Sustainability Now: 3 priorities for 2024

In sustainability people tend to over compartmentalize. They might say, “I work in renewable energy” or “I work in sustainable product design.” What’s missing from such statements is the notion that, in sustainability more so than elsewhere, everything is deeply intertwined. In sustainability, issues are rarely verticals, but rather they're horizontals that cut across many different verticals.

This realization encourages one to analyze and handle sustainability challenges through a systems approach. As I look at the year ahead, I can say with some confidence that it will be one of connecting different pieces of the sustainability puzzle and thinking more holistically to bring solutions forward.

At Dassault Systèmes, we see circularity, biodiversity and critical materials for example, as a few key pieces of that puzzle and hope to explore those and other topics more deeply over the next year.

The role of circularity

As I mentioned in a previous post, climate action requires a shift to circularity. A reminder: the circular economy is based on three principles: eliminate waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use longer, and regenerate natural systems. To tackle climate change, finite resources and pollution, manufacturing industries must focus on business models that meet these principles.

There are many ways to address this, and at Dassault Systèmes our Circularity in Action campaign draws together a multitude of text- and video-based resources that unpack the various elements of the circular economy, and help address the challenges. We approach this transformation across three pillars:

·?????? Materials: addressing issues such as optimizing materials by design, pioneering recyclable and biodegradable materials, and revamping chemical processes for material recovery

·?????? Product design: addressing issues such as eco-design, repair and disassembly, and waste reduction practices

·?????? Enterprise value network: addressing issues in specific contexts such as shipping, aviation and mining

Circularity is not just a piece of the puzzle, but connective tissue providing cohesion to the whole puzzle. Our portfolio offers a framework where circular practices can grow and thrive. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform gives companies a holistic, unified view of the value chain, while science-based virtual twins afford the opportunity to apply circular design principles at every step of product development.

The importance of biodiversity

In addition to circularity, an issue of critical importance in sustainability is biodiversity.

The United Nations calls biodiversity “our strongest natural defense against climate change” as our land and ocean ecosystems are effective absorbers of carbon emissions. However, our use of land and resources is driving biodiversity loss at an alarming and unsustainable rate. The WWF Living Planet Report shows that “global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average since 1970” and that this “staggering rate of decline is a severe warning that the rich biodiversity that sustains all life on our planet is in crisis, putting every species at risk – including us.”

Protecting, managing and indeed restoring these ecosystems – a circular economy of ecology, if you will – is crucial to protecting our planet and people. Put simply, for manufacturing industries in particular, we cannot separate biodiversity from circularity, and by consistently applying circular principles, manufacturing industries can either positively impact biodiversity or at a minimum limit its negative impacts. The Circularity in Action pillars of materials, product design, and the enterprise value network can offer a foundation upon which to build manufacturing that is more mindful of the biodiversity crisis. Further, virtual twin experiences can help imagine new bio-materials at the molecular level and design for resilience at the macro level of a city that’s striving toward circularity.

The rise of critical materials

As mentioned above, our Circularity in Action campaign highlights the importance of materials, but this vast area requires further more detailed discussion. Remember, circularity focuses on recycling, reusing and repurposing by design to optimize the use of materials (a process, by the way, that is made much easier by using Dassault Systèmes’ virtual twin tools).

This type of circular materials thinking is not just some nice-to-have, rather increasingly a requirement. Regulatory drivers can look different depending on the jurisdiction in which manufacturers operate; but in Europe, for example, a provisional agreement was recently reached for a new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation that will have circular materials at its core.

And it’s not just manufacturers who are thinking more mindfully about materials, but also those who extract those materials from the earth. Recently, the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) announced a partnership where its members—representing a third of the global industry—committed to a new framework for operations that ensure the protection of nature and biodiversity.

Indeed, there is a dual imperative here. In order to achieve world net zero targets, mining operations will need to ramp up their production to meet rising demand for critical materials – as much as 500% more by 2050 – and other commodities required for clean energy production. At the same time, we must aggressively work toward decarbonizing mining, refining and production processes.

Our strategy is to support this era of reinvention of mines and mining. Traditionally, mining’s impact on biodiversity has been a one-way relationship in which extraction, operations and transportation took from ecosystems. However, today there is opportunity for a more symbiotic relationship supported by digitalization and modelling scenarios that benefit everyone. Combining natural resource science for more sustainable mining practices with advanced materials science to improve materials’ design, Dassault Systèmes is uniquely positioned to help address the critical material challenges many industries face.

Looking ahead

So, as we have seen, there are many interlocking pieces of the sustainability puzzle that we need to understand as working together rather than in isolation. ?Circular practices to more positively impact biodiversity along with areas such as: green chemistry, biomimicry, carbon capture and storage, health and wellness, critical materials, and low carbon energy are all topics I hope to explore further though our network of influential partners and events in the coming months.? At Dassault Systèmes we continue to take a systems approach to sustainability helping deliver transformation to the industries we support, and I expect to see that approach take greater hold in 2024.?