Sustainable design is about minimising negative impacts on the environment and society while optimising performance and well-being. It can therefore have a lot to do with competitiveness, hence the term used by some of ‘triple bottom line' referring to the three key pillars of sustainability: social; environmental; and economic
So what are the benefits of a sustainable approach to business?
Sometimes a more catchy term is used - 'people, planet, profit'. Satisfying the demands of this trinity is a bit of a balancing act, but at its best sustainable design should help companies design things which have less impact on the environment, reducing energy and material use, waste and related costs. It can also create a better working environment and corporate culture, by engaging employees and raising morale and productivity. For example, you might decide to change the lighting system in your facility to save on electricity, and then discover a quantum leap in labour productivity because people can see properly or suffer less from headaches.
Ideally too, sustainable design can trigger or enhance innovations that deliver better performance to customers. Sustainable design can begin with more easily achieved targets, such as waste minimisation; but it implies finding new ways to deliver customer satisfaction, either through a better-designed product (more efficient, longer lasting, easier to use or more appealing and so worth keeping), and/or through different business models (services, leasing, renting).
Ultimately, however, sustainable design is about designing problems out of the system in the first place, rather than solving them after they've been created. To do this means thinking about the context - social, environmental and economic - of the product, and considering the whole system in which you operate.
So called ‘activist shareholders’ are starting to buy shares in order to successfully compel companies to look at climate change or other sustainability issues. Mainstream investment funds are also starting to see a correlation between a company’s approach to sustainability and good risk management. Insurers are seeing rising pay-outs for disasters that they themselves often consider related to climate change, such as floods, forest fires, and hurricanes, and they are starting to bear a firm’s sustainability policy in mind when setting insurance premiums. Simply put, becoming more sustainable tends to be in line with better risk management and consequently reduced liabilities.
A growing number of firms have also committed themselves to reducing their carbon emissions, beyond regulatory requirements, and they have found that this saves them far more than it costs, since it tends to generate efficiencies. BP committed to reducing its internal emissions over a 12 year period yet they reached their target in three years and found that for a $20 million investment, they added $650 million of value to the firm.