Ecodesign: Avoiding Emissions Starting From the Product Design Phase
Learn how to anticipate emissions in the early stages of product development.
What if product's emissions could be avoided from the start by improving their environmental performance?
The answer is YES they CAN be avoided, or at least considerably reduced if products are "designed for the environment" through implementing principles of what we call "Ecodesign".
Ecodesign has emerged as the promising approach that integrates environmental concerns into the product's development. Its aim is to minimize the environmental impacts of a product throughout its life cycle, without compromising other essential criteria such as performance and cost (Pigosso et al. 2013). It is a systemic vision that goes from the enhancement of a product to the innovation of a system (so-called "eco-innovation") (Avnir, 2018).
So what exactly does ecodesign prescribe?
In accordance with the principles of Circular Economy ("CE"), the Delft university summarizes the principles of eco-design, also called "Design for the Environment" ("DfE") as the following:
- Designing for Maintainability/Repairability
- Designing for Recoverability/Recyclability
- Designing for Flexibility
- Designing for Reuse
- Designing for Disassembly
- Designing for Energy Efficiency
- Packaging Minimization
- Life Cycle Thinking
- Material Safety
- Green Chemistry, among others.
Additionally, it is specified that typical DfE criteria account for hazardous materials, resource efficient production, packaging and end-of-life planning. Moreover, it is crucial that the adopted DfE criteria should align with material environmental issues and businesses' corporate sustainability targets. Nevertheless, this can only be put in place if sufficient regulatory support is given to producers to make use of financial aid, tools and intelligence for eco-designing.
What is the stand on ecodesign?
Policies and regulations are finally grasping the urgency of shifting from conventional product design to designing for the environment. As an example, the EU has announced that: "On 30 March 2022, the Commission proposed a new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation for more environmentally sustainable and circular products. It was published together with the Ecodesign and energy labelling working plan 2022-2024, which covers new energy-related products and updates and increases the ambition for products that are already regulated, as a transitionary measure until the new regulation enters into force." (European Commission, 2022).
This paves the way to the dissemination of eco-designing practices in the EU. Even if only partially implemented, it already can lead to great environmental improvements without leading to a decrease in sales. Common successful examples of products being designed this way are 1. the Fairphone, a durable smartphone designed for maintainability/repairability, recoverability/recyclability, reuse and disassembly; 2. clothing from the brand Patagonia, which also are partly designed according to life cycle thinking for maintainability/repairability, recoverability/recyclability and reuse.
As more and more companies are integrating ecodesign principles in their product design activities and policies are published to accelerate the trend, considering DfE becomes vital for companies who want to stay in the loop and thus, maintain competitiveness. Here are some easy-to-implement recommendations complementary to the ecodesign approach that can serve as a starting point for companies thinking of taking the leap:
- The procurement department should favor biodegradable, compostable, recycled, reusable and renewable resources.
- The production and manufacturing departments should favor refurbishing, remanufacturing and resource efficiency.
- The waste management department should favor cascading, composting, disassembling, recycling and repurposing waste.
Last but not least, ecodesign brings many benefits to businesses who choose to implement it (besides the improvement of the environmental impact of a company's activities) such as, for example, compliance with upcoming laws, economic benefits (increased competitiveness, cost reductions, attracting investments,...), reduction in liability, identification of potential risks (i.e. resource scarcity), improves public image etc. (ISO 14006, 2020).
The ideal combination
Producers face a challenge that will soon cost them considerable amounts of time, investments and create risks if left untackled: reduce all the emissions related to the companies' activities drastically. As the worldwide consumption of goods is not foreseen to decrease but rather increase, it becomes obvious that urgent rethinking and action are necessary to keep carbon footprints low.
Luckily, there are numerous options out there to start tackling emissions embedded in the entire supply chain, such as designing for the environment or calculating an accurate product carbon footprint ("PCF").
As explained previously, ecodesign needs to take place in the preliminary stage of product development. Adopting this approach accompanied by a climate strategy and science-based emission targets can truly be beneficial to companies and their environment. Nevertheless, the PCF appears to be a tool better suited to already established and marketed products than ecodesign, as it helps reveal existing CO2 hotspots and optimization levers related to the product.
We therefore recommend businesses and manufacturers to combine the ecodesign approach with an appropriate climate strategy and regular PCF calculations supported by up-to-date data for emission-reduction oriented results.
Related to this topic: "The Importance of Accurate CO2 Information", "A Meaningful Approach to CO2 Reporting for Manufacturing Companies", "5 Reasons Why Producing Companies Should Measure Their PCF"
Sources
[Avnir] (2018). Les normes d’écoconception: Pour une transition de nos moyens de production et consommation. Plateforme [avniR] by cd2e. Access: https://www.avnir.org/documentation/actus/Article_norme_et_ecoconception.pdf
European Commission (2022). About the energy label and ecodesign. Access:
International Organization for Standardization (2020). ISO 14006:2020 - Environmental management systems — Guidelines for incorporating ecodesign. Access: https://www.iso.org/standard/72644.html
Pigosso, D. C. A., Rozenfeld, H., & McAloone, T. C. (2013). Ecodesign maturity model: a management framework to support ecodesign implementation into manufacturing companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 59, 160–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.06.040
wbcsd (2018). Design for the environment (eco-design). Circular Economy - Practictioner Guide. Access: https://www.ceguide.org/Strategies-and-examples/Design/Eco-design
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