{"id":31858,"date":"2024-01-22T17:32:17","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T16:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/?p=31858"},"modified":"2024-01-22T17:15:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T16:15:21","slug":"what-is-sustainable-product-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-design\/what-is-sustainable-product-design\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Sustainable Product Design?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cClimate change is a major threat to my country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The decade from 2013 to 2022 saw a huge increase in the number of people around the world who agreed with this statement, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/global\/2022\/08\/31\/climate-change-remains-top-global-threat-across-19-country-survey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">data from the Pew Research Center<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A consequence of this global trend of environmental awareness is that the concept of sustainability has received more and more attention, particularly around sustainable product design.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But what exactly is sustainable product design, and what are the principles a designer should know?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ve written this guide to sustainable product design to answer these questions and more.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#what-is-sustainable-product-design\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is sustainable product design?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#sustainable-product-design-practices\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">7 sustainable product design practices<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#sustainable-product-design-examples\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sustainable product design examples<\/span><\/a>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#fairphone\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example 1: Fairphone<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#on-running\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example 2: On Running<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#volvo\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example 3: Volvo Cars<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#why-is-sustainable-product-design-important\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is sustainable product design so important?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#why-are-corporations\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why are corporations moving to sustainable product design?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#final-thoughts\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Final thoughts<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2 id=\"what-is-sustainable-product-design\"><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">What is sustainable product design?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sustainable product design is forward-thinking and has a long-term perspective at its core. The primary goal of sustainable <a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/ux-design\/what-is-product-design\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">product design<\/a> is to have a positive impact on people, the planet, and profits. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To achieve this, sustainable product design has to incorporate three potential impact areas:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Environmental impact<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Social impact<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Economic impact<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.capgemini.com\/insights\/research-library\/sustainable-product-design\/\" rel=\"noopener\">The Capgemini Research Institute<\/a> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">defines sustainable design \u201cmaximizing environmental, social, and economic benefits over a system\u2019s lifecycle, while minimizing associated social and environmental costs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_31864\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31864\" style=\"width: 515px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31864 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-22-at-16.22.07.png\" alt=\"A venn diagram showing the three impacts of sustainable product design: environmental, social, and economic.\" width=\"515\" height=\"460\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-22-at-16.22.07.png 515w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-22-at-16.22.07-300x268.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 515px) 100vw, 515px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31864\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/prod.ucwe.capgemini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/CRI_Sustainability-By-Design_FINAL_WEB.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">Capgemini Research Institute\u2019s report: Why sustainable product design is the need of the hour\u00a0<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a useful visualization as it represents the three impacts that sustainable product design has to balance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But these three concepts don\u2019t just have to be viewed just as the <strong>impacts<\/strong> of sustainable product design\u2014<strong>they can also be viewed as the driving forces behind it<\/strong>. There are now strong environmental, social, and economic pressures on many global corporations to design products that are sustainable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now let\u2019s look at the actual practices that make up sustainable product design.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"sustainable-product-design-practices\">7 sustainable product design practices<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the terms and their nuances can vary significantly by industry and region, there are several broad practices that are applicable in most industries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are seven of the most important sustainable product design practices\u2014terms every product designer should know:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>1. Circularity, circular economy, or circular design thinking<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This practice can have slightly different meanings in different contexts, but it\u2019s essentially about designing products for <strong>durability, reuse, recycling, and repairability<\/strong> (sometimes through <strong>modularity<\/strong>, which allows customers to easily repair or replace a single components instead of replacing the whole product). It also includes designing for disassembly and end-life-collection. All of this serves the purpose of maximizing resources. It\u2019s the opposite of a linear economy, where you use a raw material, build a product, use it, and then throw it out as waste.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>2. Dematerialization<\/h3>\n<p>D<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ematerialization is the practice of using fewer materials in both the product and packaging. Lightweight products take less resources to produce, less energy to operate, and are easier to transport. All of this helps with sustainability.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>3. Product efficiency<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This refers to designing products which use the minimum possible amount of energy. This includes designing for both energy consumption efficiency\u2014this is the best way to reduce carbon footprint during use, which is when most emissions occur\u2014and material consumption efficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>4. Next-best materials selection<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Material selection is a huge component of how sustainable or unsustainable any product is. Next-best material selection refers to selection of materials that minimize their product\u2019s environmental impact, without reducing functionality. This includes options like biodegradable, recycled, recyclable, or lightweight materials. Next-best materials selection can also reduce a product\u2019s weight, which often reduces energy consumption.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>5. Green supply chain<\/h3>\n<p>Creating a green supply chain includes selecting materials, parts, and components that reduce the environmental impact of logistics and products. Corporations can also design products that are compatible with simple, low-energy logistics, and move towards more frugal processes and operations.<\/p>\n<h3>6. Regenerative approach<\/h3>\n<p>Probably one of the more niche sustainable product design best practices, a regenerative approach is one where corporations create products that renew or replenish systems, instead of depleting them. One example of this is using materials that sequester carbon from the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<h3>7. Systems thinking<\/h3>\n<p>This approach fosters sustainability by looking beyond isolated design problems and considering the broader system in which the product exists. Doing this during the design phase is a way to consider a product\u2019s social and environmental impacts across its entire lifecycle.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"sustainable-product-design-examples\"><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">Sustainable product design examples<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve covered a lot of the theoretical ground so far, now let\u2019s take a look at three examples of sustainable product design at corporations.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"fairphone\">Example 1: Fairphone<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fairphone is a Dutch company established in 2013 that designs and manufactures smartphones and headphones. Fairphone describes their mission as \u201cworking step by step to bring sustainability and fair labor practices into focus in the electronics industry\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their latest offering, the Fairphone 5, contains more than 70% fair and recycled materials. They have also taken steps to create supply chain transparency, openly sharing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairphone.com\/en\/impact\/source-map-transparency\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that information on their website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31867\" src=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/fairphone.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of Fairphone&#039;s website showing the inner contents of the phone.\" width=\"860\" height=\"587\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/fairphone.jpg 860w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/fairphone-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/fairphone-768x524.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 860px) 100vw, 860px\" \/>They\u2019re focused on designing and building phones from responsibly sourced materials, and making them both long-lasting as well as easy to repair and recycle. As part of their mission to put people and the environment first, they\u2019re also committed to human rights and worker wellbeing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They\u2019ve been awarded a platinum Ecovadis medal for being in the top 1% of sustainable companies in their industry. They\u2019re also the only smartphone company that has been Fairtrade gold certified because of their use of responsibly sourced materials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can see some hallmarks of the sustainable product design practice of circularity in Fairphones:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Modular design<\/strong>, which means customers can often easily replace or repair a single component by themselves\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Built to be durable and long-lasting<\/strong>\u2014the company offers a five year guarantee on the Fairphone 5 and it will be supported for 10 years\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interestingly, one of Fairphone&#8217;s founders, Bas van Abel, has admitted that it\u2019s not possible to produce a 100% fair phone, instead saying describing their phones as \u201cfairer\u201d might be more accurate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"on-running\">Example 2: On<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Impressively, Swiss sports-shoe company On has developed a fully recyclable shoe made from bio-based synthetic materials. And instead of a conventional sales model, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on-running.com\/en-at\/stories\/cyclon-or-how-our-subscription-service-works\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On has created a subscription model called Cyclon<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which offers their customers \u201cfully recyclable running shoes\u201d. It lets them send their shoes back to the manufacturer for disassembly after 6 months (or longer)\u2014they\u2019ll then receive a new pair in return. All for free (though On is a premium brand). But what does On do with the old pair? They \u201cwash and grind down the materials\u201d until they\u2019re \u201cready to be transformed into new components\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_31868\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31868\" style=\"width: 853px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31868 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/on-running.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph of On Running&#039;s Cyclon shoe.\" width=\"853\" height=\"427\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/on-running.jpg 853w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/on-running-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/on-running-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 853px) 100vw, 853px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31868\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on-running.com\/en-at\/stories\/cyclon-or-how-our-subscription-service-works\" rel=\"noopener\">On Running Cyclon<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But what does On do with the old pair? They \u201cwash and grind down the materials\u201d until they\u2019re \u201cready to be transformed into new components\u201d.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"volvo\">Example 3: Volvo Cars<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our third example of sustainable product design is Volvo Cars. I\u2019ve chosen them because they\u2019re a huge global corporation operating in an industry that is probably as central to the climate crisis than any other: car manufacturing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Volvo has lofty ambitions for sustainability, and it remains to be seen which of them they can achieve. But credit where it\u2019s due\u2014they\u2019ve already made solid progress on some fronts by following sustainable product design practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2022, they saved over 4,800 tons of CO2 by remanufacturing more than 33,000 parts, including engines, gearboxes, turbo compressors, and clutches. These parts use around 85% less raw material and around 80% less energy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_31869\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31869\" style=\"width: 851px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31869\" src=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/volvo-cars.jpg\" alt=\"A screenshot from Volvo Cars&#039; website showing their ambition to be a circular business by 2040.\" width=\"851\" height=\"487\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/volvo-cars.jpg 851w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/volvo-cars-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/volvo-cars-768x440.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 851px) 100vw, 851px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31869\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.volvocars.com\/intl\/v\/sustainability\/circular-economy\" rel=\"noopener\">Volvo Cars Sustainability Page<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.volvocars.com\/intl\/v\/sustainability\/circular-economy\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Volvo has publicly committed to becoming a circular business by 2040<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They\u2019re determined to eliminate waste, make greater use of recycled material, and remanufacturing and reusing parts. They\u2019re now bringing considerations about their vehicles\u2019 entire life-cycles into the design stage and figuring out how \u201cthe disassembly and recycling process can provide high quality and quantity raw materials\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"why-is-sustainable-product-design-important\"><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">Why is sustainable product design so important?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Achieving both sustainability and net-zero emissions are crucial factors if we are to halt\u2014and eventually reverse\u2014the climate disaster we\u2019re watching unfold.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With half of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 90% of biodiversity loss being attributed to extraction and processing of primary raw materials, any sustainable product design that results in dematerialization can make direct and immediate impact.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The global environmental argument is as simple as it is irrefutable. But, while this may be true, why would any individual corporation feel compelled to move sustainable product design?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ll try to answer that question now.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"why-are-corporations\">Why are corporations moving to sustainable product design?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s worth being clear on the fact that <strong>many corporations aren\u2019t, in fact, engaging with sustainable product design in any kind of meaningful way.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In their report, the Capgemini Research Institute surveyed 900 senior product design and engineering executives from corporations across industries, including \u201cconsumer products, automotive, industrial manufacturing, aerospace and defense, high-tech, and medical devices\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their results show that the vast majority of the 900 corporations surveyed have not adopted any of the three sustainable design approaches they were asked about:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Systems thinking to foster sustainability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">12% of corporations are doing this<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">71% have plans to do this at some point<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">17% don\u2019t plan to do this or don\u2019t know<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Circular design thinking<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">17% of corporations are doing this<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">66% have plans to do this at some point<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">18% don\u2019t plan to do this or don\u2019t know<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Regenerative approaches<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10% of corporations are doing this<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">66% have plans to do this at some poin<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">24% don\u2019t plan to do this or don\u2019t know<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_31865\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31865\" style=\"width: 881px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31865 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-22-at-16.43.53.png\" alt=\"A bar graph showing the adoption of sustainable product design approaches in 2024.\" width=\"881\" height=\"442\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-22-at-16.43.53.png 881w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-22-at-16.43.53-300x151.png 300w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-22-at-16.43.53-768x385.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 881px) 100vw, 881px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31865\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/prod.ucwe.capgemini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/CRI_Sustainability-By-Design_FINAL_WEB.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">Capgemini Research Institute report<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Let\u2019s look at why some corporations are engaging with sustainable product design.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are several factors pushing companies to move to sustainable product design. Three of the largest factors are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Tightening regulations: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The EU, as well as many national governments, is pushing for and enacting regulations to increase sustainability. This includes initiatives like the use of recycled content in products or packaging, which the European Commission has proposed minimum targets for in EV batteries. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/commission.europa.eu\/strategy-and-policy\/priorities-2019-2024\/european-green-deal\/green-deal-industrial-plan\/net-zero-industry-act_en\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Net-Zero Industry Act<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is another initiative out of the EU, which was seen by many as a response to the U.S.\u2019s plan to plan to funnel $369 billion into their green tech industry as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Shifting customer preferences: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With as many as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ptc.com\/en\/blogs\/plm\/guide-to-sustainable-product-design\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">62% of consumers now saying they\u2019re willing to change their purchasing behavior<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to help reduce negative impacts on the environment, corporations that ignore their customers\u2019 values are in danger of being left behind. Not only is understanding what consumers value critical to economic success, corporations that look like they\u2019re ignoring the climate disaster are risking their brand. This applies doubly to those corporations whose target audience is younger, as recent research from Cardiff University in Wales has shown that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/news\/view\/2730843-millennials-and-gen-z-have-higher-rates-of-climate-worry\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Millennials and Gen-Z have higher rates of climate worry<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Pressure from investors: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the global trend towards sustainability has increased, corporations that are reliant on investors have started to feel pressure from them to embrace sustainable product design. Large hedge funds may be wary of brand damage by association if they invest their capital in corporations which don\u2019t seem concerned by the climate crisis. According to the Capgemini Research Institute report, <strong>75% of corporations who have implemented at least one sustainable product design strategy said they\u2019d seen an increased ability to attract capital.<\/strong> We\u2019ve now reached a point where investing in sustainable product design can actually help drive sales as well as attract investment.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that we\u2019ve explored why sustainable product design is important from both a global and corporate perspective, let\u2019s look at three examples of sustainable product design in action.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"final-thoughts\"><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">Final thoughts<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While sustainable product design is a huge priority for many corporations, even more have yet to put their plans into any real action. Even worse, a good chunk of them have no plans to do so at all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, with global awareness and acknowledgement of the climate crisis growing year on year, many of these companies will be under extreme pressure to become more sustainable from their customers, their investors, and tightening regulations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, with an estimated 80% of products\u2019 environmental impacts coming from decisions made at design stage, sustainable product design will become a business imperative for more and more corporations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>With awareness of the core principles of sustainable product design, one can start to go deeper into the applications for a particular industry or product.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Interested in product design? <a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/short-courses\/become-a-ux-designer\/\">Check out our free 5-day product design course<\/a><\/strong>, or read any of these related guides:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/ux-design\/universal-vs-inclusive-design\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Universal design vs. inclusive design: what&#8217;s the difference?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-design\/product-design-process\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The product design process, explained<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-design\/product-design-courses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10 of the best product design courses out there (free and paid)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/data-analytics\/sustainability-analyst\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to become a sustainability analyst<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sustainability is increasingly important, but what does it mean in the context of product design?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"yes","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-product-design"],"acf":{"homepage_category_featured":false},"modified_by":"Content Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31858"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31872,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31858\/revisions\/31872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}