Product Sustainability

What is Product Sustainability?

Product sustainability aims to minimize a product’s environmental and societal impacts through its design, sourcing, production, and lifecycle. Approximately 80% of a product’s carbon footprint is determined in the early design stages.

Manufacturers can achieve sustainable manufacturing with solutions like Design for Sustainability. It supports a more environmentally friendly product, reducing material and energy waste while lowering CO2. Not just the product itself but the product’s entire lifetime emissions must be evaluated for emissions, which are also determined in the early design stage. For example, although electric cars produce fewer emissions during use, they require additional carbon-intensive materials in the battery.

Another consideration is how product materials and production are sourced. A product truly isn’t sustainable if your suppliers are not. Additionally, some raw materials can actually contribute to a higher carbon footprint, such as cutting down natural or endangered woods and mining in areas that compromise the ecology. Moreover, the various ways suppliers and manufacturers produce parts or assemblies can drive up energy usage and material waste. Alternative materials and processes, such as additive manufacturing, can help reduce limited resources and high CO2 process dependencies.

What Should We Consider When Developing Sustainable Products?

Consider implementing the following when developing more sustainable products:

1. Resource Efficiency: Use recycled or recyclable materials to reduce waste and resource depletion.
2. Energy-Efficient Manufacturing Processes: Maximize low-impact, more energy-efficient manufacturing processes.
3. Waste Reduction: Analyze materials and processes to identify excessive waste. Explore alternative materials that require fewer production cycles or more efficient processes that require fewer materials.
4. Product Longevity and Durability: Optimize a product’s quality and value to ensure durability and longevity so that less landfill waste and energy are associated with product disposal.

Creating sustainable products is not a one-step process. It requires a holistic approach – from design and sourcing to production and delivery.

How Can We Avoid Greenwashing?

What can manufacturers do to ensure sustainability and substantiate their efforts? Traceability and transparency can address both. aPriori can help manufacturers achieve both and mitigate inadvertent greenwashing. Here are a few ways how:

aPriori’s four-stage sustainability maturity model integrates traceable green practices into manufacturing while balancing profitability and environmental impact. This framework guides manufacturers toward environmental stewardship using AI-powered design and sourcing insights as well as production choices. Equally important, it provides them with transparent and auditable reporting to meet compliance standards.

What Are Some Sustainability Requirements?

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) moved to stem high carbon emissions with the Paris Agreement. The UN provides businesses with a voluntary checklist and guidance for reducing CO2e.

Others, such as the European Union (EU) and, most recently, the Biden Administration, have followed. The EU put its Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive into effect in January 2023. They also enacted a carbon tax designed to level the playing field. The EU also introduced taxonomy, a classification system defining the criteria for economic activities aligned with net-zero goals by 2050 and environmental goals outside the climate change scope.

The Biden Administration has made various commitments and investments to cut greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 50% by 2030 and net zero by 2050. Recently, the administration introduced New Principles for High-Integrity Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs). Among the principles are that carbon credits and the activities generating them meet credible atmospheric integrity standards and reflect actual decarbonization. Several California sustainability regulations will be enforced in 2026.

What Are the Benefits of Product Sustainability? 

More sustainable products not only reduce our carbon footprint but improve our lives and those of future generations. Here are some compelling reasons to create more sustainable products:

1. Resource Efficiency: Less material and energy usage means fewer CO2
2. Reduced Energy Costs: Reduced energy usage means lower costs, including hidden carbon costs, and more savings.
3. Greater Consumer Trust and Loyalty: Studies have shown that consumers are willing to pay more if they know the product is sustainable. Companies that are not environmentally friendly lose consumer trust and loyalty.
4. Potential Financial Incentives: Regulators are beginning to impose penalties on companies that do not meet sustainability compliance. Other non-sustainable companies might miss investor opportunities if they do not meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.
5. Better Employee Morale: Additional studies indicate that a majority of prospective employees will choose a sustainable company over a non-sustainable one. Making a positive impact on society is a strong motivator for many workers.
6. Improved Product Innovation: By utilizing a sustainability insights solution, manufacturers can fine-tune products to be more sustainable. In the process, they often become more innovative in their processes and materials, providing even greater value for their products.