from the server - to query the decentral registries or nodes of decentral network. The queries may include the query data and a decentral participant identifier associated with the product producer node.

[0122] Product producer node may be configured to send such queries to the endpoint(s) included in the request received from the server. The queries may be authenticated. Such authentication may be based on data related to an authentication mechanism. The authentication mechanism may be based on certificate(s) and / or token(s), for example a device certificate (X.509v3), a TLS connection certificate (X.509v3) and a ‘Dynamic Property Token' (OAuth Access Token), associated with the respective decentral participant nodes, e.g. product producer node and component producer node(s). If authentication fails, no data may be provided by respective component producer node(s).

[0123] Product producer node may for example be configured to send such queries to the endpoint(s) related to component producer node(s). Component producer node(s) may be configured to query associated decentral registry(ies), such as decentral registry, to determine whether the associated decentral registry or node includes decentral identifier(s) (e.g. decentral digital twin identifiers and / or decentral rule identifier(s)) related to the query data contained in the queries from the product producer node. Such query may be performed if the authentication is valid. Component producer node(s) not having determined decentral identifier(s) related to the query data may send a respective response to product producer node(s). Component producer node(s) not having determined decentral identifier(s) related to the query data may not send any response to product producer node.

[0124] Component producer node(s) having determined decentral identifier(s) related to the query data may initiate data transactions according to the transaction protocol with product producer node. Component producer node(s) may provide an electronic contract to product producer node. The electronic contract may include one or more authorization rule(s) associated with the decentral identifier(s). The electronic contract may be provided to the server. The server may parse the received electronic contract to determine the authorization rule(s). The determined authorization rules may be provided to a user for consent. The server may be configured to automatically accept electronic contracts provided by predefined component producer node(s). The server may provide data being indicative of the signature, such as a token including encrypted data based on private-public keys and hash values, to product producer node. If the electronic contract is not signed, the server may likewise forward data being indicative of declining the contract to product producer node. Product producer node may forward this data to component producer node. Upon declining the contract, component producer node may terminate the connection and may not provide any data. Use of the electronic contract ensures that the product producer node and further systems handling the data are complying to at least one policy associated with the data.

[0125] Component producer node(s) having determined decentral identifier(s) related to the query data may provide such decentral identifier(s) to product producer nodes. Such identifier(s) may be provided upon successful contract negotiation. Component producer node(s) may provide received decentral identifier(s) to the server. Upon receiving decentral identifier(s), the server may be configured to generate a request to gather access element(s) associated with at least a part of the received decentral identifier(s). The request may include respective decentral identifier(s). The request may be provided to product producer node. Product producer node may be configured to request respective access element(s) from component producer node(s) having provided decentral identifier(s) in response to the query. The request to respective component producer node(s) may include the decentral identifier(s) and the decentral participant identifier associated with product producer node. Upon receiving the request, component producer node(s) may gather access element(s) from associated decentral registry based on the decentral identifier(s) contained in the received request. The gathered access element(s) may then be provided to product producer node. Product producer node may provide the received access element(s) to the server. The server may store the access elements in a storage associated with the server, such as storage.

[0126] The server may be configured to parse the received access element(s) (e.g. the received access element data). The access element(s) may include decentral identifier(s) and associated access data. The server may be configured to generate a respective request to retrieve aspect(s) associated with such decentral identifier(s). The request may include the decentral identifier(s) and the associated access data. The request may be forwarded to product producer node. Product producer node may generate a request to gather the authorization rule(s) from respective component node(s). The request may include the decentral participant identifier associated with product producer node. The request may be sent by product producer node to the endpoint defined in the access data associated with component producer node. Product producer node and component producer node may be authenticating as previously described.

[0127] Component producer node may determine whether product producer node is authorized to access the requested environmental property data. Component producer node may match the decentral participant identifier provided by product producer node to access rule(s) associated with the respective environmental property data. The access rule(s) may define product producer node(s) allowed to access the environmental property data via associated decentral participant identifier(s). This may allow to filter product producer nodes requesting access to such environmental property data based on associated decentral participant identifiers, hence improving security to ensure that no unauthorized product producer nodes can access the environmental property data.

[0128] Upon determination that the product producer node may be authorized to access the environmental property data, component producer node may initiate contract negotiations with product producer node as previously described. Component producer node may gather the requested environmental property data from storage based on the decentral identifier(s) received from the product producer node. The environmental property data may be gathered upon successful contract negotiations. The peer-to-peer communication channel may be terminated, and no environmental property data may be provided if no electronic contract is signed. The gathered environmental property data may be stored in storage.

[0129] Above protocol description serves as example of a protocol. Other protocols e.g. based on distributed ledgers optionally in connection with off-chain storage (oracles) may be possible and the example should not be considered limiting.

[0130] The data transactions between different nodes of the network may be executed based on the component IDs and the associated environmental property data using different protocols. For example, protocol for data transactions in blockchain based infrastructures or federated infrastructures may be used. The environmental property data may be gathered from different network nodes associated with different participants at different production stages of the production chain.

[0131] Fig. 9 illustrates an example of data transaction protocols between producer nodes of the product ecosystem.

[0132] The methods disclosed herein such as the examples described in the context of Figs. 3-8 allow for dynamic retrieval or gathering of environmental property responses with respect to production inputs to be used for producing the product. The methods hence allow to configure the product with respect to its environmental properties, to gather dynamically environmental property responses prior to production of the product and to produce the product based on the retrieved or gathered responses. This allows for customizing end-products not only with respect to their appearance or technical properties but also with respect to the environmental impact of the production of the product. To enable such flexibility production stages may be part of the production ecosystem as illustrated in the context of Fig. 1 . The participants may be associated with network nodes configured as data providers and / or data consumers as described for example in the context of Fig. 8.

[0133] In Fig. 9 an example of the data transaction protocol between nodes configured as data consumer and data provider is illustrated. The transaction may be triggered by the product configurator configured to provide at least one targeted environmental property selected by the user. The data consumer associated with the configurator may generate a request for gathering one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs of one or more production stages used to produce the selected product with the selected environmental properties. For generating the request, the data consumer may generate a request to provide one or more participant IDs associated with producer nodes of the decentral network. The request may relate to the role of the participant such as the producer role or the production stage of the participant. The data consumer may provide the request to the discovery node and the discovery node may provide one or more participant IDs optionally related to the role of the participant such as the producer role or the production stage of the participant. The data consumer may gather one or more participant IDs optionally related to the role of the participant such as the producer role or the production stage of the participant. This may include endpoints of the data provider related to the gathered IDs.

[0134] The data consumer may generate the request including participant ID, production input ID and optionally the target environmental property. The data consumer may provide the request for gathering one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs of one or more production stages used to produce the selected product with the selected environmental properties.

[0135] For providing the request, the data consumer may request connection to the data provider and the data provider may accept such request. A peer-to-peer communication channel may be established between the data provider and the data consumer. This may be based on different authentication and / or authorization mechanisms. In the illustration details of the authentication and / or authorization are omitted for simplification purposes.

[0136] The data consumer may provide the request for environmental property responses. The data provider may provide environmental property responses. The data provider may check for available environmental properties as e.g. described in the context of Fig. 7. The data consumer may gather the request for environmental property responses provided by the data provider. The data consumer may select production inputs based on the environmental input responses as for example described in the context of Figs. 3 and 4. The data consumer may provide the request for providing the selected production inputs. The data consumer may receive respective request and validate the request as e.g. described in the context of Fig. 7. The data consumer upon validation may generate and providing access to digital assets related to requested environmental properties. The data provider may access the digital assets related to requested environmental properties.

[0137] The methods, apparatuses, systems, nodes, computer elements, configurators, uses, and products or production inputs described in the context of this disclosure allow for personized production based on user needs. To date personalization has been used for products or product bundles. The personalization in view of this disclosure reaches into industrial productions and allows for personalization of mass scale products such as cars with respect to their environmental impact. Since the personalization is achieved by digital means and the interconnection of producer nodes across production stages, the approach disclosed herein allows for personalized production in a cost effective manner.

[0138] The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments as examples as well. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed invention, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the claims. Notably, in particular, the any steps presented can be performed in any order, i.e. the present invention is not limited to a specific order of these steps. Moreover, it is also not re-quired that the different steps are performed at a certain place or at one node of a distributed system, i.e. each of the steps may be performed at a different nodes using different equipment / data processing units.

[0139] In the claims as well as in the description the word "comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article "a” or "an” does not exclude a plurality, "can” or "may” refers to optional features. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation.

[0140] The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples as well. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed invention, from the studies of the drawings, this dis-closure and the claims.

[0141] Any steps presented herein can be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to a specific order of these steps. It is also not required that the different steps are per-formed at a certain place or in a certain computing node of a distributed system, i.e. each of the steps may be performed at different computing nodes using different equipment / data processing.

[0142] Providing in the scope of this disclosure may include any interface configured to provide data. This may include an application programming interface, a human-machine interface such as a display and / or a software module interface. Providing may include communication of data or submission of data to the interface.

[0143] As used herein ..determining" also includes ..initiating or causing to determine", "generating" also includes ..initiating and / or causing to generate" and "providing” also includes "initiating or causing to determine, generate, select, send and / or receive”. "Initiating or causing to perform an action” includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action. In the claims as well as in the description the word "comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article "a” or "an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous imple- mentation.

[0144] All terms and definitions used herein are understood broadly and have their general meaning.

Claims

Claims1 . A method for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a product, wherein the product is produced based on production inputs from one or more production stages, the method comprising the steps of: providing at least one targeted environmental property for the product; gathering one or more environmental property responses related to production inputs at one or more production stages used to produce the product, wherein the one or more environmental property responses are gathered from nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage; determining, based on at least one targeted environmental property for the product and the gathered one or more environmental property responses, production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage; providing one or more request(s) for providing production inputs associated with the gathered one or more environmental property responses to production input producer nodes associated with respective production stages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one targeted environmental property relates to a total emission value associated with the production of the product based on production inputs to one or more production stages used to produce the product.

3. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one targeted environmental property relates to a total content value associated with the production of the product associated with production inputs to one or more production stages used to produce the product.

4. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one targeted environmental property relates to one or more emission value(s) and / or one or more content value(s) associated with at least one component of the product and / or one or more production input(s) used to produce the at least one component.

5. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the request for providing one or more environmental property responses includes the at least one targeted environmental property.

6. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one targeted environmental property is provided to nodes associated with one or more component producers, wherein the one or more environmental property responses are gathered based on the at least one targeted environmental property per component as gathered by nodes associated with the one or more component producers.

7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one targeted environmental property is provided to nodes associated with the one or more production input producers, wherein the one or moreenvironmental property responses are gathered based on the at least one targeted environmental property per production input as provided by nodes associated with the one or more production input producers.

8. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein providing of the at least one targeted environmental property includes determination of an accessibility of nodes associated with the production input producers per production stage and based on such determination the at least one targeted environmental property is gathered from accessible nodes associated with one or more component producers and / or accessible nodes associated with the one or more production input producers along a production chain.

9. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein determining production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage includes determining components and / or production inputs per production stage to be used for producing the product relating to one or more production stages.

10. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein determining production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage includes rejecting one or more environmental property responses not meeting the at least one targeted environmental property.11 . The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein determining production inputs to be used for producing the product per production stage includes gathering one or more environmental property responses based on a determination of meeting the at least one targeted environmental property by the nodes associated with production input producers and / or determining the combination of component(s) and / or production input(s) per production stage to be used for meeting the at least one targeted environmental property based on one or more environmental property responses meeting the one or more targeted environmental property.

12. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein determining production inputs includes selecting one production input producer per production input based on environmental property response by production input producer.

13. A product configurator configured to provide one or more digital product representations, wherein the digital product representation includes environmental properties selectable by a user, wherein the product configurator is further configured to provide at least one targeted environmental property for the product as selected by the user, wherein the product configurator is further configured to trigger the methods for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a product according to any of claims 1 to 12.

14. The product configurator of claim 13, wherein the product configurator is further configured to receive at least parts of one or more environmental property responses generated by the methods for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a product according to any of claims 1 to 12 for validation by the user.

15. A system for monitoring and / or controlling environmental properties of a production input to a production stage for producing a product, the system comprising: an operating apparatus including an input interface configured to receive a request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated environmental property data generated according to the methods of any of claims 1 to 12 or by the configurator of claim 13 or 14, a validation engine configured to validate the request for providing the production input to be used for producing the product and associated with environmental property data, a generator configured to generate a digital asset upon validation by providing a decentral iden- tifier and associating the decentral identifier to the requested production input and the requested one or more environmental property / ies, and a production system configured to produce and / or provide upon validation the production input in association with the digital asset accessible to the product producer node associated with the product to be produced using the production input.

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