As the need to transition to a net zero carbon economy intensifies, many U.K. business are becoming engaged in sustainability strategies and are starting to plan their own journey to net zero. Unknowingly, many companies may be manufacturing and selling products that are highly carbon intensive in their manufacture, use or end of life disposal. These aspects of carbon emissions can often be overlooked or can seem daunting to address. Just as a great deal of a product’s costs are committed at the design stage, the same can be said of carbon intensity. Decisions made early in a product’s development cycle can have a huge impact on its carbon footprint.   

Design Matter, a product design consultancy at Nottingham Trent University have been working on a pilot programme to help Nottingham businesses understand the carbon intensity of their products, assisting them in making design changes and in some cases completely redesigning products in order to dramatically reduce carbon. 

This talk will introduce some of the tools Design Matter use to assess the carbon footprint of products and will present some examples of their design interventions undertaken to help reduce carbon emissions.