Why ESG Data Fragmentation Is Holding Everyone Back

Across the consumer products and retail landscape, sustainability reporting has become both more urgent and more complicated. Each retailer and regulator asks suppliers for similar data — on packaging, sourcing, and carbon — but in different formats.

This fragmentation increases reporting fatigue, especially for small brands, and makes it harder for retailers to consolidate results for their Scope 3 reporting.

The opportunity: align around a shared data language that serves both compliance (mandatory EPR, CSRD) and voluntary goals (Net Zero, plastic neutrality, supplier diversity).

EPR as a Catalyst for Alignment

New packaging and waste regulations are forcing brands and retailers to integrate data systems for packaging material, recyclability, and recovery performance.

What started as a compliance obligation has evolved into a strategic opportunity:

• Single source of truth: the same packaging data that satisfies EPR reporting can feed into ESG dashboards and become a strong starting point for further voluntary accounting and data gathering.
  
• Operational efficiency: centralized systems reduce duplication across retailer portals.
  
• Collective credibility: verified recovery and recyclability data strengthen brand and retailer claims.
  

When retailers collaborate on common EPR frameworks, they help standardize the backbone of ESG data — and make it easier for suppliers to participate.

Voluntary + Regulatory Convergence

Packaging sustainability doesn’t exist in silos — plastic waste, carbon emissions, and packaging policy are deeply intertwined. Most packaging materials are derived from fossil fuels, meaning every plastic reduction or design improvement also cuts upstream carbon emissions. At the same time, emerging policies like Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) are pushing brands to take greater accountability for both the environmental and climate impacts of their packaging choices. By thinking holistically — linking material design, waste recovery, emission reduction, and brand identity — companies can move beyond incremental change toward unified, systems-level progress that aligns with the global shift to circular, low-carbon packaging.

Climate, packaging, and ESG frameworks are merging. The same data points can become the building blocks that power:

• Carbon targets (SBTi / Scopes 1–3)
  
• Packaging EPR reports
  
• GRI and CSRD disclosures
  
• Retailer scorecards and supplier assessments
  

Building a unified ESG data model allows companies to meet multiple obligations from one verified system — reducing administrative load and improving accuracy.

Retailers as Data Connectors: Turning Collection into Collaboration

Retailers today sit at the center of the sustainability data ecosystem. Retailer requirements increasingly determine how sustainability information is collected, validated, and shared — but this position also gives them a powerful opportunity to lead.

Retailers can act as connectors, bringing together suppliers, distributors, and verification partners.

The opportunity:

• Develop shared packaging data standards for compliance and ESG.
  
• Adopt interoperable systems that automatically sync brand-submitted data.
  
• Support smaller suppliers and brands through pre-competitive collaboration and simplified education tools and reporting templates.
  

Importantly, retailers have a vital role to play in educating suppliers and brands - by pointing them toward the right tools, training resources, and compliance support. This not only lifts the entire ecosystem but ensures equitable access to sustainability knowledge. 

To this end, rePurpose is proud to be a founding partner of the Packaging Action Network. 

The Packaging Action Network (PAN) is a pre-competitive collaboration empowering CPG brands with the tools to turn sustainability goals into measurable packaging impact. Led by Naturally Network, UNFI, rePurpose Global, Planet FWD, Thrive Market, and Grove Collaborative, PAN unites brands, retailers, and distributors to harmonize efforts, share data-driven insights, and reward real, measurable sustainability action. 

Through webinars, action-oriented toolkits, preferred vendor recommendations, and opportunities for education, collaboration, implementation, and measurement, PAN helps the industry accelerate progress toward circular packaging systems and meaningful climate action. You can learn more about PAN here. 

How Retailers Benefit: Supplier Action Drives Retail ESG Results

Retailers’ own ESG targets are deeply dependent on supplier performance. Scope 3 emissions, packaging recovery rates, and recyclability metrics are determined by what brands produce and report.

By making it easier for brands to measure and disclose data through standardized systems or shared tools, retailers directly improve the credibility and completeness of their own ESG disclosures.

Reducing friction for supplier action isn’t just good partnership; it’s a strategic necessity for accurate Scope 3 measurement and credible Net Zero progress.

Technology and Traceability: The New Backbone of ESG Data

Digital infrastructure is the foundation of harmonization — and rePurpose Global’s technology ecosystem is helping make it real.

The rePurpose Packaging Platform

The rePurpose Packaging Compliance and Sustainability Platform is a shared packaging database designed to help brands and retailers collect, verify, and act on their packaging data.

It connects regulatory compliance, packaging redesign, and beyond-value-chain ESG investments like plastic recovery — all from the same source of truth.

Different teams across organizations — sustainability, procurement, and design — can now use one integrated system to:

• Generate EPR-ready reports automatically.
  
• Identify non-recyclable materials for redesign.
  
• Allocate investments into verified recovery projects that mitigate their packaging footprint.
  

This creates a closed-loop data flow where every compliance action also informs ESG progress.

reTrace: Verified Impact at the Kilogram Level

For downstream traceability, reTrace, rePurpose Global’s proprietary tracking technology, validates what happens to every kilogram of plastic recovered across the organization’s global impact network.

Each recovered unit is linked to a specific funder or brand partner, ensuring a clear chain of custody and transparent proof of impact — from waste collection to verified reuse or recycling.

Together, the rePurpose Platform and reTrace form a unified technology stack for circular economy data management — connecting packaging inputs with verified recovery outputs.

Key Takeaways

• Harmonization across retailers is essential for scalable ESG progress. You can read more about my thoughts on integration across the Circular Economy here [link to The Economist blog article].
  
• EPR regulation and AI powered software tools are driving a new era of data integration across the value chain.
  
• rePurpose Global’s Packaging Platform and reTrace technology connect packaging data, compliance, and verified recovery.
  
• Retailers can reduce friction, empower suppliers, and improve their own ESG reporting through collaboration and education.
  
• The Packaging Action Network provides a shared forum to make this harmonization happen.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does ESG data harmonization mean?

It’s the process of aligning sustainability metrics and reporting standards across multiple stakeholders (such as regulators, retailers and suppliers) so that data can be compared, reused, and verified easily.

How can EPR help ESG harmonization?

EPR laws require standardized packaging and recovery data. Voluntary disclosure requirements from retailers and other pre-competitive coalitions can use that same verified dataset for their ESG and circularity reporting.

What role does rePurpose Global’s technology play?

The rePurpose Packaging Platform centralizes packaging compliance and sustainability data, offering the circular economy one single source of truth that can be interoperable across various reporting needs. This shared packaging database empowers cross-functional teams to turn one source of data into many forms of impact — from meeting packaging compliance requirements across 45+ regulations including EPR, to driving design innovation that supports new ecomodulation policies, to funding verified plastic recovery projects for beyond value chain initiatives.

Why is data interoperability important?

Interoperability allows systems to exchange data automatically, reducing manual input errors and making compliance scalable. Importantly, it reduces the burden on individual companies to optimize and adapt data for different regulatory and voluntary reporting requirements. 

How can retailers participate in harmonization efforts?

We invite retailers to join the Packaging Action Network, collaborate on shared data standards, and provide education resources to suppliers to align reporting and accelerate action.