The ESPR / GS1 / Incumbents Problem

Legacy Technology Choices Could Make the EU's Green Deal Fail

GS1 and EU tracing firms like the Aura Blockchain Consortium opted for JSON, JSON-RPC, and conventional database technologies—tools built for top-down control, even when deployed in decentralized systems.

In my view, these flat-data models are incompatible with current legislation and ethically problematic in the Global South. Only W3C’s JSON-LD linked data architecture supports the legislated Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM), enables climate impact tracing across diverse and informal supply chains, and remains flexible enough for emergent markets.

These structural transformations present brands with a binary choice. Brands built on open systems have challenges maintaining incumbent advantages, but they are also inherently more robust.

In the future, ethical practices may become more profitable than taking reputational risks. Brands that recognize this shift will build systems that simultaneously capture AI search sales rewards, together with operational automations that delight customers. Yesterday's playbook competes against an entirely different economic model. Now, openness drives profitability. Collaboration becomes the competitive moat.