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Over 7 in 10 organizations which have implemented sustainable product design have seen elevated income progress, buyer satisfaction and worker engagement
But simply 22% of organizations have made sustainability a key element
of their product design methods
Paris, September 7, 2022 – Organizations should embed sustainability inside their product-design processes in the event that they are to fulfill internet zero targets, significantly these tied to scope 3 emissions1. According to the Capgemini Research Institute’s newest report, (*10*), 67% of organizations have seen a discount in carbon emissions as a result of implementation of sustainable product design methods, whereas 73% have seen an enchancment in income progress. The analysis factors to a essential must step-up motion: organizations can start by making sustainability a core strategic precedence for product design groups.
Design choices have a profound influence on the environmental and social penalties of merchandise. Some 80% of the environmental influence of merchandise might be attributed to choices made on the design stage2. Crucially, sustainable product design is a key lever that may assist organizations obtain the transition to internet zero. Product emissions3 can account for a significant share of organizations’ total emissions and sustainable design methods are very important to mitigate them. Yet simply 22% of organizations have made sustainability a major element of product design, and solely round 1 / 4 of organizations conduct common environmental-impact4 (26%) and social-impact5 (25%) assessments when creating new merchandise.
“In order to reach their carbon reduction targets and to deliver on overall sustainable development goals, organizations need to think beyond isolated design problems and consider the system as a whole, from the early stages of product design to selection of materials and end-of-life management. This necessitates a series of different approaches across the entire product lifecycle, including systems thinking, circular design thinking, and regenerative approaches,” stated Roshan Gya, Global Head of Intelligent Industry at Capgemini. “Organizations must also keep in mind that many sustainability initiatives are characterized by a short-term pain followed by long-term gain, such as up-front investments to avoid larger costs in the future.”
Regulatory strain is a prime motivator
The report discovered that the highest motivator for 61% of the organizations presently adopting sustainable product design practices or planning to take action in the long run is strain from regulators. With regulation set to tighten in the long run, together with round product life extension and recycled supplies used in merchandise and or packaging, companies that aren’t already implementing sustainable design should rethink in order to safeguard from the danger of future regulatory non-compliance.
Sustainable design doesn’t all the time result in elevated price
Sustainable design is usually considered too costly, and this notion represents a significant roadblock for implementation. However, Capgemini discovered that, throughout all sectors, 23% of companies which have implemented at the least one sustainable design technique have skilled a lower in prices, whereas 37% of organizations say prices have remained the identical.
Sustainable design practices present a large number of long-term advantages
According to the report, organizations should view investments in sustainable product design by way of a long-term lens. For many companies, these investments are already paying off; of these organizations that reported a rise in prices, 51% say it has been outweighed by a rise in advantages. Organizations have skilled elevated income progress (73%), improved buyer satisfaction (70%), and improved worker engagement (79%) alongside carbon emissions discount (67%).
Sustainable design additionally gives price discount alternatives throughout the worth chain by way of methods akin to “dematerialization” and “lightweighting”, which intention to scale back the quantity of supplies used inside a product. Other advantages embrace elevated manufacturing effectivity, as an example, by way of reducing vitality and water consumption and decreasing meeting time; and decrease transportation prices with optimized product and packaging design.
The report concludes by highlighting that to reap the advantages, companies should make sustainability a core design precedence and emphasize the necessity for programs change. Adopting a data-driven strategy is essential and organizations should assess product impacts holistically – measuring environmental and social impacts throughout the product lifecycle. They should additionally collaborate with stakeholders throughout the worth chain to collectively decide sustainable design choices, primarily based on influence and feasibility, and make investments in partnerships to construct new competencies. Investment can also be wanted in companies to facilitate product life extension and end-of-life administration, shut the loop of product and materials flows and be certain that merchandise are really sustainable all through their lifecycle. Additionally, advances in expertise are opening up quite a few alternatives for sustainable product design, and organizations should be certain that they make the most of expertise extra effectively and extensively to help their sustainable product design initiatives.
Methodology
The Capgemini Research Institute surveyed 900 senior product design and engineering executives from giant organizations throughout industries together with client merchandise, automotive, industrial manufacturing, aerospace and protection, high-tech, and medical units, in April-May 2022. 15 senior trade executives and lecturers had been additionally interviewed. In this report, the Capgemini Research Institute targeted on organizations that organizations that principally manufacture bodily merchandise. Some of those merchandise might incorporate software program parts or have accompanying apps. Therefore, sustainable product design methods for digital merchandise are additionally coated.
For extra data or to obtain the report, go to: https://www.capgemini.com/insights/research-library/sustainable-product-design/
About Capgemini
Capgemini is a world chief in partnering with firms to rework and handle their business by harnessing the ability of expertise. The Group is guided on a regular basis by its objective of unleashing human vitality by way of expertise for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a accountable and various group of over 350,000 group members in greater than 50 nations. With its robust 55-year heritage and deep trade experience, Capgemini is trusted by its shoppers to deal with the complete breadth of their business wants, from technique and design to operations, fueled by the quick evolving and modern world of cloud, information, AI, connectivity, software program, digital engineering and platforms. The Group reported in 2021 world revenues of €18 billion.
Get The Future You Want | www.capgemini.com
About the Capgemini Research Institute
The Capgemini Research Institute is Capgemini’s in-house think-tank on all issues digital. The Institute publishes analysis on the influence of digital applied sciences on giant conventional companies. The group attracts on the worldwide community of Capgemini specialists and works carefully with educational and expertise companions. The Institute has devoted analysis facilities in India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was not too long ago ranked #1 in the world for the standard of its analysis by impartial analysts.
Visit us at https://www.capgemini.com/researchinstitute/
1 Scope 3 emissions are all oblique emissions (not included in scope 2) that happen in the worth chain of the reporting firm, together with each upstream and downstream emissions. The Greenhouse gasoline protocol initiative. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/Product-Life-Cycle-Accounting-Reporting-Standard_041613.pdf
2 European Commission. (n.d.) “EU Science Hub.” Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-topic/sustainable-product-policy
3 Product emissions refers to emissions generated throughout a product’s lifecycle – i.e., throughout the phases of fabric acquisition and pre-processing, manufacturing, distribution and storage, use, and end-of-life therapy.
4 Environmental-impact assessments seek advice from Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) comprising an evaluation of all environmental impacts related to a product all through its lifecycle (e.g., carbon emissions, air pollution, waste, lack of biodiversity, soil erosion/degradation).
5 Social-impact assessments seek advice from an evaluation of all social impacts related to a product all through its lifecycle (e.g., compelled labor, unsafe working situations, discrimination primarily based on gender).
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