Circular economy (CE) adoption in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is hampered by data scarcity. Material Passports (MPs) are crucial for bridging this gap. Despite recent momentum, remaining uncertainties and the lack of industry-wide consensus on MPs risk fragmented adoption. This article presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) following the PRISMA methodology. A total of 54 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters were screened from the Scopus database, of which 46 were included for in-depth analysis in April 2025. Among the included studies, 65% focused primarily on MPs, while 35% addressed MPs within the broader context of a CE. The analysis underscores the role of MPs in advancing a CE, although definitions and scopes vary among authors. Findings show a recent, heterogeneous, and rapidly growing research landscape, with limited synergies with existing construction datasets; significant implementation challenges, particularly for existing buildings; and potential for digital tools to address these challenges by improving cohesion, enabling dynamic updates, and enhancing interoperability. Theoretically, this article clarifies the relationships and gaps between MPs, Digital Product Passports, and Digital Building Logbooks. Practically, it highlights the need for cohesive adoption strategies, unified standards, stakeholder collaboration, clear responsibilities, and regulatory support to enable the large-scale adoption of MPs.
Ammari et al. (Fri,) studied this question.