Sustainable Product Design – A Must for All, an Opportunity for the Boldest

Sometimes, you start to feel a bit hopeless. I work in product design, where the goal is often to create new and better-selling products. How sustainable are we when we create more for us to consume?

Luckily for us, product design is the moment when sustainable choices are made. After all, sustainable product design begins even before the first idea for a product.

Every product should be justified from the perspective of sustainability: What challenge does the product address? Does the product solve the problem sustainably, or does it create a new one? Is the product genuinely necessary and sustainable, or does it only respond to a brief trend? Could the product be turned into a service, thereby reducing the need for physical products and their environmental impact?

Sustainability Is on Everyone’s Agenda

Recent large-scale crises have affected companies’ profitability and investment opportunities. There is a willingness for more sustainable product design, but uncertain conditions have tightened budgets.

Hands up, in whose company has the green transition and sustainability been included in the strategy?

Sustainable choices are essential, as minimizing environmental impact is more important than ever. At the same time, eco-friendly product design is also an opportunity that only the boldest dare to take. The values of the company’s management strongly influence on how concretely sustainability is put into practice and how much budget is allocated to sustainable product design.

EU Sets Strict Standards

The necessary green transition will be supported at both national and parliamentary levels. Finland, for example, supports companies with open funding calls.

The EU, on the other hand, is boosting product design’s sustainability with a new regulation that entered into force in the summer of 2024. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) enters into force directly in all Member States, bypassing national legislation. In other words, sustainable product design is mandatory in the EU.

In summary, the ESPR tightens sustainability requirements, obliging almost all physical products and their components throughout their life cycle. In addition, ESPR introduces a digital product passport (DPP) that aims to facilitate recycling and repair, and help consumers choose more environmentally friendly and sustainable products.

ESPR’s predecessor, the Ecodesign Directive, mainly addressed energy-related products and their energy efficiency. A new regulation was needed because, according to the EU, product design as it stood was not sufficiently sustainable.

Sustainability Is the Growth Force of the Future

An age-old wisdom still applies – well planned is half done. It is high time to plan tomorrow’s products sustainably because the future is made now. The ESPR provides a framework for taking sustainability requirements into account throughout the product design life cycle.

Sustainable product design offers a significant competitive advantage in the markets of the future. It doesn’t just mean creating new products, but considering their longevity, repairability and modularity from the start. Our job as product designers is not just to design, but to create solutions that are both sustainable and meaningful – for both the environment and business.

If you want to turn sustainable product design from necessity to opportunity, please contact me.

Jenni Tähtinen

+358 50 5697 660