When discussing sustainability and sustainable development, it is important to understand the distinction between these two terms. Sustainability refers to the long-term maintenance of responsibility, and is environmental economic and socialAspects. Sustainable developmentIs focused on meeting the needs of the futureStill dollars focus on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

There are a variety of strategies that can be used to support sustainable development. All of these strategies share the approach of looking at the whole system surrounding the product or service. 

• Triple bottom line sustainability

• Decoupling: Disconnecting economic growth and environmental impact

• Sustainability reporting

• Product stewardship

The use of international national laws to promote sustainable development is another driver that designers and companies must consider when introducing product to market.

Resource

• Our common future, Chapter 2: Toward sustainable development; Report of the world commission on the environment and development

The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) is a framework that incorporates three measures: social, environmental, and financial. It is sometimes referred to as "The 3 P's" (people, planet, profit). 

TBL has become an important tool for measuring and supporting sustainability goals. 

Resources

• Article: The Triple Bottom Line: What Is It and How Does It Work?

• Life Cycle Analysis

Measuring and Calculating TBL

"The trick isn't defining TBL. The trick is measuring it."  Essentially, there is not a common, agreed upon method for calculating TBL. The two main strategies are:

• Monetizing the social, environmental and financial components. While this uses a common financial unit, it raises philosophical issues of placing a dollar-value on intangible things. What is the cost of an endangered species, an unemployed worker, or polluted stream?

• Indexing the value of TBL components. This allows for the comparison of different entities. In addition, indexes can be adjusted or designed for specific use-cases. The different LCA systems use different indexes with different weightings. 

Use of TBL

Interest in TBL has been growing in for-profit, non-profit, and governmental sectors  as a way to evaluate sustainability of systems, services, and products.

Businesses are interested in TBL because of its influence of sustainability on longterm profitability. TBL's focus on resource and energy reduction, health and safety of the workers and the environment, has a direct relationship to cutting costs and increasing profits. 

Business also see benefits of partnering with non-profit organizations who have goals aligned with social equity, environmental protection, and decreasing the wealth gap.

Governments and policy makers use the TBL framework to assess impacts of decisions and evaluate performance of a project or policy decision.

• Decoupling is a concept that describes an economy's ability to grow without harming the environment.

Decoupling is a concept that describes an economy's ability to grow without causing harm to the environment. Typically, when an economy grows, it puts more strain on the environment by using up resources like water and fossil fuels. However, if an economy can continue to grow while using fewer resources and not damaging the environment, then it is considered decoupled. This can be measured by looking at the pollutants released into the environment. By comparing the amount of pollution produced to the growth of the economy, we can determine the level of decoupling that has been achieved.

Some examples of different international laws are below. 

As an IB DT student, you do not need to know the details of each of these agreements - just that international laws and agreements can influence how companies and governments approach sustainability

Resources

• 2017 Coca-Cola Sustainability Report

• Nike Sustainability Reports

Product stewardship is a sustainable development strategy that emphasizes that everyone involved in the making selling buying or handling of a product takes responsibility for minimizing environmental impact at all stages in the design cycle / life cycle.    As product stewardship becomes more important to consumers, consumer pressure on companies means that designers need to take into consideration the environmental impact of their designs. 

Product stewardship can also be viewed as a shift of the placing responsibility of disposal of a product from the local governments and users, back to the manufacturers themselves.

Resources

• Northwest Product Stewardship Institute: Descriptions about some of the stewardship challenges for different products.

• 10 Principles for Product Stewardship, Greenbiz.com: summary of some of the sustainability strategies we have studied and how they are related to product stewardship.