4 Ways for Businesses to Consider the Planet in Every Product | Sustainable Brands (2024)

Sustainable product design is a business imperative. Here, we outline four waysfor companies to bridge the intention-action gap and future-proof their businessand supply chains through intentional design.

Sustainable product design is a critical lever for helping organizations achievetheir sustainability targets that is still overlooked by many: Our researchshows that, despite increasing awareness, only 22 percent of respondents in oursurveysay that sustainability is a key component of their product-design processes. Asthe need for radical climate action intensifies, organizations need to pay closeattention to product design — given that an estimated 80 percent of a product’senvironmentalimpactsare linked with decisions made at the design stage.

Product emissions can account for a major share of organizations’ overallemissions. More than two-thirds (67 percent) of organizations in our researchhave seen a reduction in carbon emissions due to the implementation ofsustainable product-design strategies.

For example, adopting circular designprinciples — which aim to keep materials at their highest valuefor as long as possible and recirculate materials toanother life after they are used — can help companies minimize their environmental footprint and alsoenhance resilience against evolving regulatory landscapes and market demands.

We define sustainable design as “maximizing environmental, social and economicbenefits over a system’s lifecycle while minimizing associated social andenvironmental costs.” This definition reflects the "triple-bottom-line”accounting framework — where the performance of a system is measured not only bythe profit it generates, but also by positive impact on people and the planet.

Against a backdrop of rising raw material scarcity driven by environmental andgeopolitical factors, organizations also need to reduce their reliance on virginmaterials and build supply chain resilience. Sustainable design strategies suchas using fewer materials and circular approaches — such as designing for productdurability, repairability, modularity, recyclability and recoverability — ensurethat products and materials can be kept in use for longer and decouple growthfrom the overconsumption of finite resources.

Furthermore, effective sustainable design is forward-thinking: It addressesfuture business risks, fosters innovative solutions and keeps pace withevolving consumer needs. It means staying vigilant for opportunities to developa point of difference in the market and lay the groundwork for long-termsuccess.

A sustainable supply chain is easier with the right partners

In 2022, the Capgemini Research Institutesurveyed900 senior product design and engineering executives from large organizationsacross industries including consumer products, automotive, industrialmanufacturing, aerospace and defense, high-tech and medical devices tounderstand how far organizations have progressed with embedding sustainabilityin their product design decisions, and how data and technology can enable thisprocess.

The survey found that many organizations do not collaborate adequately withexternal stakeholders such as suppliers, contract manufacturers, or distributionand retail partners as part of the product design process. Collaboration withsuppliers, for instance, is key to understanding the challenges associated withsourcing certain materials and identifying alternatives in light ofmanufacturing constraints.

Similarly, collaboration with distribution and retail partners is key tounderstanding and avoiding unintended consequences lower down the value chain(e.g., eliminating single-use types of product packaging, while moresustainable, may lead to more waste due to product damage or spoilage).

A holistic approach to ensuring that a product is sustainable across itslifecycle requires inputs from multiple internal and external stakeholders.Product design processes need to be closely integrated with the rest of anorganization’s value chain.

As Dr. JonathanChapman, Professor andDirector of Doctoral Studies at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design,explains: “Design-led systems change requires a strategic way of thinking abouta process, where you understand the complex nature of the problem space, andthen work with different stakeholders to develop a vision of a future that youwant to transition to.”

Organizations can build more sustainable products by collaborating withstakeholders across the value chain to jointly determine sustainable designdecisions, based on impact and feasibility, and invest in partnerships to buildnew competencies.

How to embrace sustainable product design

Capgemini has identified the following actions that organizations need to taketo design and deliver sustainable products:

• Make sustainability a core design priority and emphasize the need forsystems change — Define clear sustainability goals and objectives forproduct-design teams, establish clear accountability for sustainable productdesign, and develop guidelines and tools to help design teams evaluatetrade-offs and alternatives. Adopting a data-driven approach is critical.Organizations must measure environmental and social impacts across theproduct lifecycle to identify high-impact areas.

• Establish processes and partnerships across the product value chain —Collaboration with stakeholders across the value chain and between teams tojointly determine design decisions, based on impact and feasibility, iscritical to achieving sustainability. Organizations must set upcross-functional teams to accelerate sustainable product design. Also vitalis investment in partnerships to build new competencies, and in services toenable an overall shift in business models towardcircularity.

• Manage costs through re-evaluating concepts and taking a long-term view— A mindset shift is required to urgently advance sustainability progress.Consider adopting a True CostAccounting approach that assessesproduct costs holistically, including environmental and social costs.Further, when evaluating investments in sustainable product design,organizations must take a long-term view that considers benefits includingcost savings, reduced exposure to risks, increased revenues and improvedcustomer satisfaction.

• Harness technology to support sustainable product design efforts —Advances in technology are opening numerous opportunities for sustainableproduct design. Two major technological trends are driving this: First, themerging of physical and digital worlds — enabled by technologies such asIoT,AI/MLand digitaltwins— which allows for increased materialtraceability,and enhanced design and simulation capabilities. Second, advances in thefield of bio-innovation are enabling the discovery of biologically sourcedor inspiredalternativesfor scarce or unsustainable materials and carbon-intensive processes.

Organizations must elevate their use of technology and investments in researchand innovation and ensure that product design teams work closely with data anddigital experts. When investing in technology, organizations must also accountfor the emissions resulting from itsuse.

Toward a future of sustainable products and brands

By prioritizing sustainable and circular product-design principles,forward-thinking organizations can innovate to avoid future business risks,keep pace with evolving consumer priorities, differentiate themselves in the marketand lay the groundwork for long-term success.