eco-designed products, processes and services

Strategic Roadmap

Eco-designed products, processes and services

French Environment &Energy Management Agency


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Contents

Preamble ............................................................................................................................................................................................4

1 Subject area .................................................................................................................................................................................6

2 Key issues ...................................................................................................................................................................................11Efficient use of resources ..................................................................................................................................................11Preventing and reducing environmental damage and reducing health risks ........................................12Competitiveness of economic stakeholders and regions ...............................................................................13Changing to sustainable consumption .......................................................................................................................14

3 Visions ...........................................................................................................................................................................................153.1 Visions for 2050 ..............................................................................................................................................................15

Vision 1: Sustainable production and consumption supported by regulation ............................17Vision 2: More environmentally friendly development of international markets for goods and services ...........................................................................................................................17Vision 3: Eco-design driven by regulations ......................................................................................................18Vision 4: Eco-design driven by industrial strategies ...................................................................................18

3.2 The vision for 2020 .......................................................................................................................................................19

4 Obstacles ....................................................................................................................................................................................214.1 Technical obstacles of life cycle stages ................................................................................................................214.2 Methodological obstacles ..........................................................................................................................................224.3 Organisational obstacles in companies and within value chains .........................................................224.4 Economic and accounting obstacles ...................................................................................................................244.5 Sociological, cultural and psychological obstacles ........................................................................................254.6 Obstacles relating to public measures and policies ...................................................................................27

5 Priority research development and innovation needs ..................................................................................28Approach 1: Develop new technological solutions ............................................................................................29Approach 2: Improve the acquisition, management, dissemination and exploitation of knowledge and data ..........................................................................................................................30Approach 3: Develop tools and methods to help companies integrate eco-design into their strategic decisions and in their dealings with customers ..............................30Approach 4: Improve the knowledge of interactions between stakeholders in order to develop new modes of governance .....................................................................32Approach 5: Combine technological approaches, methodological approaches and new modes of governance: increase the number of references in industrial ecology ...................................................................................................33

Annex: The four research and development phases ...........................................................................................34

PreambleSince 2010, the ADEME has been managing four programmes within the scope of Future Investments1. Groups of research experts from various industrial fields, research bodies and re-search programming and financing agencies are responsible for collectively producing strategic roadmaps. These are used to launch Calls for Expressions of Interest (CEI).

The roadmaps have the following aims:

• Highlight the industrial, technological, environmental and societal challenges.

• Develop consistent and shared visions of the technologies or socio-technical system in question.

• Highlight the technological, organisational and socioeconomic obstacles to be overcome.

• Link the priority research topics with deadlines for technological availability and deployment.

• Prioritise the needs for industrial research, research demonstrators, pre-in-dustrial experimentation and technological testing platforms, which then act as the basis for:

- drawing up CEIs; - programming research within the ADEME and other institutions such as the Agence na-

tionale de la recherche (ANR - French National Research Agency), the Comité stratégique national sur la recherche énergie (French national strategic committee for energy research) and the Alliance nationale de coordination de la recherche pour l’énergie (ANCRE - French national alliance for the coordination of energy research).

These research and experimentation priorities originate from a coming together of the visions and obstacles, but they also take account of French capacities in the fields of research and industry.

This roadmap is complementary to those already produced or currently being produced: “Collection, sorting, recycling and recovery of waste”, “Integrated management of polluted sediments, groundwa-ter and soils”, “Positive energy and minimum carbon footprint buildings and housing blocks”, “Road vehicles with low GHG emissions”, “Plant chemistry”, “Mobility systems for goods and people” and “Integrated logistics chain and human mobility system approaches”.

1. Future Investments follow in the footsteps of the Research Demonstrator Fund (Fonds démonstrateurs de recherche) managed by the ADEME. The four programmes concerned are: Renewable and low-carbon energy and green chemistry (1.35 billion euros), Vehicles of the Future (1 billion euros), Intelligent electricity grids (250 million euros) and the Circular Economy (250 million euros, in the framework of which the “Eco-design” measures are planned).


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List of members of the group of experts

2. Ensam: Ecole nationale supérieure d’arts et métiers ; Supmeca: Institut supérieur de mécanique ; Upmf : Université Pierre-Mendès-France; CREER: Cluster de recherche : excellence en éco-conception et recyclage (Research Cluster : excellence in eco-design and recycling).

Nature of the body Name Member body2

Private companies

Cyril Adoue Systèmes Durables

Sylvie Bénard LVMH

Myriam Cohen-Welgryn Danone

Véronique Discours-Buhot Independent Expert

Catherine Jung ArcelorMittal

Jérôme Payet Cycléco

Sylvain Saint-Ange SagemCom

Hélène Teulon Gingko 21

Research bodies

Daniel Froelich Ensam Chambéry

Dominique Millet Supmeca Toulon

Thomas Reverdy Upmf Grenoble

Associations

Alain le Douaron Mov’éo Competitive Cluster

André Malsch CREER Cluster

Anne-Marie Sargueil Institut français du design

Eric Corbel (French Ministry of Ecology, Sus-tainable Development, Transport and Housing) and Aymeric de Loubens (French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Housing) participat-ed in the meetings of experts in the capacity of observers.

The group of experts received support from the ADEME Technical Secretariat, consisting of Erwan Autret, Daniel Béguin, Dimitri Borchtch, Hélène Bortoli, Christine Cros, Thomas Gaudin, Christophe Hévin, François Moisan, Lydie Ougi-er, Sylvie Padilla, Nicolas Petit, Claire Pinet, Myri-am Puaut, Patrick Souet, Christophe Stavrakakis, Anne Varet and Didier Violle.

1 Subject areaEco-design means the design of products, goods or servic-es, which take account of their negative effects throughout their life cycles, with a view to reducing these effects, while preserving their qualities and performance3.

Eco-designed product

A product designed while taking account of the environment in the first analysis. The French National Consumer Council (CNC - Conseil national de la consommation4) specifies that the reference to eco-design for products subject to the implementing measures of Directive no. 2009-125, is not pertinent, as all products should conform to the regulations. However, the claim is justified for products not governed by the regulations and those that can be proven to be significantly in advance of the regulatory requirements. The CNC thus recommends the following actions:- Specify exactly what is eco-designed (a component, the packaging or the product). Without

being specific, this term can only be used if it applies to the entire product as it is distributed, i.e. including the packaging.

- Define the notion of eco-design and give explanations in order to inform the consumer about the fundamental bases of this environmental claim.

- Specify the nature and, if possible, the magnitude of the reductions in environmental impacts resulting from the eco-design approach using appropriate information media.

3. Definition of the Journal officiel of 04/02/2010. The ISO 14062 standard characterises eco-design.4. Source: French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry, second opinion of the French National Consumer Council concerning the clarification of environmental claims, report of 15 December 2010.

In the context of this roadmap, we shall be considering eco-design as a functional and integrating approach that takes account of all impacts throughout the entire life cycle of a product or process, from the extraction of the raw materials through to the wastes produced by manufacturing and their trans-portation and use. The eco-designed process or product (goods or service) (see box below) is intended to perform a function and satisfy a need with the best possible eco-efficiency, i.e. by using resources (be they virgin or recycled raw materials, water and energy) efficiently and by minimising the environmental impacts (see box below).

This approach, therefore, integrates the eco-design of goods and services which are more economic with resources, cause less pollution

and contribute to health and social progress, in addition to methods of organisation and trade based on the use and functionality of products or processes (rental, sharing, housing coopera-tion and any offering that favours the use rather than the act of purchasing). It follows that we must also work on the value chains which, in the context of eco-design, integrate the pro-curement stages of raw materials through to the final consumption, or even after-sales service. This must allow for the identification of levers to make these chains more circular (according to the notion of circular econom-ics which values wastes as resources, see box below), more interconnected, and more inter-dependent in the framework of industrial, re-gional or virtual ecosystems. Eco-design is thus a promising source of both technological and organisational innovations.


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Eco-efficiency

This term, invented during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, designates the efficiency with which natural resources (mineral, energy and biological resources) are used by industrial production and con-sumption systems in order to satisfy the needs of humans, at competitive prices, while seeking to:• Reduce the associated environmental

impacts.• Respect the support capacity of eco-

systems.• Diminish the use of resources and en-

ergy throughout the life cycle of con-sumer products and services.

The eco-efficiency of a company5 is achieved through the distribution of goods at a competitive price, which satis-fies human needs and contributes to the quality of life, while progressively reduc-ing environmental impacts and the use of resources throughout the life cycle. It involves:- The material intensity with regard to goods and services.

- Reducing the energy intensity of goods and services.

- Reducing the dispersion of toxic sub-stances.

- Increasing the capacity of materials to be recycled.

- Using renewable resources, while tak-ing account of the conditions in which they are renewed.

- Extending the viability of products.- Increasing the intensity of the services

rendered by these products.

Circular economy

The circular economy is based on six main elements6 : - The moderate and most efficient pos-sible use of non-renewable resources.

- Exploitation of renewable resources that takes account of the conditions in which they are renewed.

- Eco-design and clean production- Environmentally friendly consumption.- Wastes valued as resources.- Waste processing that minimises pollu-tion and disturbances.

5. http ://www.dictionnaire-environnement.com/eco-efficience_ID724.html6. J.-C. LEVY, L’économie circulaire : l’urgence écologique ?, Presse de l’Ecole nationale des ponts et chaussées, 2009.

Given the existence of a road map entitled “Collection, recycling and recovery of wastes”, the topics of recycling and recovery, although well represented in eco-design approaches, will not be covered in greater depth in these pro-jects.

The road map takes account of three ap-proaches, focusing on:

• Sustainable consumption: Eco-designed prod-ucts (goods or services).

• Sustainable production: Application of eco-design principles to production systems (in-dustrial facilities and processes) leading to eco-efficiency in industry and industrial ecol-ogy (see box below).

• Business models integrating preservation of the environment.

Industrial ecology

Industrial ecology7 is an integral part of the ecology of industrial societies, i.e. of human activities that produce and/or consume goods and services. It focuses in particular on analys-ing the exchanges between societies and nature, in addition to the movements of materials and energies that characterise them or that characterise industrial societies themselves. These flows are analysed from a quantitative point of view (“industrial metabolism” is mentioned) or even a naturalist standpoint, but also from an economic and social point of view, from a systemic perspective.

Industrial ecology constitutes a multi-and inter-disciplinary research field, but it is also a pro-active approach in the perspective of sustainable development. Its implementation seeks to make human actions compatible with the capacities of the biosphere. In this context, industrial ecology calls for a change of paradigm and representation. It may focus on an industry, a com-pany, an industrial establishment, an industrial area, a territory, a region, a substance, etc., and refers to methods, scientific ecology, thermodynamics, organisational sociology, etc.

The sustainable consumption-cen-tred approach

In 2005, French household consumption was responsible for 74% of the carbon footprint, amounting to 8.8 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per inhabitant8. Three-quarters of these emis-sions originate from indirect emissions relating to the production and importation of products and the remaining quarter comes from the consumption of fuels for the home and trans-portation.

Products and processes have environmental impacts throughout their life cycle. Products are the main source of household waste produc-tion, for example. Certain products individually have a major impact, regardless of their current or future level of consumption, while others have a marginal impact, which can rise, how-ever, if they are consumed in large quantities. Likewise, the environmental benefit of a prod-uct, such as the production of renewable en-ergy by solar panels or the purification of water and fumes by filtration technologies, does not cancel out the negative impacts caused by the extraction of raw materials, production, dis-tribution or disposal at the end of this same product’s life.

The reduction of environmental impacts must therefore be taken into consideration from the design phase. As the responsibility for environ-mental issues is shared between many prod-ucts and many stakeholders in the value chains, each of the participants must be involved in the search for solutions. This overarching approach must also apply to companies in order to in-volve all employees in an eco-design strategy.

The sustainable production-centred approach

French industry (including the iron and steel industry, but excluding the energy sector) is responsible for over 22% of the total final en-ergy consumption per year (nearly 36.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent per year9). It produces over 80 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. This encompasses numerous very different fields of application for which there are key sustainable development issues, especially with regard to climate change, energy moderation and savings of raw materials.

The industrial ecology approach analyses the interactions between stakeholders in the value chain of a product or resource (raw material,

7. Industrial ecology glossary. Produced from the joint works of the ARPEGE partners, Forward-thinking workshop on industrial ecology, final report intended for the ANR, PRECODD programme, March 2009.8. Source: SOeS “Consommation des ménages et environnement - édition 2011”.9. ADEME key figures – 2009.


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10. Manufacture of products – wholly or partially – using parts of these same used products.11. Strategic Analysis Centre “For sustainable consumption”, report to the mission chaired by Elisabeth Laville, January 2011.12. The rebound effect is mentioned when the environmental gains acquired for products and services are cancelled out by an increase in consumption or deferred consumption.

water, energy) and the interactions within a sin-gle region. This involves identifying levers that can be used to make value chains more circular (remanufacturing10, recycling, etc.), more inter-connected (design of public areas conducive to the creation of links, user involvement, pool-ing of energy, etc.), and more interdependent (pooling of services and facilities, etc.).

Business model-centred approach

In an economic system that is primarily based on operating margins, companies must continu-ally renew their offerings and finance techno-logical investments, which are essential to their long-term existence. To make the creation of value compatible with preservation of the envi-ronment, business models can be redesigned in order to integrate notions such as:

• The Product-Service System (PSS), which is based on the use of the product (rather than the product itself), by concentrating particular on the global cost of the goods used. The knowledge that owning a medium-sized car costs over 600 euros per month may encourage people to consider car hire as a profitable solution if it is not used every day. In particular, this concerns the transition from the production of goods to the provi-sion of a service (hire-maintenance system, organisation of repair phases, sharing on a self-service basis, etc.)

• Innovation in the sales and relationship mar-keting strategy11 focusing on the quality of the relationship with the customer (brand, reputation, community of users, etc.). The marketing trends are:• Product-oriented: provision of a service in

addition to the product (financing, mainte-nance, end-of-life take-back).

• Use-oriented: sale of the use of the product rather than of the product itself (hire, leas-ing, pooling and sharing).

• Results-oriented: producer guarantees the satisfaction of the consumer’s needs with-out taking account of the products.

Any corporate project that aims to change its business model to the Product-Service System or implement an innovative sales strategy must be efficient from an economic point of view and beneficial from an environmental standpoint (no rebound effect12 or pollution transfer).

In addition, the thematic scope of the roadmap deliberately takes account of the following cri-teria:

• Dynamics and evolution of mar-kets: Certain markets are considered to be priorities, such as those in which the environ-mental change is favourable to the creation of a positive dynamic between supply and demand (eco-design of products intended for public buyers in response to key public procurement issues, etc.) and those whose dissemination is growing so fast that the en-vironmental impacts need to be controlled (e.g. digital technologies).

• Environmental issues: Only strategies based on a life cycle approach and a multi-criteria analysis of environmental impacts are taken into account. In certain cases, it is pos-sible to favour an exhaustive approach based on an in-depth knowledge of the key issues. In other cases, a selective approach based on the highest priority and most pertinent issues per product category is more appropriate. In all cases, the greatest vigilance is applied to approaches that could cause pollution trans-fers or rebound effects.

• The nature of the eco-design ap-proach and process implemented, whether they are carried out independently or are accompanied by technical or organi-sational support measures. In both cases, eco-design must be integrated into the tools, methods and information systems, such as Computer-Aided Design, and platforms and/or resource centres for eco-design, eco-innovation, life-cycle analysis (see box below), eco-purchasing, eco-marketing, etc. Here, the “eco” prefix13 clearly conveys the message that ecological issues have been considered with a view to reducing the impacts in all ar-eas: innovation, purchasing, marketing, design, etc. The process also requires a rethinking of the company’s different trades and skills. The greater the change in the company’s offering in favour of the environment, the greater the need for support to facilitate this change.

• Collaborative approach at the corpo-rate scale, eco-design and industrial ecology approaches must be an integral part of a strategy of pooling and optimising exchanges (procurements, facilities, wastes, raw materi-als, etc.) This must allow for the implementa-tion of collaborative working practices within the company itself and with its partners.

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

This environmental assessment method can be used to quantify the potential environmental impacts of products (be they goods, a service or even a pro-cess) throughout its entire life cycle. This standardised (ISO 14040 and 14044) and recognised tool is the most accom-plished method in terms of global and multi-criteria assessment.

13. The “eco” prefix may mean “ecological”, “economical” or “ecological and economical”. For the French National Consumer Council, and in the absence of any precision, this polysemy may prove to be ambiguous for the consumer, especially given the fact that “eco” is a frequently used claim on products for these three meanings and is freely employed on its own, associated with another word, brand or as an identifier in shops.


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2 Key issuesEco-design as defined in this strategic roadmap is associated with environmental, health, social and competition-related challenges for the economic stakeholders and regions de-scribed below.

Efficient use of resources

As stipulated in the statement to the European Parliament, Council, European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions14 in January 2011: natural resources are essential to the running of the European and global economy and make an essential con-tribution to our quality of life. However, these resources - raw materials (fuels, minerals and metals), food products, soils, water and the bio-mass - are increasingly coveted and exploited. The global population is set to rise by 30% to nine billion people in 2050, and the inhabitants of the developing and emerging countries will be required to use more natural resources.

The key issue is therefore to develop the ca-pacity to anticipate and reduce the tensions over resources. However, the international pan-el for the sustainable management of resources (United Nations Environment Programme panel) notes the lack of reference evaluations in the field of resource depletion15. In fact, the academic literature is split between authors that consider the scarcity of resources to be a fundamental problem and those who consider the market to be capable of finding a solution. Demand projections, however, indicate that the consumption of certain metals, oil and gas will exceed the supply and exhaust these resources before the end of this century. Furthermore, the depletion of some of these resources, which will be required in large amounts (especially for technologies involved in the production of sus-

tainable energy and energy storage systems), means that greater energy and environmental impacts will result from their procurement.

Let us consider oil as an example. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA)16, the global energy outlook for 2035 will be pro-foundly dependent on government actions and their influence on technology, the prices of energy services and the behaviour of final consumers. According to its different scenari-os17, the increase in global demand for primary energy from 2008-2035 could amount to be-tween 0.7% and 1.4% per year, compared to an average of 2% over the 27 previous years. The IEA also anticipates a peak in global oil produc-tion, while specifying that the exact time of its occurrence will depend on factors that influ-ence demand as well as supply.

Minerals and metals are also used by all sectors of the economy and the same type of issue ap-plies to them. The European Commission has recently stated that the status of 14 materials may be critical due to a relative risk of short-age18 . Their more rational use must therefore be a priority, if only to maintain the competitive-ness of the national companies that use them.

If we consider the planet’s resources to be inca-pable of sustaining the current extraction rates per person, an initial challenge is therefore to invent a type of growth that makes more effi-cient use of materials than is currently the case. At the national level, this challenge takes on a

14. “Une Europe efficace dans l’utilisation des ressources – initiative phare relevant de la stratégie Europe 2020”, Brussels, 26/1/2011, COM (2011) 21 final.15. UNEP (2010), “Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production: Priority Products and Materials”, A Report of the Working Group on the Environmental Impacts of Products and Materials to the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management. Hertwich, E., van der Voet, E., Suh, S., Tukker, A., Huijbregts M., Kazmierczyk, P., Lenzen, M., McNeely, J., Moriguchi, Y. ; www.unep.fr/scp/rpanel/ 16. International Energy Agency (IEA), World Energy Outlook 2010, www.worldenergyoutlook.org17. Current policies, new policies and the 450 scenario, set out in the World Energy Outlook 2008 which proposes an energy path consistent with the maximum global warming target of 2°C and the limitation of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere to approximately 450 parts per million of equivalent CO2.18. European Commission, July 2010, “Critical raw materials for the EU”, Report of the Ad-hoc Working Group on defining critical raw materials”.

strategic dimension concerning the security of procurements for French industry.

This efficient use of resources alone will not suffice, however: consumption must inevita-bly diminish. Therefore, another challenge is to maintain or create satisfactory standards of living based on a reduced consumption of re-sources.

Preventing and reducing environ-mental damage and reducing health risks

There are considerable impacts on the environ-ment and health. Health risks can be reduced by preventing and reducing these impacts. This health issue is combined with a social issue: the entire population is entitled to have access to healthy range of products that poses no health risks: this is a massive challenge for sustainable production.

Emissions into environments (water, air and soils) have repercussions on:

• Large bio-geochemical cycles such as global warming

• Biodiversity, the quality of the ecosystems and the services they can provide19. The cost relating to the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems, for example, has been estimated by Pavan Sukhdev20 at 14,000 billion euros by 2050.

• Human health, either directly (i.e. by inhala-tion of atmospheric pollutants) or indirectly (e.g. through contact with chemical sub-stances salted out by products, absorption of substances accumulated by a food chain, etc.). Current knowledge indicates that certain diseases may be associated with the environ-ment21: This especially applies to lead poison-

ing associated with the ingestion of high levels of lead; legionnaires’ disease, caused by expo-sure to legionella bacteria which may develop in domestic hot water systems and cooling towers; certain cancers, associated with ex-posure to asbestos; nearly 30,000 premature deaths in France and 300,000 in Europe ac-cording to the World Health Organisation (WHO), due to long-term exposure to at-mospheric particle pollution – all sources of emissions included. Environmental impact as-sessments carried out during the preparation of the Reach regulations22 noted a possible 10% reduction in diseases caused by chemi-cal substances (4,500 cancer-related deaths annually), i.e. 0.1% of all diseases in Europe. The reduction in health expenditure brought about by the application of this regulation has thus been estimated at 50 billion euros in the European Union over 30 years.

19. Ecosystem services are the benefits that natural persons or legal entities derive from ecosystems.20. European Commission, 2008, “L’économie des écosystèmes et de la biodiversité”, interim report under the responsibility of Pavan Sukhdev, Head of the International Markets department of Deutsche Bank in Bombay.21. Health and Environment, 2nd National Plan 2009-2013, French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Maritime Affairs, Ministry of Health and Sports, Ministry of Higher Education and Research, Ministry of Labour, Social Relations, the Family, Solidarity and Urban Affairs.22. The Reach regulations aim to assess 30,000 chemical substances manufactured or imported into the European Union and to prepare for the substitution of the 1,500 most dangerous substances; EC regulation no. 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and Council of 18 December 2006.


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In addition, households exert pressures on the environment in their daily activities (trav-elling, housing, purchasing, etc.), and the trend for these pressures is upward23. While the environmental impacts arising from consump-tion seem negligible at the individual level, they prove to be important collectively. The impacts of consumption on the environment may also occur in countries other than those in which the product is consumed: this is the case for imported products. In general, these environ-mental pressures are currently being increased by changes in households’ methods of con-sumption: the volume of goods and services is increasing and expenditure is focusing on cat-egories of products with a high environmental impact24,25. The challenge is therefore to help consumers change their behaviour.

Competitiveness of economic stake-holders and regions

The eco-design of products and services, new business models and industrial ecology may help to maintain business and jobs in highly competitive sectors, thanks in particular to:

• Reduction of costs, through, for example, re-ductions in the consumption of raw materi-als, which increases the competitiveness of companies.

• Positioning of products in segments whose added value is perceived to be higher by the customer, thus differentiating the products in relation to those produced by emerging companies.

• Positioning within a business model focusing on the sale of services, which helps to smooth out business, makes income more predictable and increase profits, as service activities are generally more profitable.

The conquest of markets and creation of jobs in new activities are another economic chal-lenge, especially in:

• Markets for “green” products and services, which are currently expanding.

• Development of green industries and associ-ated jobs, both upstream with green chem-istry, for example, and downstream, with the recovery of wastes.

• New business models such as for shared mobility (self-service bicycles and cars, etc.), which is currently expanding, especially on the export market.

• Industrial ecology, which generates needs for new activities within a business area and be-yond.

It is also a question of promoting and increasing local and more qualified employment. Business models such as the selling of second-hand prod-ucts, hire-pooling and reconditioning facilitate the recruitment of employees at the national level or even the conversion of industrial sites. The Product-Service System facilitates a rise in the qualifications of the people employed compared to jobs in industrial production. Peo-ple working in eco-design are qualified people, operating in R & D, marketing and purchasing departments.

23. French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable development, Transport and Housing, March 2011, Commission for Sustainable Development, June 2010, Refer-ences: “L’environnement en France – Edition 2010”. 24. French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable development, Transport and Housing, March 2011, Commission for Sustainable Development, June 2011, Repères: “Consommation des ménages et environnement – Edition 2011”.25. Household consumer expenditure covers spending dedicated to the acquisition of goods and services used for the direct satisfaction of “individual” human needs. This expenditure is limited to the costs borne directly by households. It includes the proportion of spending on health, education for which they are responsible after any reimbursements they may receive. It has been steadily increasing for several decades.

The strengthening of regional dynamics must also be an aim. Strong regional governance and the existence of a coordination structure also seem to be prerequisites for the success of an industrial ecology approach. Industrial ecology increases the attractiveness of a region in that it may convince stakeholders to establish their business in the area rather than elsewhere, thanks to the complementary synergistic activi-ties or simply due to the attraction of the ben-efits of pooled services.

Finally, eco-design and industrial ecology may make a significant contribution to the health of companies and regions, especially:

• By proposing alternatives to industries in dif-ficulty through a new competitive dynamic driven by the extension of eco-design to all companies concerned in the sector.

• Through the emergence of national cham-pions in “green” segments, following the ex-ample set by the detergent, hotel and shared mobility sectors, by developing an export capacity for products and services, thus pro-moting employment in production, and also support jobs (R&D, marketing, etc.).

• By extending innovative business models to a greater proportion of the French economy (10 to 15% of the GDP as opposed to 5% today).

• By creating synergies in major industrial ba-sins, port areas and in a multitude of business areas on a more local scale, where the con-cept of industrial ecology is enjoying increas-ing success with SMEs and very small enter-prises and where it can be quickly applied.

Changing to sustainable consumption

The French Strategic Analysis Centre (Centre d’analyse stratégique), in its report entitled “Pour une consommation durable” (Towards Sustain-able Consumption) (2011) highlights a possible triple evolution of the consumer society, involving:

• A change in the outcomes of con-sumption, which should no longer seem to

be the main means of access to well-being and the major symbol of social relationships. The widespread application of the current mode of consumption to all human socie-ties is incompatible with the finite nature of terrestrial resources. The consumption of developed countries must therefore progres-sively evolve in order to provide the elements required for everyone’s existence, while pre-serving the existence of future generations.

• A change in practices and behav-iours, encouraging citizens to satisfy their needs by engaging in consumption that is more respectful of the needs of people and the planet, i.e. more economical with resourc-es and forming part of virtuous circles (re-use, recovery and recycling), generating less pollution and contributing more actively to social progress, and with greater recourse to dematerialised consumption (rental, sharing, exchange, etc.).

• A change in culture and lifestyles, which will allow citizens, through the time and resources thus released, to explore or redis-cover other aspects of life by establishing a balance between tangible and intangible val-ues, which may or may not be the subject of commercial trade (culture, art, sport, recrea-tion, associative activities, etc.).

The challenge is for eco-designed products to satisfy the new needs of consumers seeking sus-tainability, but also social progress (especially by improving the intangible quality of life), for which there are now numerous indicators. The activities of the Economic Analysis Coun-cil are thus revealing the fundamental need for a multi-criteria approach to assessing human well-being and suggest the use of a scorecard for tracking tangible well-being, quality of life and sustainability26.

26. Economic Analysis Council (Conseil d’analyse économique - CAE), December 2010, “Évaluer la performance économique, le bien-être et la soutenabilité”. Indicators include potential years of life lost, education, personal activities, participation in economic life and governance, social links and relationships, environmental conditions, physical and economic insecurity.


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3 VisionsThe visions set out in this roadmap are intended to describe, sometimes in a caricatured manner, the different methods for deploying the technological, organisational and socio-eco-nomic options relating to eco-design by 2050.

Based on the available knowledge, they do not take account of scenarios that could call into question the basic principles on which the sub-ject is currently based.

These visions do not set out to describe the future reality, but to define a range of possibili-ties from which a broad range of obstacles, re-search and innovation priorities can be drawn.

A medium-term vision, by 2020, is also intro-duced at the end of the chapter, in order to describe the effects of the implementation of the Grenelle de l’environnement (law arising from the French environment forum) and European directives which set precise quantified targets to be achieved during the 2015-2020 period. This vision describes a strictly regu-latory point of transition.

3.1 Visions for 2050

The construction of long-term scenarios is based on the identification of key parameters – variables whose contrasting evolution is known to result in radically different visions. As these scenarios are primarily intended as an aid to decision-makers, it was decided to limit the number of key parameters to two and, con-sequently, the number of associated visions to four. This is a conceptual exercise which deliber-ately steers clear of choices of strategic orienta-tions or definitions of priority targets.

These two key parameters aim to place the emphasis on variables which, for the group of experts, will be capable of exerting a signifi-cant influence on the eco-design of products, processes, services and sustainable production (including industrial ecology) within France, and the associated business models.

Furthermore, it is agreed that eco-design can only develop if this process can bring eco-nomic benefits (by keeping a product on the market, contributing new functionalities and allowing for positioning in new segments).

The following key parameters were chosen: amount of regulation or free trade and the relationship of consumers and professionals with products and services.

Regulation or free trade provides in-formation about the degree of involvement of an international organisation, a government or region, in trade. Regulation, in this context, is considered in the broad sense of the term and includes all of the mechanisms and means deployed (such as regulations, standardisa-tion, taxation, accreditations, etc.) in order to ensure the existence of effective competition and guide the markets towards goods and ser-vices which are more respectful of the environ-ment and health. In the case of free trade, the organisations agree to limit protectionism and encourage the importation and exporta-tion of goods and services. In this case, the de-velopment of markets is exclusively linked to economic interests. The “level of regulation or free trade” parameter may apply to differ-ent geographic levels, from local to global. It allows for the description of visions in which regulation is both global and driven by a specific regional governance, which is a de-termining factor for industrial ecology projects, for example.

The relationship of consumers and professionals to products and ser-vices describes the link between a person (natural person, legal entity, public or private

body) and the ownership and use of a product or service. This relationship may be collective in nature (which will be subsequently referred to as the “collective mode”) or individual. It inte-grates the environmental, health and social sen-sitivities of people. For a company, it reflects the importance that the businessperson accords to environmental and health issues in decision-making processes. This parameter changes be-tween two extremes: from reinvented, on the one hand, to trend-based on the other.

• The reinvented relationship bears witness to an awareness of environmental, health, social and economic issues, which is shared by almost all consumers and profes-sionals. They are proactive, mastering and put-ting the current state of knowledge and tech-nologies to the best possible use. Consumers - individually and collectively - are reinventing their relationship with consumption in order to prevent the risk of being harmed by crises (climatic, health, pollution of soils, water and the air). Companies are also reinventing their production systems in order to make them less vulnerable to the constant pressure on resources. The reinvented relationship is also a product of education and training.

• The trend-based relationship reveals the continuation of current trends, without a real change in behaviours towards sustainable consumption. A collective awareness is lim-ited to a few very high-profile environmental and health issues (e.g. dioxins). Eco-design is not really detectable by consumers. As for industrial ecology, this process bears witness, above all, to the economic motivation of the industrial and tertiary sectors to reduce their consumption of resources.

In addition to these two key parameters, the ex-perts are agreed on the probable and decisive influence of the development of emerging coun-tries on future design choices for products that consumes fewer resources (raw materials, water, energy, etc.). For example, a tense international market (characterised by shortage situations, with high and volatile prices that could lead to prohibitively high transport costs and encour-age the development of the local economy, etc.) could speed up the development of innovative solutions consuming fewer raw materials and less energy.

The four visions set out below are derived by associating the two key parameters.

A reinvented relationship of consumers and professionals with products and services,

more collective lifestyles with fewer environmental impacts

Strict regulation

Vision 1Sustainable production

and consumption supported by regulation

Vision 2More environmentally friendly development

of international markets for goods and services Free trade

Vision 3Eco-design driven

by regulations

Vision 4Eco-design driven

by industrial strategies

A trend-driven relationship of consumers and professionals with products and services,

without changing behaviours or lifestyles


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According to the visions, new eco-technologies and technological and organisational visions will emerge with specific motivations and varia-tions. Furthermore, it is understood that, for a given vision, the development of the economic stakeholders’ strategies will differ according to the products or processes: in certain cases, a significant capitalisation will be required in or-der to achieve a critical mass; in other cases, such as for a specific region, local investment will be favoured.

Finally, the regulations may operate at different regional levels and concern economic areas of different sizes. The corresponding visions are broken down in a differentiated manner be-tween regulation focusing on the local level or operating at a more global level.

Vision 1: Sustainable production and consumption supported by regula-tion

This is the most contrasting vision compared to the current situation. The world is changing under the effects of strict regulations in favour of the environment, health, social issues and economic development. The underlying trend is for consumers to become proactive and for professionals to adopt a reinvented lifestyle in response to this strict regulation. According to the geographical scale of the regulation, indus-trial ecology approaches may emerge, espe-cially when there is strong regional government.

Examples:- Products and services, emergence of new

business models adapted to satisfying a new form of demand: Modularity of products, mobility, proximity and equipment pooling services, “slow” movement: slow-design/food/city/travel27, public procurements of ecologi-cal products, eco-design and energy-related products.

- Industrial ecology and processes: Exchange and experimentation platforms, regional in-dustrial symbiosis, eco-districts and eco-cities.

Opportunities: - The development of eco-design and industrial ecology in France, playing a central role in in-dustries and services (project engineering, pro-cesses, factories and economic activity areas)

- Prevention of the widespread consumption of resources.

- Pooling of facilities and sharing of services.- Strengthening of links between producers and

consumers.

Threats:- Complexity of the implementation of regula-

tions and difficulty in achieving the anticipated environmental benefits

Vision 2: More environmentally friendly development of interna-tional markets for goods and ser-vices

In this vision, the company has reinvented its re-lationship with consumption and has integrated environmental, health, economic and social is-sues. Like today, the global economic dynamic remains dominated by free trade. Certain inter-national markets for goods and services have integrated eco-design in order to reduce their costs and include respect for the environment in their product positioning. Industrial ecology approaches are initiated by the proactiveness of manufacturers and motivated primarily by the reduction of costs.

27. “Slow” movements are an international approach intended as an alternative to fast consumption trends. They emerged in the 1980s with “slow-food” as a reaction to “fast-food”. The values expressed by the “slow” movement include time, duration, the environment, social factors, local production, pleasure, diversity, uniqueness, etc. This movement is active in the fields of food, travel (“slow travel”), decoration (“slow design”) and the city (“slow city”), etc.

Examples:- Products and services: Low-cost models, vol-

untary compensation for carbon emissions28, collaborative and community platforms (i.e. free software)

- Processes, industrial ecology and engineering: Breakthrough technologies in the manufactur-ing industry.

Opportunities: - Development of new services and new busi-

ness models in France.- Development in France of eco-design skills in

order to reduce the costs of products and ser-vices exchanged on international markets.

- Fast dissemination of the best eco-technolo-gies.

Threats:- Relocation of French companies abroad.- Lack of control over the entire life cycle of

products and services.

Vision 3: Eco-design driven by regu-lations

In this vision, consumers and professionals do not call into question their current behaviour and do not change it spontaneously. Regulation guides the development of markets by incor-porating the environmental and health dimen-sion at local and global levels. In contrast to vi-sion 1, regulation appears to offset the lack of operation in collective mode and in practice, it results in the implementation of major support and regulation mechanisms. Industrial ecology approaches are initiated when there is strong regional governance and are motivated by fi-nancial gains.

Examples:- Products and services: public procurement

of ecological products, eco-design of energy-related products and equipment hire services.

- Industrial ecology and processes: Real-time metrology of emissions from industrial installa-tions and public dissemination of results.

Opportunities: - Development of industrial ecology and pre-

vention of waste production.- Controlled uses and assets (resources, water

consumption, materials, energy, etc.).

Threats:- Complexity of the implementation of regula-

tions and difficulty in achieving the anticipated environmental benefits.

Vision 4: Eco-design driven by indus-trial strategies

This vision does not call into question the free trade model or our current lifestyles. The 2050 deadline is characterised by eco-design driven by industrial strategies for several materials flows with high added value and for which there is a strategic interest.

Examples:- Products and services: Eco-designed products

for reducing raw material costs and keeping business competitive; not insignificant propor-tion of products derived from a green market-ing approach targeting the “environmentally friendly” aspect more than the functional need and benefit.

- Industrial ecology and processes: Partial recov-ery of end-of-life products.

Opportunities: - Eco-design driven firstly by financial savings

and then by resources.- Commercial development of the high-tech

sector, with consumption of intelligent, mobile, communicating and dematerialised products.

Threats:- Relocation of French companies abroad.- Increase in environmental impacts.

28. Financing mechanism by which an entity (administration, company, private individual) purchases “carbon credits” from a third party, which substitutes (wholly or partially) for a reduction at the source of its own greenhouse gas emissions. The entity finances a project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or for carbon sequestration (renewable energy, energy efficiency, reforestation, etc.).


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3.2 The vision for 2020

The vision starts by taking advantage of eco-design and its integrated (involving several busi-ness sectors) and multi-criteria approaches in terms of environmental impacts. This means that greater account is taken of environmental and health issues and produces tangible results in the climate, energy, air and waste fields.

A stronger role for the environment and health in public policies

After a ramping-up phase over the 2011-2017 period, all energy-related products meet the eco-design requirements imposed by the ErP directive29.

After an experimentation phase, France imple-ments the widespread display of environmental information on consumer products. Compa-nies which reduce the environmental impacts of their products promote the value of this benefit. Consumers take account of this dimen-sion in their choices. In 2020, manufacturers are increasingly integrating eco-design and the dis-play of environmental performance into their product development; eco-designed products are developing fast and are starting to account for significant market shares in certain sectors30.

In 2020, the public authorities have implement-ed a truly ecological public procurement policy and significantly exceeded the target of 50% for ecological public contracts set in 201031. This policy has a significant impact on the environ-ment given the importance of public consump-tion (estimated at approximately 16% of the gross domestic product at the European level in 2008) and thanks to its value as an example and an influence on the market32.

The Reach regulations33 are a success that helps to ensure a high level of human health and envi-ronmental protection, including the promotion of alternative methods for assessing the dan-gers relating to substances, and the free move-ment of substances in the internal market, while improving competitiveness and innovation. On 1 June 2018, i.e. 18 years after the regulation entered into force, the European Agency for chemical products possesses all registration data relating to the substances produced or imported in quantities equal to or greater than one tonne per year, by any manufacturer or im-porter. In accordance with the regulations, the authorities assess certain substances selected according to tonnage and other criteria, with an authorisation procedure for the most sensi-tive substances and a restriction procedure for certain substances, certain mixtures and dan-gerous items.

Specific results in the climate, en-ergy, air and waste fields

In 2020, Europe will have reduced its global greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in relation to the 1990 levels, as set out in the “climate-energy package”, adopted in 2008 by European

29. Directive 2009/125/EC known as ErP (“Ecodesign requirements for energy-related products”) of the European Parliament and Council of 21 October 2009 establishes a framework for establishing eco-design requirements applicable to energy-related products.30. In 1994, the sales of refrigerators of classes E, F and G represented 31% of the market, whereas five years later (after the introduction of the energy label), they only accounted for 8% (5%, 2% and 1% respectively). At the same time, the sales of class A and B refrigerators went from 19% of the market to 52% (16% and 36% respectively).31. “Public procurement for a better environment”, COM (2008) 400 of 16 July 2008.32. The Relief project shows that if all of the public authorities throughout the European Union (EU) procured green electricity, this would allow the equivalent of 60 million tonnes of CO2 to be saved, which is 18% of the EU’s undertaking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the framework of the Kyoto protocol. The savings would be practically of the same magnitude if the public authorities opted for High Environmental Quality buildings. This project was financed by the key action “The city of tomorrow and cultural heritage” in the framework of the fifth RTD framework programme.33. Reach (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) regulations no. 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and Council of 18 December 2006, concerning the recording, evaluation and authorisation of chemical substances and the restrictions applicable to these substances.

leaders. In doing so, the European Union will also have achieved other objectives: a 20% im-provement in energy efficiency, a mean propor-tion of 20% of renewable energies in energy consumption and 10% of biofuels in fuels in-tended for transportation.

In 2016, the aim of the ESD34 directive has been achieved, i.e. an average energy saving of 9% in relation to the mean amount of final energy consumed between 2001 and 2005. In France, 88 % of energy savings come from the residen-tial-tertiary sector, thanks to the implementa-tion of the programme to control energy de-mand in the building sector, set by the Grenelle de l’environnement35. Next come the transport (10%) and industry (1%) sectors.

With regard to air pollution, since 2010, the European Union Member States have re-duced their annual emissions of acidifying and eutrophying pollutants and ozone precursors,

in compliance with the emission limits set by the NEC directive36. In 2020, it is likely that new pollutants will have been regulated and that all limits will have been set at lower levels.

At the same time, the quality of the ambient air will be improving. The concentrations of pollut-ants, as daily and hourly means, are diminishing in accordance with the European regulatory targets37. The pollutants in question are sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides, par-ticles (PM10 and PM2.538), lead, benzene and carbon monoxide, with the deadlines set for 2015.

In the wastes field, in accordance with the French Grenelle 1 environmental law39, France achieves the targets set in 2012, especially the 7% reduction in household and similar wastes over the 2010-2015 period and a reduction of 15% in the amounts of wastes sent for incinera-tion or storage between 2009 and 201240.

34. Directive 2006/32/EC, known as the ESD (Energy Services Directive) of 5 April 2006, relating to energy efficiency in final uses and energy services.35. Action plan for France with regard to energy efficiency, in application of articles 4 and 14 of the 2006-32/EC directive.36. Directive 2001/81/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 23 October 2001 establishing the national emissions ceilings for certain atmos-pheric pollutants by 2010.37. Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 21 May 2008 concerning ambient air quality and pure air for Europe.38. Particles in suspension in the air with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 and 2.5 micrometres, respectively.39. French programming Law relating to the application of the Grenelle de l’environnement of 3 August 2009 (article 46).40. Cf. “Collection, sorting, recycling and recovery of wastes” for a complete overview of detailed targets. It only mentions detailed objectives relating to the prevention of waste production.


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4 ObstaclesThe obstacles needing to be overcome in order to develop eco-design and industrial ecology are technical, methodolog-ical, economic, sociological and political in nature. It should be remembered that these are multi-criteria approaches which are often complex and remain under-used. We must therefore keep an integrated overview of the different ob-stacles, which are closely linked.

4.1 Technical obstacles of life cycle stages

It is observed that the existence of several life cycles is not a systematic requirement, whereas this would help to improve the exploi-tation of the life cycle of materials (components or modules) and increase product life spans.

With regard to resources and their pro-curement, a key difficulty resides in the scar-city of information available about the environ-mental impacts relating to their use. Innovations occur quickly and issues relating to the protec-tion of industrial property do not allow for the provision of real-time information on the envi-ronmental impacts of new uses of resources: when a new material has proven its benefits from a technical and presumably environmental point of view, the designers do not necessar-ily understand all of its properties. In fact, it is impossible, given the current state of purchas-ing and manufacturing processes, to have ac-curate knowledge of the origin of certain raw materials, which therefore makes it impossible to assess their environmental impacts. Renew-able materials or those originating from recy-cling processes are difficult to manage. Their integration is limited by factors including the heterogeneity of procurement characteristics (properties of materials) and the intermittence of energy sources.

The main problems currently facing trans-portation and logistics, which concern several stages of the life cycle, are the lack of flexibility in solutions due to the low level of in-teroperability between modes of transport and the lack of data sharing between stakeholders in the logistics chain.

The production stage is limited by the characteristics of current solutions in terms of simplicity, flexibility, modularity, scalability, perfor-mance, safety and reliability. In particular, we lack the ability to model processes in order to simu-late modifications and assess the environmental impacts on the health of employees and users. The development of models based on flows (of raw materials, water and energy) with the ability to learn from the implementation condi-tions on industrial sites, is a first stage in the development of decision-making support tools for the modification of processes.

The main obstacle concerning use is the ability to assess the needs, consumptions and methods of use for an emerging service or product from the design stage. It would be useful to make avaible the reference cycles of use in order to compare products. The display of environmental performance information, which (partially) ex-ists for certain consumer products, still does not occur for products intended for industrial users.

In order to prevent the product from becom-ing waste (end-of-life), the reconditioning, reuse, repair and maintenance stages must be envisaged from the design phase, which has not always been the case. The main technical rea-sons are: lack of knowledge about an imported product (confidentiality, incompetence), com-plexity of maintenance and repair operations, insufficient capacity of equipment and remanu-facturing processes (inspection, cleaning, sorting of products or used modules), safety and the traceability of components.

The technical obstacles specific to the end-of-life concern the inadequate capacities of equipment, and dismantling, shredding, grinding, sorting, preparation and material processing techniques and processes41.

41. These obstacles are covered in a specific development in the strategic roadmap: ”Collection, sorting, recycling and recovery of wastes”.

4.2 Methodological obstacles

The lack of a standardised method or reference solution42 is an obstacle for a stakeholder wishing to embark on an eco-design or industrial ecology approach. An eco-designed product is intrinsically difficult to rec-ognise: it cannot be certified as such without investigating its entire life cycle. The environ-mental impacts can be calculated, but in order to demonstrate any reductions in impacts, a standard product is required, which does not yet exist.

The management of knowledge and data, especially access to data, is not always immediate (when it exists at all). Neither is it accessible to all parties and it may also be pro-tected by confidentiality. The technical charac-teristics of materials and products are not nec-essarily made public in full. Numerous questions relating to the assessment of environmental im-pacts, especially on the basis of measurement results, have not yet been answered. The trans-parency of information about measurement methods, the criteria for the acquisition and selection of data, their updating and traceability, are essential.

Furthermore, the state-of-the art (best avail-able techniques, impacts and risks, etc.) is evolv-ing rapidly from the time “T” when a decision is made concerning an eco-design approach, to the moment of the product’s arrival on the market. Eco-design approaches must therefore be associated with a continuous improvement process in order to facilitate the integration of new knowledge.

Eco-design tools and methods which are currently available, such as Life Cycle Analy-sis (LCA) and Simplified Life Cycle Quality As-sessments (Evaluations simplifiées qualitatives de cycle de vie - ESQCV), are based on global, multi-criteria system analyses, which eliminate the boundaries between the links of a value chain, for example. However, these tools are not capable of accounting for a large number of impacts or managing a high level of complexity, such as presenting multi-criteria results, and the

absence of a trade-off between different envi-ronmental or health impacts. Users must also decide between possible pollution transfers and risks of rebound effects without any real decision-making support.

Finally, other internal corporate tools, such as computer-aided design, accounting, public re-lations and marketing plans and engineering projects, take little or no account of eco-design principles and the associated data. Eco-design methodologies and criteria still need to be de-veloped, tested and stabilised, especially in the project engineering field (e.g. building of com-plex structures and industrial sites), so that all stakeholders (designers, builders, project own-ers and operators) can simultaneously take ac-count of the environmental, health and societal issues at the earliest possible moment, from the design to the deconstruction stage, covering the creation, operation and maintenance phases.

4.3 Organisational obstacles in com-panies and within value chains

A major obstacle is the difficulty of implement-ing an eco-design approach or a new business model in an overarching manner throughout the company. This must be a strategic priority decided at the highest level of the company. This also applies to the changes this implies in the technical, marketing, sales, public relations, accounting, legal and human resources depart-ments.

Integrating eco-design into a product or an engineering project may prove to be a com-plex undertaking. For example, time-related as-pects may differ for a single product or project: the commercial end-of-life of a product may be decided prior to its technical end-of-life.

The eco-design dynamic may appear to be problematical at the marketing or public rela-tions levels, due to the nature of the subject and the employees’ and consumers’ failure to understand it. In addition, eco-design often in-cludes a high degree of innovation and there-fore a risk associated with a product or process whose functional and environmental qualities

42. In industry, for example, a certain number of industrial sectors are not covered by reference documents about the best available techniques and emerging techniques, cf. http ://eippcb.jrc.es/reference/


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are misunderstood by the consumer or user. Marketing and public relations staff that have been poorly trained or insufficiently motivated by their line management will not be prepared to take this risk.

Consumers find it hard to identify eco-designed products due to the proliferation of labels, en-vironmental claims and an absence of visible institutional messages. This leads to a poor knowledge of the environmental characteristics of products and of the associated issues.

The adoption of a new business model is likely to modify the structure of the company and its relationships with other eco-nomic stakeholders. The company therefore takes a risk with this repositioning. A company that switches from sales to hire must manage a transitional phase, which includes its sales staff, maintenance teams (with recruitments a pos-sible requirement), drafting of contracts, etc. At a smaller scale, integrating returnable container shuttle runs, and waste production prevention mechanisms in order to avoid disposable pack-aging (such as cartons, crates, pallets, etc.) into logistics chains, requires preliminary experimen-tation, development and innovation activities, both on the supplier’s premises (e.g. in order to adapt its production chain) and on the cus-tomer’s site.

A major change of business model generates changes in terms of the employment and quali-fication of employees. More sophisticated prod-ucts (making widespread use of electronics, con-nectivity, etc.) may require greater skills on the part of staff responsible for selling or maintaining them. The problem then becomes how to im-plement and support this change. The product design stage requires an excellent knowledge of the practices of each participant in the life cycle, so that maintenance and repair can be carried out by a dedicated department, and by the user him or herself.

Certain business models, such as the Extended Producer Responsibility (Responsabilité élargie du producteur - REP) approach43, could go fur-ther in their requirements. Today, they must en-courage producers to introduce changes in the design of products44. One of the tools proposed during the Grenelle de l’environnement (French Environmental Forum) is based on modulated eco-taxes according to the reduction in wastes generated and their ability to be recycled. Such a modulation already exists for packaging and more recently for electrical and electronic equipment. A faster transfer of this principle would be desirable and to a greater number of industries.

The development of the Product-Service System faces a number of obsta-cles. Although this system logically seems to reconcile economic growth and the environ-ment45, it first of all requires the active support of consumers. Next, the producer of a product must change the origin of its profit towards the sale of a use, which is not a simple matter: indeed, it is in the interest of a producer that sells products to sell as many of them as pos-sible and to shorten their life span, whereas it is in the interest of a producer that only sells the use (service) of a product to extend the life span in order to reduce its production cost and optimise the maintenance and end-of-life.

43. The Extended Responsibility of Producers (Responsabilité élargie des producteurs - REP), resulting from the 1975 Law, established the “polluter pays” principle. It is defined by article 8 of directive 2008/98/EC relating to wastes.44. As specified by the “Manuel à l’intention des pouvoirs publics” published by the OECD in 2001.45. Final Report to the French Minister of State, Minister of Energy, Ecology, Sustainable Development and Regional Development, project no. 31, “Product-Service System” study group of the Grenelle de l’environnement, October 2008.

Producers without their own distribution net-work must also anticipate the lack of customer returns, which are managed by the distributor of services.

In all, a Product-Service System, based on the value assigned to the service and the interac-tion between a provider and a customer, re-quires a high-quality service relationship in order to satisfy customers’ needs. These pro-fessionals are not always sufficiently supported by their organisation in order to guarantee this high standard of service quality.

4.4 Economic and accounting ob-stacles

For the stakeholders involved in a value chain, the fair distribution of the Total Cost of Ownership TCO) is a key factor. In gen-eral, current business models, developed in the context of a linear economy, are ill-suited to in-vestors in eco-designed solutions, because they do not always receive the return on investment produced by savings of resources and/or reduc-tions in environmental loads (depollution, elimi-nation of wastes, etc.). In addition, accounting rules do not optimise the benefits of the ap-proach in absorption costing.

Certain eco-designed solutions allow for clear financial gains, but after excessively long periods which are incompatible with the imperatives for a return on investment in two years, for ex-ample. The difficulty of measuring certain inter-nal costs and profits in the company, relating to internal waste management46 or occupational health and safety, for example, is also an obsta-cle to the development of more environmen-tally friendly solutions. Finally, the cost of obtain-ing the recognition of the ecological quality of a product or verifying the performance of a tech-nology (certification, etc.), may be dissuasive. Eco-design shall be considered to have a long-term future if it leads to an increase in margins

(as the product has a higher added value due to an additional function or an associated service), to the maintenance of a product on the market, or indeed to new market shares due to a dif-ferent positioning of the eco-designed product.

The sometimes high prices of eco-designed products constitute an obstacle with regard to the demand.

Finally, the repair sector is facing two types of economic difficulties47:• Repair costs have become uncompetitive in

relation to the price of new products due to the differences in labour costs between the countries in which products are manufac-tured and those in which they are repaired.

• Difficulty of repairing products when this pa-rameter has not been integrated into the de-sign of the product. This capacity of a product to be repaired could be integrated into the global cost, by adapting the commercial and marketing strategies.

46. In a recent survey of 1,000 SMEs and SMIs, nine out of ten companies questioned did not know the internal cost of waste management, i.e. the internal cost borne by the company in terms of time spent sorting, handling or purchasing materials and energy (source: ADEME, “Le poids des facteurs économiques dans la réduction et le recyclage des déchets auprès des entreprises productrices de déchets”, June 2010, study carried out on behalf of ADEME by LH2).47. Characterised by 125,000 companies and 525,000 jobs in 2009, this sector is running out of steam, with a 17% drop in the number of companies and 19% fewer jobs over the 2006-2009 period. Source: ADEME, “Actualisation du panorama de l’offre de réparation en France”, September 2010; study carried out on behalf of ADEME by Ernst & Young.


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To these structural obstacles can be added an obstacle which concerns the economic situation: the volatility of prices of resources, which makes it difficult to construct and adjust business models in the short and medium term. This obstacle, however, forms part of a global trend of increasing tensions on the resource markets, which is favourable to eco-designed products and processes.

4.5 Sociological, cultural and psy-chological obstacles

At the individual level, be it in the private (consumer) or professional fields, daily actions, attitudes and practices depend on representa-tions, habits, lifestyles, constraints of daily life, knock-on effects, cultural and social contexts, relationships with time and even local policies. Individuals also have different sensitivities to global, local and personal causes.

Observing and analysing in order to understand these determinants and their interactions is a pre-requisite for managing change and proposing training ac-tivities in order to make people aware of eco-design.

Each individual acts not only in an economic and environmental context, but also accord-ing to his or own relationship with time (the need to save it or not waste it), which may intervene in different ways:• Inertia concerning the choice of new prod-

ucts and the effect of routines.• Resistance to products with new features or

innovative solutions due to a poor knowl-edge of these features and a lack of time to update knowledge; or conversely, a spontane-ous purchase independent of the immediate need.

• Resistance to solutions which are efficient from an environmental point of view but perceived to be more time-consuming or demeaning in terms of image, for example.

Finally, a major obstacle resides in the possi-ble perception of a dependency or loss of individual freedom: individuals are resistant to solutions which are perceived to make them dependent upon other people for logistical reasons (e.g. hire services or car pooling versus ownership), or technical reasons (e.g. malfunctioning of a home automation sys-tem). This perception is generally exacerbated at the start of industrial ecology approaches.

Accounting for an additional dimension of an environmental nature must not be perceived as an additional constraint or a factor in the dete-rioration of living conditions.

At the collective level, the characteris-tics likely to explain the behaviours of individu-als are: urban or rural, collective or individual housing environments, professional or private spheres and socio-cultural determinants. Indi-viduals actively shape and are shaped by the social and cultural norms. Certain opinion lead-ers (media, advertising, associative environment, experts, etc.) also have a significant influence. The creation of collective, collaborative and network modes (private stakeholders, consor-tia, public stakeholders, public-private partner-

ships, etc.), recommended for eco-design or industrial ecology processes, does not always happen systematically or spontaneously.

While different modes of governance are currently working satisfactorily, it is hard to se-lect one to be used as a model and adapted to another regional context. There is a shortage of knowledge, especially concerning:• Factors motivating support for collective

modes.• Factors for the success and initiation of col-

lective operations: Sometimes, the technique is available and the costs are not an impedi-ment, but if eco-design is not imposed, there will be no initiating factor.

In the beginning, there is often an inability to bring all of the complementary stakeholders together in a unifying project, with the oppor-tunity to create a “win-win” situation. The pre-dominance of an analytical culture and the vir-tual absence of a systemic culture also limit the ability of stakeholders to work in a multi-dis-ciplinary and collaborative mode on complex topics. One of the main impediments to collaborative work is interde-pendence, which is initially perceived to be a risk, e.g. if one of the parties leaves the project. This risk is still not properly accounted for in adequate contractual clauses.

There may also be communication and collaboration problems between stake-holders concerning eco-design, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, there is language: how can fields of expertise that use different languages be expected to make progress together, without losing the added value of each field? Secondly, this implies an acceptance of the sharing of standards48 and the dissemination of informa-tion. This role, which may be delegated to a third party, raises questions of security and the allocation of intellectual property. Respect for

confidentiality may be understood differently in different business sectors for cultural reasons specific to each sector. Thirdly, confidence be-tween stakeholders is fundamentally important. Finally, the management of joint investment decisions is often a complex affair, especially in the case of industrial ecology, when the return on investment times, calculated in medium to long-term perspectives, exceed the periods normally encountered.

The lack of suitable legal and con-tractual models, the need for mediation sooner or later and long-term operational flex-ibility make the permanent operation of collec-tive modes difficult to achieve.

Once the networks have been created, mal-functions may occur due to the divergent in-terests or priorities of stakeholders, or more simply due to the intrinsic inertia of operations within a network, which is slower to evolve. Stakeholders (purchasers, producers and consumers) generally have different rela-tionships with time, as their behaviours are linked to objectives set at different time scales; the failure to account for this difference may harm the development of the network. In certain cases, stakeholders may have incompat-ible constraints (e.g. a purchasing department that has neither the data for eco-designed solu-tions nor the tools to exploit this data).

For industrial ecology approaches, as for the prevention of waste production, network coordination is a determining factor and needs to be carried out by legitimate bodies representing the general interest at the re-gional level, possessing adequate skills and the required level of availability.

Basing business models in a particular region, when it is a question of establishing an econom-ic activity as close as possible to the resources and outlets, may pose the risk of conflicts.

48. La notion de standard n’est pas restreinte au domaine technique ; elle est prise ici dans un sens large et peut s’appliquer à des comportements, des usages (énergétique par exemple), des ergonomies…


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4.6 Obstacles relating to public measures and policies

Public measures and policies are capable of managing and guiding the development of eco-nomic activities. They are of a fiscal, regulatory, normative, incentive-related, informative, or even educational nature49. They may apply to both existing and new activities and at different geographical levels.

Until now, the majority of public measures have tended to favour improvements in efficiency (environmental performance and energy-effi-ciency). Relatively few measures have sought to modify production and consumption behav-iours in a significant way. The obstacles in rela-tion to eco-design and industrial ecology are:

• Lack of harmonisation of legislations at the global level

• Difficulties in appropriating the existing meas-ures (e.g. ErP and RoHS directives50 and the Reach regulations) and compliance with the implementation deadlines by the stakehold-ers concerned.

• Compartmentalisation of regulations per product, which makes it impossible to ad-dress systems.

• Lack of economic tools allowing for the pro-motion of the most virtuous products by in-ternalising the negative external effects of the product life cycle, on the one hand, and limit-ing the rebound effect on consumption that is regularly observed (certain instruments exist, but the incitement is never based on a complete internalisation), on the other: Bo-nus/malus schemes, general tax on polluting activities, eco-loans, incitement fees, corpo-rate tax regime, local exemptions, etc.).

• Absence of an accreditation system run by the public authorities which shows the differ-ence between “good” and “bad” labels that claim to be environmentally friendly; cumber-some nature of procedures for the creation of a new reference standard in State-recog-nised labels.

• Variable level of the public authorities’ com-mitment to providing support and regional coordination.

• Absence of incitement systems and associ-ated measurement methods for identifying and guiding companies towards eco-design (e.g. reduced charges); difficulty in knowing how many companies are involved in an eco-design or industrial ecology approach, market share for eco-designed products, etc.

• Lack of initial and continuous training (espe-cially in commercial, economic, technical, legal, etc. sectors) on the environmental and social issues, methodologies and techniques capa-ble of reducing the environmental impacts of products, processes and services. The total lack of a systemic approach to existing train-ing programmes is also detrimental.

49. For example (non-exhaustive list): taxes, subsidies, tax credits, “right to pollute” markets, certificates, bonus/malus schemes, eco-participation, tariffs for purchasing electricity of renewable origin, organisation of a waste processing process, production standards, mandatory display intended to inform consumers, label, certification, information and public relations campaigns with regard to energy savings and waste prevention, training and public rela-tions actions, etc. 50. Directive 2002/95/EC known as RoHS (Restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment) of the European parliament and Council of 27 January 2003, relating to the limitation of the use of certain dangerous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.

5 Priority research development and innovation needsThe aim is to promote innovation in eco-designed products, processes and services, stimulate the emergence of new busi-ness models and perform experiments in industrial ecology.

Firstly, in the technological field, numerous op-portunities have been identified for facilitating the emergence of materials, processes, inter-industry synergies, functionalities, logistics solu-tions and more environmentally friendly end-of-life stages.

However, it would seem that solutions of a tech-nological nature alone cannot ensure the best possible development of eco-design and indus-trial ecology, as the organisational dimension plays such a key role in these processes. Also, it appears necessary to undertake and con-tinue work on the acquisition and exploitation of knowledge, tools and methods, behavioural sociology and governance in order to promote experimentation, especially in industrial ecology.

The priority activities have been identified ac-cording to five research, development and in-novation approaches:- Approach 1: develop new technological solu-tions

- Approach 2: improve the acquisition, man-agement, dissemination and exploitation of knowledge and data

- Approach 3: develop tools and methods to help companies integrate eco-design into their strategic decisions and in their dealings with customers

- Approach 4: improve the knowledge of in-teractions between stakeholders in order to develop new modes of governance

- Approach 5: combine technological approach-es, methodological approaches and new modes of governance: increase the number of references in industrial ecology.

These needs concern the four successive phases of research and development, i.e. basic research, or research for new knowledge, in-dustrial research, experimental development and finally, pre-industrial experimentation (see annex).

Technological tools that could be implemented include technological testing platforms (ap-proaches 1, 3 and 5), research demonstrators (approaches 2, 3 and 4) and industrial demon-strators (approaches 1 and 5).

Regardless of the approach, the results are likely to benefit a wide range of users: produc-ers, manufacturers, distributors, local authori-ties, opinion leaders and final users. In addition, these five approaches are interdependent and thus benefit from being considered simultane-ously within a project.


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Approach 1: develop new techno-logical solutions

Although of a technological nature, research activities must firstly be designed in systemic mode. This section describes the priority needs for each stage of the life cycle in order to facili-tate the emergence of products, processes and industrial symbioses likely to generate fewer environmental impacts.

For raw materials: - Design products using fewer raw materials

(including recycling) and whose manufacture is more optimised in terms of the consump-tion of resources (less waste).

- Develop and deploy new materials generating fewer environmental and health impacts than traditional materials with equivalent function-alities. It will be a question of choosing the best compromise that combines technical and environmental performance while remaining economically acceptable.

Transportation and logistics intervene in sev-eral stages of the life cycle: the quest to develop eco-efficient logistics solutions (multimodality, integration of information and communication technologies, management of the final deliv-ery kilometre, vehicles of the future, packaging “shuttle” system by which the supplier takes back packaging, etc.), development of new sys-tems capable of adapting the logistics solution to the required delivery period and to the use of the product while minimising the environ-mental and health impacts.

For the production stage: design innovative processes in terms of their flexibility, modularity (especially for modules subject to fast techno-logical progress), scalability, performance, reli-ability, safety, etc. Associate productivity with an integrated approach: the desired technical solu-tions will allow for the reduced consumption of raw materials, water, energy, the use of eco-ma-terials, the generation of fewer effluents (solid, liquid and gaseous), and encourage standard

exchanges, etc. Major innovations may come, in particular, from the synergies between different scientific disciplines (process engineering, nano and biotechnologies, information and commu-nication technologies, cognitive sciences, etc.). Design new processes using technologies that optimise interventions in order to reduce the materials used (“additive manufacturing” con-cept51), by combining multiple operations in a single appliance, or by designing smaller equip-ment items which are less costly, more efficient, safer and less polluting. Develop versatile pro-duction equipment that is small in size, easy to maintain, transformable and operational for several manufacturing processes. Develop a li-brary of technological solutions, especially for sectors not covered by reference documents, for the best available techniques and emerging techniques.

For the use phase: characterise the impacts re-lating to the use of products and processes and real user behaviour in order to integrate them into product design; improve the modularity and scalability of products; strengthen the compli-ance with quality criteria and the development of minimal performance standards; develop new facilities, new functionalities and services (e.g. warranties) allowing for the optimisation of product life spans, the reduction of environmen-tal impacts in the use phase and easier repairs and maintenance (e.g. recharging and repair platforms, harmonisation of life spans and easy dismantling of different components, electronic chips for fault diagnoses, fault trees, etc.).

For the end-of-life of products52: Develop products that can be dismantled, repaired, re-conditioned, shredded, ground, sorted, traced, prepared and transformed with a view to reus-ing their materials. Develop associated equip-ment, processes and techniques. Feed back the technological obstacles relating to wastes to the product designers. Innovations are also required in order to increase the number of product life cycles.

51. Manufacturing concept based on the successive addition of thin coats of metal powder, nylon, carbon, etc., based on a model initially designed in 3D by computer; this additive process concept contrasts with the subtractive techniques normally used to manufacture an object for which one starts with one or more materials that are transformed or from which material is “removed”. 52. For further information about recycling needs relating to waste-related technologies, the reader can refer to the strategic roadmap “Collection, sorting, recycling and recovery of wastes”.

Approach 2: improve the acquisition, management, dissemination and ex-ploitation of knowledge and data This point is of paramount importance. It espe-cially involves:- Making reference data accessible that are valid for the performance of life cycle analyses, the continued acquisition of new data and their homogenisation, standardisation and regular updating.

- Developing new measurement methods, which incorporate measurements of impacts on health and allow for their ranking.

- Developing the acquisition of technical, envi-ronmental and health data for raw materials and especially for new materials and recycled raw materials (e.g. characteristics of materials offering improved mechanical strength and al-lowing for a reduction in volumes).

- Creating a library of the technical, environmen-tal and health properties of materials.

- Developing information feedback systems con-cerning the end-of-life of products, destined for the designer and beyond (consumers, repair professionals, etc.), in order to integrate any re-pair and reconditioning properties of the prod-uct into its design.

- Creating multi-criteria or multi-objective op-timisation methods allowing for the develop-ment of complex eco-designed systems, in contrast to existing methods which position an eco-designed product in relation to a reference solution.

- Optimising the traceability and measurement (mass, composition, etc.) of certain raw materi-als, parts or components

- Improving the transmission of data between customers and their suppliers, to consumers, in addition to improving the reliability and format of the data, etc.

- Developing tools that give their users recog-nition and legitimacy, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.

- Developing business development capacities (for markets, modes of consumption, preven-tion of waste production, etc.), for program-ming and research purposes.

- Improving the understanding of certain stake-holders’ relationships with time (e.g. different of operators have varying needs for returns on in-vestments) in order to improve the integration of this factor in its different dimensions (time period, duration, speed, acceleration, etc.) into eco-design projects.

Approach 3: develop tools and meth-ods to help companies integrate eco-design into their strategic decisions and in their dealings with customers

Eco-design principles and the associated data have relatively little, if any, influence on corpo-rate decision-making processes, software solu-tions, legal and fiscal decision-making and mar-keting, public relations and coordination plans. The different trades involved in the design and marketing of a product are not specialists in life cycle analysis.


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New tools and methods must be developed in order to reduce the risk-taking of economic stakeholders. This especially involves:- Modifying existing software solutions (CAD,

ERP, CAPM, CMMS, WMS)53 so that they inte-grate eco-design.

- Developing new “systems” approaches in-tegrating the different trades and stages in-volved in the product.

- Developing models to evaluate the cost of the externalities of different levers for eco-design.

- Performing more modelling of engineering projects and processes and developing spa-tial and temporal flow management tools (materials, energy, water, etc.), for operational purposes.

- Developing solutions allowing for the ranking of impacts, even on a qualitative basis.

It is also a question of developing new ac-counting models which allow investors in eco-designed solutions to receive the return on investment produced by savings of resources and/or reductions in environmental loads (de-pollution, elimination of wastes, etc.). They also need to derive the maximum benefits from the absorption costing approach, with return on in-vestment times that are long enough to take account of the financial gains of eco-designed solutions. The accounting rules must also take account of the second lives of products.

The creation of legal and accounting mod-els which are adapted to the Product-Service System is awaited, as is the emergence of new insurance and warranty models for manufactur-ers changing their business models.

In marketing and communication plans, new tools and methods must facilitate the integra-tion of eco-design and must allow for the long-term integration of these plans throughout the entire life cycle(s) of the product. The aim is to optimise the understanding of the issues relat-ing to the development of an eco-designed product by all trades involved in the company.

Manufacturing companies also require tools and methods in order to participate in indus-trial ecology approaches and decide at a strate-gic level to implement synergies systematically around their sites.

It is also important to find ways of reassuring the consumer about the new functionalities of the product. A system allowing for the easy identification of eco-designed products must also be developed (e.g. label accreditation sys-tem by the public authorities).

At the social level, the key issue is to propose tools and methods within the company which not only help to unite all employees around an eco-designed project, but also to promote un-derstanding and a common language shared by the different trades. Research must be carried out in order to propose methods for CSR poli-cies54, in order to improve the understanding of the company’s internal costs relating to envi-ronmental management, promote knowledge-sharing, enhance the value of professional pro-files that have undergone training in systemic approaches, etc. The development of new train-ing systems with a view to the requalification of jobs and increasing skills within companies is also awaited.

53. CAD: Computer-Aided Design; ERP Enterprise Resource Planning, CAPM: Computer-Aided Production Management; CMMS: Computerised Mainte-nance Management Systems; WMS: Warehouse Management System.54. Corporate Social Responsibility.

MANUFACTURING

RECOVERYAND RECYCLING

USE

DISTRIBUTION

END OF LIFE

TRANSPORT

RAW MATERIALS

LIFE CYCLE

Approach 4: improve the knowledge of interactions between stakehold-ers in order to develop new modes of governance

The creation of collective and network modes, recommended in eco-design and industrial ecology approaches, is not spontaneous and requires new governance tools. The aim is to bring together, support and facilitate the joint development of all stakeholders and fields of expertise that have different values and lan-guages, without losing the added value of each stakeholder, secure the transmission of informa-tion and levels of confidentiality, and establish a lasting confidence between the different par-ties. It would also be useful to discover the con-ditions and principles that cause companies to embark on an industrial ecology project, with the interdependence that this implies.

The new modes of governance to be devel-oped must be strong in response to the risk of malfunctions, which generally arise due to the different interests or priorities of stakeholders, or more simply due to the intrinsic inertia of network operations. It is essential to account for the stakeholders’ different relationships with time when developing a mode of governance.

Partnerships between several companies must be sought when they allow more attractive solutions to be found. Such partnerships lead to mutual savings, but new legal solutions must also be developed in order to ensure their long-term future and free them from risks of interdependence. It is also necessary to:- Develop mechanisms adapted to the man-

agement of intellectual property.- Develop training methods adapted to all

types of companies and designed to increase the capacity of stakeholders to work in multi-disciplinary and collaborative modes on com-plex subjects.

- Explore the possibilities in terms of warranties and insurance.

In addition to companies, it is important to study the determinants of stakeholders’ individ-ual and collective behaviours in order to qualify the potential of new markets and anticipate the organisational evolutions of companies and society. The place of the consumer, incitement methods and public relations strategies direct-ed at the consumer must be reflected in the very definition of the mode of governance. It is also a question of integrating the development of education and indeed of training (i.e. learning to repair or manufacture oneself).

The identification of and experimentation with levers for changing individual and collective be-haviours into more eco-responsible practices are priorities. For example, this involves charac-terising the influence of opinion leaders and the link between behaviour change and individual freedom, identifying the levels of confidence required between stakeholders and individuals, and refining the concept of “need”.

Finally, networks are exposed to systemic risks. If all the stakeholders in a network are inter-dependent, the fragility (economic, social, en-vironmental, etc.) of one of them could affect the others in a chain reaction that is difficult to control or offset. A better understanding of these phenomena is required.

54. Responsabilité sociétale (ou sociale) des entreprises.


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Approach 5: combine technologi-cal approaches, methodological ap-proaches and new modes of gov-ernance: increase the number of references in industrial ecology

Companies currently have a genuine need to optimise the management of their flows. Like-wise, for public stakeholders, a compelling idea is to opt for short economic circuits, with cir-cular flows of materials and energy at the re-gional level, via its industrial fabric. The analysis of incoming and outgoing flows generated by production activities helps to reveal potential synergies and also indicates development op-portunities. It is a question of optimising:- Recovery and exchange of industrial flows (in-

dustrial wastewater, wastes and by-products, energy, etc.).

- Adaptation of industrial processes to the use of flows which are not strictly identical to those used more traditionally.

- Pooling of services to companies (collective waste management, rainwater collection and reuse, transportation, etc.).

- Sharing of facilities (boiler, steam production, effluent processing unit, etc.) and resources (jobs on shared time basis, etc.).

- Creation of new activities (interface activi-ties required for the recovery of by-products, development of products or services from a new identified resource, etc.), proposal of services concerning the implementation of synergies55.

The industrial ecology approach goes beyond technological approaches and responds to a

strategy of pooling and exchange (facilities, wastes, raw materials, energy, services, etc.), which should be formalised through integrated management and collective intelligence meth-ods. They are particularly relevant at the scale of business parks or regions, within which the proximity and availability of economic stake-holders are supposed to promote the creation of such synergies. It is a question of increasing the number of approaches which will allow for the implementation of collaborative work.

In addition to the few references existing at the French national level56, industrial ecology dem-onstrators are awaited, which will be capable of bringing together regional stakeholders within a single dynamic and making the transition from a conceptual and methodological phase to the permanent creation of an industrial ecology ap-proach, based on technological developments. The need for demonstrators applies both to the creation of new sites (e.g. in business ar-eas to be developed and to the adaptation of existing sites. Feedback must also be formally recorded on:- Factors motivating support for collective

modes.- Coordination and mediation methods.- Risks at the launch of the approach perceived

by the different types of stakeholders involved and the responses proposed.

- Factors for the success and initiation of collec-tive operations. There are examples in which the technique is available and the costs are not an obstacle, with stakeholders who are motivated but fail to take action. In this case, the initiating effect is missing.

55. As with foreign initiatives such as the NISP (National Industrial Symbiosis Programme, www.nisp.org.uk) in the United Kingdom and the Industrial Ecol-ogy Technology Transfer Centre (Centre de transfert technologique en écologie industrielle - CTTÉI, www.cttei.qc.ca) in Quebec, Canada.56. Such as Ecopal (Nord-pas-de-Calais) and the Club d’écologie industrielle de l’Aube (Champagne-Ardenne).

Annex: The four research and development phasesResearch and development activities can be broken down into four consecutive phases before com-mercial rollout begins. These are phases of fundamental research or research for new knowledge, industrial research, experimental development and finally, pre-industrial experimentation (see diagram below)57.

Fundamental research or research for new knowledge include activities which seek to broaden scientific and technical knowledge that is not directly related to industrial or commercial ob-jectives. The results are freely disseminated within the scientific community and more widely amongst the community of experts in the field in question.

Industrial research includes planned research or critical surveys that aim to acquire new knowl-edge and capabilities with a view to the development of new products, processes or services, or to bring about a significant improvement of the existing products, processes or services. It includes the creation of complex systems required for industrial research, especially for the validation of generic technologies, but excludes commercially exploitable prototypes.

Experimental development includes putting the results of industrial research into a tangible form in a plan, diagram or drawing for new, modified or improved products, processes or services, which may be intended for sale or use, including the creation of non-marketable prototypes. This may also include the conceptual formulation and design of other products, processes or services and experimental or pilot projects, provided that such projects cannot be used for industrial applications or commercial exploitation.

Pre-industrial experimentation occurs downstream of the research demonstrators, and especially concerns experimentation with technologies at the pre-series production level, before the transition to mass-production. The development of new technologies in recycling fields, for which the investment cycles are particularly long, presents significant risk factors, including in the parts down-stream of technological development. Pre-industrial demonstration operations for an equipment item that has reached an initial development stage (technological obstacles having been overcome), but whose series production launch requires a demonstration of its technico-economic viability, may also be considered.

57. The first three phases are defined in the Community management of State aid for research, development and innovation (communication 2006/C 323/01, JOUE of 30/12/2006) and the 4th phase of Future Investments (Investissements d’avenir), French State-ADEME Action: “Economie circulaire” (JORF no. 0182 of 8 August 2010).

Fundamental research

or research for new knowledge

Industrial research

Experimental development

Pre-industrial experimentation

Commercial deployment

Technological tools

Industrial demonstrator

Research demonstrator

Technological testing platform

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