Innovation for sustainability professionals

Design Thinking 101

Sustainability departments can feel detached from innovation functions in the business, especially when the focus is on ESG compliance, reporting, and managing environmental and social risks. And the focus has been on these aspects since the introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD for short), a regulation asking companies to integrate sustainability in strategy, policy, action plans and metrics and set goals.

So how do we focus on sustainable innovation? In this blog we introduce some key concepts that are helpful to know about.

What is Sustainable Innovation?

Sustainable innovation isn't just about recycling or using less plastic. It's about rethinking everything from how products are made to how their value is retained for as long as possible. From a social perspective, it can also be about creating products or services to better benefit users. The goal is to create solutions that last and adapt to future challenges.

The Role of Design Thinking

Design thinking is a powerful tool in achieving sustainable innovation. It's a method of problem-solving that focuses on understanding people's needs and creating solutions that address these needs effectively. Design thinking originated in the 1960s. Since then, the model has been further developed as an approach to finding innovative and creative solutions to various issues or problems. These solutions can consist of a product or service, a system, or a method.

Designing for people and for better

More recently, new concepts have been introduced to develop the discipline further: Human-Centered Design (HCD) and Systemic Design (SD, based in Systems Thinking). HCD prioritizes the needs, experiences, and emotions of the users, ensuring solutions are not only functional but meaningful. Placing people at the centre of the design process emerged in response to the fast technological developments toward the end of the 20th century.

There has also been critique to this design discipline, as focus is very often on creating products and services that match what people desire. Jet, what people desire is often not good for their health, for social institutions (think about how AirBnB has impacted big city housing markets) or for planet earth. And, with many product/service innovations still rooted in a strongly neoliberal system focused on fast growth, the negative impacts are clear.

Systemic Design takes a broader view, focusing on complex, interconnected systems. It integrates systems thinking to address challenges that involve multiple stakeholders and long-term implications, often applied in areas like sustainability and social innovation. Both approaches are important for creating sustainable, meaningul products and services.

Examples

Design Thinking has played a significant role in driving sustainability-focused innovations. Here are some notable examples:

1. Patagonia’s Worn Wear Program: Patagonia uses Design Thinking to promote sustainability through its Worn Wear initiative, encouraging customers to repair, reuse, and recycle their clothing. By focusing on the lifecycle of their products and consumer behavior, Patagonia has created a model for sustainable fashion.

   
   

2. The Ocean Cleanup: This project aims to tackle plastic pollution in the oceans. Using Design Thinking, the Ocean Cleanup team developed a passive system that uses the ocean's currents to collect plastic. Their user-centric approach, considering both environmental impact and scalability, has made significant progress in reducing plastic waste.

   
   

3. Fairphone: Fairphone, a social enterprise, uses Design Thinking to create smartphones that are modular, repairable, and made with ethically sourced materials. The company focuses on reducing electronic waste and improving working conditions in the supply chain, aiming for a more sustainable tech industry.

   
   

4. IKEA's Circular Economy Initiatives: IKEA has applied Design Thinking to develop sustainable product lines and solutions for a circular economy. Their "Circular Hub" focuses on reusing and recycling furniture, while their product designs incorporate renewable materials and the ability to be disassembled and repurposed.