Research

The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is a central pillar of European and Dutch climate policy. As the Netherlands phases out purchase incentives, including the SEPP subsidy and tax exemptions, consumer willingness to pay (WTP) becomes a decisive factor for the continued diffusion of electric vehicles. This thesis investigates the factors that influence willingness to pay for electric vehicles in the Netherlands, focusing on the role of environmental concern, trust in sustainability claims, perceived economic benefits, and socio-demographic characteristics, with a sample drawn mainly from the southern provinces of Limburg and Noord-Brabant.

A structured online survey yielded 130 valid responses from eligible adult consumers. Willingness to pay was measured as a categorical price premium, as a multi-item attitudinal index, and as purchase consideration, and the hypotheses were tested with ordered logistic regression, supported by ordinary least squares and binary logistic specifications estimated in R. Environmental concern, trust, and perceived economic benefits were each positively and significantly associated with willingness to pay, and together explained 53 percent of the variance in the attitudinal index, whereas socio-demographic characteristics contributed no significant increment and explained 2.5 percent of the variance on their own.

The level of willingness to pay was nonetheless low: 28.5 percent of respondents would pay nothing extra for an electric version of their chosen car and 89.2 percent would pay at most 10 percent more, a premium of the same order as the fiscal support withdrawn. Disaggregating trust showed that trust in the technology predicts whether consumers consider an electric vehicle, while trust in sustainability claims predicts how large a premium they accept. The findings indicate that in a post-subsidy market consumer belief, rather than consumer characteristics, govern willingness to pay, and that the credibility of environmental claims and perceived resale value are the beliefs most in need of attention.

The European Union's Digital Product Passport (DPP) is emerging as a critical policy instrument to advance sustainability transparency across product lifecycles. However, significant structural barriers including data fragmentation, information asymmetry, and the absence of interoperability across supply chain systems continue to hinder its effective implementation. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been identified as a potential enabler of DPP ambitions, prior research has largely focused on technological design rather than empirical practitioner perspectives, leaving a gap in understanding how AI can be deployed in practice across organizational boundaries.

This study addresses that gap by asking: How can Artificial Intelligence enhance sustainability transparency in European supply chains within the framework of the Digital Product Passport? Using an exploratory qualitative research design, twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with supply chain professionals across nine industry sectors in Europe between January and March 2026. Data was analyzed through thematic analysis, triangulated with researcher-assigned quantitative proxies including Likert scales, sentiment scores, binary indicators, and keyword frequency analysis.

The findings reveal that while AI optimism is universal across participants, actual deployment remains superficial and dominated by generic generative AI tools rather than DPP-integrated applications. DPP awareness and readiness are critically low, and EU regulation is the sole adoption driver across all twelve participants. Greenwashing risk, a central rationale of the DPP regulation, is largely absent from practitioner discourse. The study concludes that AI can enhance sustainability transparency under the right conditions, but only when accompanied by investments in data governance, human oversight, and cross-industry collaboration.