What is Sustainable Innovation? Definition, Examples and Best Practices
What is Sustainable Innovation?
Sustainable innovation is the application of new ideas to create value while prioritizing benefits for both people and the planet.
Professor Rajesh Chandy, a Professor at the London Business School, breaks down Sustainable Innovation into its component parts.
What is Innovation? The application of a new idea to create value.
Sustainability? This involves creating value for people and the planet.
The world faces serious environmental, economic, and social challenges. It is the job of corporations, government, regulators, and individuals to meet the legitimate aspirations of the world’s population in a way that the earth and society can bear and that will also allow the planet and society to flourish. The UN’s Sustainability goals are broader and more ambitious than any one country or company. The complexity of the issues facing the world in 2025 are not solvable by a superficial fix, long term sustainable solutions are required, including collaboration and inclusion with local communities and harnessing the latest disruptive technologies.
Harnessing the Latest Technologies & Entrepreneurship to Drive Sustainability
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reports that, since 2020, approximately 420 million hectares of forest have been lost to deforestation. Global tree cover continues to reduce, contributing to an estimated 4.1 gigatons of annual carbon emissions. This has severe implications for climate change since trees play such a critical role, both as a carbon sink and as protection during climate disasters.
The London Business School, Columbia University, and Iowa State initiated a project to encourage communities to plant more trees to reduce the effects of deforestation in India. The female entrepreneurs at Dharma Life in Uttarakhand, India will sell saplings in villages using the latest technology. AI-created marketing content will be utilized and communicated via the WhatsApp messaging app as cell phone use is ubiquitous in India. The project will also employ the latest generative AI tools to transform the interventions into various communication forms like videos and localized images. A mobile app-based geo-tagged tracking mechanism will be used to monitor tree growth and survival rates. At the back end, all tree-related data will be recorded on a block chain infrastructure to ensure accurate tracking.
Corporations Leading Sustainable Innovation
Adidas
The German Sports and leisure giant applies Sustainable Innovation to developing new materials and technologies for its products. Adidas Future Craft Biofabric shoe is woven from synthetic spider silk and the DryDye Technology is used to dye polyester fabrics using compressed carbon dioxide to eliminate the use of water.
Global consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products and Adidas is taking advantage of this trend. Sustainability efforts also provide product differentiation advantages as well as cost benefits. Adidas is using their global sustainability strategy to build their brand and engage consumers.
Patagonia
This sports and outdoor brand not only focuses on developing innovative and low impact material for its products but it also provides education to consumers on the benefits of using the products longer. The company provides guidance to customers to repair and care for their garments to prolong the life of the product.
Patagonia has consistently used Sustainable Innovation strategies focusing on transparently communicating their sustainability practices and creating a core group of loyal customers.
Estée Lauder
The cosmetic company sends zero waste to landfills, and waste is either recycled or incinerated and converted to energy. Business Wire reports that Estée Lauder has long had a goal to improve the lives of millions of people around through their Sustainable Innovation programs.
The company has leading partnerships with suppliers to enhance Estée Lauder’s holistic approach to addressing the challenges related to cosmetic products complex packaging requirements, balanced against environmental goals. Partnerships and collaborations with packaging manufacturers and sustainability groups all help the company move the needle on sustainability efforts across the beauty industry. In this competitive and lucrative environment, these strategies help the company differentiate itself and appeal to eco-conscious consumers and create a positive brand image.
Best Practices to Achieve Successful Sustainable Innovation
Our planet is under huge pressure to provide for the needs of the worlds population. Businesses must innovate and company executives must recognize that not only is Sustainable Innovation essential but that Sustainability equals innovation. They are two parts of the same equation without which businesses will fail.
Explore and rank the sustainability initiatives your stakeholders value most. Ideation and collaboration for sustainable innovation are facilitated best through Ezassi software solutions. Consult with an Ezassi Innovation Analyst for more information.