For industry

Your company manufactures a product to sell it. The production process itself has an ecological, environmental and human impact, and so does the later use of the product. It is important to be aware of these impacts and to reflect on the purpose of these products and/or of their increased production.

Indeed, clothing, for example, is necessary to a good standard of living. Constantly promoting new collections to incite customers to buy more and stop wearing perfectly serviceable clothes is not. In fact, it contributes to ecosystem destruction and global warming.

Key questions and avenues to explore:

• What is the purpose of the product you help to produce and sell?
• How can we design it differently to make its ecological, environmental and human impact as low as possible? How can we reimagine its use to make it as low-impact as possible?
• If it really contributes to a good standard of living, is it necessary to push people to buy it? Would it be better for the planet to rent it out, to produce fewer of it and maximise its use? How would this impact the environment and biodiversity? How would this impact you company/organisation’s business model?
• Are you giving consumers all the necessary information regarding your product’s ecological and environmental footprint? Are you educating and training them to limit the product’s ecological impact during use? Do they have access to information and instructions on how to prolong and optimise the product’s lifespan? Do they have access to necessary spare parts?
• If the product does not truly contribute to a good standard of living on a sustainable planet, stop selling it. Sell fewer products, but make them higher quality, better for you, for everyone, for the planet and biodiversity.
• If your activity as a whole is not compatible with keeping global warming under the 2°C threshold, what skills could we redirect to positively impact life on Earth? You can call on the Alumni for the Planet community to help find promising ideas for your activity.