What are the best sustainability metrics for your design goals?

1 Life cycle assessment

One of the most comprehensive and widely used sustainability metrics is life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is a method of evaluating the environmental impacts of a product, service, or system throughout its entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal or recycling. LCA can help you identify the hotspots of environmental impact, compare different design alternatives, and optimize your design for resource efficiency and circularity. To conduct an LCA, you need to define the scope, boundaries, and functional unit of your analysis, collect data on the inputs and outputs of each life cycle stage, and use software tools or databases to calculate the environmental indicators.

2 Triple bottom line

Another popular sustainability metric is the triple bottom line (TBL). TBL is a framework of measuring the performance of a product, service, or system in terms of its economic, social, and environmental impacts. TBL can help you balance the trade-offs and synergies among the three dimensions of sustainability, and align your design with the values and needs of your stakeholders. To use TBL, you need to define the indicators and metrics that reflect the economic, social, and environmental aspects of your design, collect data on the costs, benefits, and impacts of each indicator, and use methods such as scoring, weighting, or aggregation to evaluate the overall sustainability.

3 Sustainable Development Goals

A more recent and holistic sustainability metric is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs are a set of 17 global goals and 169 targets that aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. SDGs can help you connect your design with the broader context and challenges of sustainable development, and inspire you to create solutions that address the root causes and systemic issues of unsustainability. To use SDGs, you need to identify the goals and targets that are relevant and applicable to your design, collect data on the contribution and impact of your design on each goal and target, and use tools or frameworks such as the SDG Compass or the SDG Impact Assessment Tool to assess and communicate your sustainability performance.

4 Customized metrics

Sometimes, you may need to create your own sustainability metrics that are tailored to your specific design goals, context, and criteria. Customized metrics can help you capture the unique aspects and value propositions of your design, and differentiate your design from others in the market or sector. To create customized metrics, you need to define the purpose, scope, and audience of your metrics, identify the key sustainability issues and opportunities of your design, and develop indicators and methods that measure and communicate your sustainability outcomes.

5 How to choose and apply metrics

When designing for sustainability, there is no one-size-fits-all metric. Depending on design goals, context, and criteria, you may need to use different metrics or combine multiple metrics to get a comprehensive picture. To choose and apply metrics, consider the stage of your design process, availability and quality of data, and complexity and uncertainty of your design. Metrics such as LCA, TBL, and SDGs can help you compare and optimize design alternatives, communicate design value, and understand strengths and weaknesses. With the right metrics, you can improve design quality, impact, and innovation.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?