Given the range and scale of sustainability challenges the planet is facing, new ways of thinking about products and business models are needed if we want to Re:Design Tomorrow.
We are facing a range of long-term sustainability crises across the globe, and addressing these will require radically new ways of thinking. For context, let’s start with the bad news:
- 2024 was the hottest year on record.
- There has been a 70 percent decline in animal populations since the 1970s.
- Ninety percent of the earth’s topsoil will be at risk by 2050.
- Natural resource consumption is expected to increase by 60 percent by 2060.
On current trends this is unlikely to change, but what can drive a change is a combination of factors: changing public opinion, a policy shift, and markets to provide practical solutions to these challenges, which is the focus of this article. In the words of Colin Mayer, the professor of management at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, “The purpose of the business is to produce profitable solutions to the problems of people and planet, not profiting from producing problems.”
This might seem like a challenge, but it is in fact a huge opportunity: the opportunity to reinvent, redefine, and redesign the products and services that enable capitalism to thrive, to create financial value while solving global challenges and lead the transition to a sustainable future.
Design can unlock sustainable value
Design is arguably the most important aspect to capture the sustainability opportunity as a staggering 80 percent of a product's environmental impact is influenced by decisions made at the design stage. How a product is manufactured, what raw materials it uses, where these raw materials are sourced, how the product is used, and how/whether it is disposed are all design decisions.
Sustainable design can take many forms, and it is not just about the design of the product.
- Product-to-service business models - Instead of selling a product to the consumer, the producer sells the service associated with that product. Ownership typically remains with the producer or an agent, which means the product can be offered as a service multiple times. Local car rental schemes such as ZipCar maximize the efficient use of a single car, thus reducing the number of cars required to meet that city's transportation needs.
- Dematerialization - By reducing the size, weight, and number of materials used to make a product, the environmental footprint of that product can be significantly reduced. For instance, Amazon's automated packing technology helps the company reduce packaging material across Europe as machines pack each individual item with a minimal amount of required packaging.
- Longevity - By choosing materials that are durable, and don't lose value over time, or by making it easier to replace the components of a product, the life cycle of the product can be extended. Patek Philippe's Generations Campaign is a prime example of this: "You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely take care of it for the next generation."
- Reusability - When a product has reached the end of its useful life, it can be reused for other purposes, serving a second or even third life. For instance, approximately 25% of construction materials can be reused (and 70% recycled) if the infrastructure is in place to support this.
- Repairability - Ensuring that a product can easily be repaired will extend the life of that product resulting in a reduced environmental footprint. For instance, FairPhone has created a modular phone where the battery, display, camera, speaker, and earpiece can all be replaced at home.
- Recyclability - Designing a product so it can be easily taken apart and its parts reused or recycled reduces the need for virgin raw materials. Note that once you get to recycling, much of the value in the original product has already been lost, so this is the least impactful and effective sustainable design type.
These different types of sustainable design have the potential to change entire industries and consumption patterns, but only if they reach scale. Mainstreaming sustainable design will not happen as a matter of course and there is still a very long way to go to get us there, but the good news is that we are already on our way. Take for instance the example of Volvo Cars, which has committed to becoming a circular business by 2040 and in 2022 saved more than 4,800 tons of CO2 by remanufacturing more than 33,000 parts, including engines, gearboxes, turbo compressors, and clutches. These parts use around 85 percent less raw material and around 80 percent less energy.
Microsoft, recognizing the significant footprint of an AI-led economy, has committed by 2030 to becoming zero waste, carbon negative, water positive, and protecting more land than they use. To date they have already achieved a reuse and recycling rate of more than 90 percent for servers and components and developed a data center that consumes zero water for cooling.
How to embed sustainable design into your organization
In order to fully capture the sustainability design opportunity, companies need to embrace a new mindset by embedding the following principles:
- Use a systems thinking approach to identify the main environmental footprints across the life cycle of a product or service, from raw materials to production, use, and disposal.
- Prioritize those product and service lines where the footprint is the greatest and thus threatens the commercial viability of that product.
- Integrate sustainability principles into the design process for new and existing products.
- Enable an open and collaborative environment where new design thinking is valued.
- Test new ideas with key internal and external stakeholders.
- Make the business case for action clear in order to get internal buy-in and attract capital.
The path to a sustainable and profitable future will not be paved with yesterday’s thinking. And the window for incremental change has closed. If sustainability isn’t built into the product from the start, it becomes a liability later. Design is our most powerful lever—shaping not only the products we create but the systems we live within. Businesses that embrace sustainable design now will be the ones that thrive in the next economy: resilient, relevant, and responsible. The true cost of design is paid over a product’s lifetime. The opportunity is clear, the tools are within reach, and the future is waiting to be designed. The only question that remains is: Will we seize it?
This article is part of Kearney’s thought leadership series, Re:Design Tomorrow.
Join the conversation on sustainable design with global sustainability leaders at The Future of Product, hosted alongside the World Design Congress on September 9 at the iconic Barbican Centre in London.
Register your interest here.
