Short answer

Integrate strategies for both optimizing current eco-efficiency and exploring radical eco-innovations within your design projects.

Field: Sustainability
Source: Sustainability (2023)
Method: Inductive analysis of corporate climate change reports.
Sample: 410 European companies
Evidence: Strong effect

Companies must simultaneously pursue both incremental improvements in current operations and radical innovations in new technologies to effectively reduce their carbon footprint. This sustainability research insight is drawn from a 2023 study published in Sustainability. Using Inductive analysis of corporate climate change reports. with 410 European companies, researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: Integrate strategies for both optimizing current eco-efficiency and exploring radical eco-innovations within your design projects.

Study

SustainabilityRecentStrong effect

Decarbonisation Ambidexterity: Balancing Eco-Efficiency and Eco-Innovation for Climate Action

Companies must simultaneously pursue both incremental improvements in current operations and radical innovations in new technologies to effectively reduce their carbon footprint.

Sustainability · 2023

Key Findings

01Companies adopt a range of exploitative initiatives focused on improving existing processes and routines for eco-efficiency.
02Companies also engage in explorative initiatives to discover and develop new, radical eco-innovations and technologies.
03Effective decarbonisation requires a combination of both exploitative and explorative strategies, rather than focusing on one exclusively.

Application

Design takeaway

Integrate strategies for both optimizing current eco-efficiency and exploring radical eco-innovations within your design projects.

How to apply

When developing a new product or service, consider how it can be made more eco-efficient in its current form, while also exploring opportunities for future, more transformative, sustainable iterations.

Project actions

01Consider the dual goals of efficiency and innovation in your design process.
02Research existing sustainable practices and explore potential disruptive eco-technologies.

Method & Evidence

AimHow do companies effectively balance the exploitation of existing eco-efficient processes with the exploration of radical eco-innovations to achieve significant carbon footprint reduction?

MethodInductive analysis of corporate climate change reports.

ProcedureResearchers analyzed climate change reports from 410 European companies across various sectors to identify and categorize the exploitative and explorative initiatives they adopted to address climate change.

Sample410 European companies

ContextCorporate sustainability strategies and climate change mitigation.

Variables

IV["Types of decarbonisation initiatives (exploitative vs. explorative)","Company sector"]

DV["Carbon footprint reduction","Adoption of ambidexterity strategies"]

CV["Company size","Geographic location (within Europe)","Reporting standards"]

Strengths & Limitations

Strengths

+Large sample size across diverse sectors provides broad applicability.
+Focus on a critical contemporary issue (climate change) and a novel strategic concept (ambidexterity).

Limitations

Focusing too heavily on innovation might neglect immediate efficiency gains, while focusing only on efficiency might miss crucial future opportunities.

Reliability & validity

Reliability is supported by the systematic analysis of a large number of reports. Validity is enhanced by the inductive approach, allowing themes to emerge directly from the data, though it is limited by the reliance on self-reported information.

Think critically

To what extent can a single design project effectively address both immediate eco-efficiency and radical eco-innovation, or are these typically addressed through separate initiatives?

Design Principles

"Embrace decarbonisation ambidexterity by balancing incremental eco-efficiency with radical eco-innovation."

This dual approach, termed 'decarbonisation ambidexterity,' is crucial for businesses navigating the complexities of climate change. It allows for immediate emission reductions through efficiency gains while also fostering the development of future, potentially transformative, low-carbon solutions.

What This Means for Your Design

To fight climate change, companies need to do two things at once: make their current ways of working more environmentally friendly, and also invent completely new, greener ways of doing things for the future.

How to use in your project

1.Use this research to justify the inclusion of both iterative improvements and novel concepts in your design solution.
2.Cite this study when discussing the strategic approach to sustainability in your design project's context.

Add to My Project

Quick Cite

Paragraph starter

This design project adopts a strategy of 'decarbonisation ambidexterity,' recognizing the necessity to simultaneously enhance the eco-efficiency of current processes and explore radical, long-term eco-innovations. This approach, supported by research such as Zomer and Savaget (2023), ensures that immediate carbon footprint reductions are achieved while also fostering the development of future sustainable solutions.

Source

Sustainability

Disentangling Decarbonisation Ambidexterity: An Analysis of European Companies

journal · 2023

View source

Questions About This Research

What does the research say about decarbonisation ambidexterity: balancing eco-efficiency and eco-innovation for climate action?: Integrate strategies for both optimizing current eco-efficiency and exploring radical eco-innovations within your design projects. Evidence: Sustainability (2023).
Why does "Decarbonisation Ambidexterity: Balancing Eco-Efficiency and Eco-Innovation for Climate Action" matter for design?: This dual approach, termed 'decarbonisation ambidexterity,' is crucial for businesses navigating the complexities of climate change. It allows for immediate emission reductions through efficiency gains while also fostering the development of future, potentially transformative, low-carbon solutions.
How can designers apply this research?: Integrate strategies for both optimizing current eco-efficiency and exploring radical eco-innovations within your design projects.
What were the main findings?: Companies adopt a range of exploitative initiatives focused on improving existing processes and routines for eco-efficiency.. Companies also engage in explorative initiatives to discover and develop new, radical eco-innovations and technologies.. Effective decarbonisation requires a combination of both exploitative and explorative strategies, rather than focusing on one exclusively.
What research method was used?: Inductive analysis of corporate climate change reports. with 410 European companies.
How strong is the evidence?: Evidence strength is rated Strong effect, based on a 2023 journal from Sustainability.
What should I do differently in my next project?: When developing a new product or service, consider how it can be made more eco-efficient in its current form, while also exploring opportunities for future, more transformative, sustainable iterations.
What are the limitations?: The study relies on self-reported data in corporate climate change reports, which may be subject to bias or incomplete disclosure. The specific effectiveness of individual initiatives was not quantitatively measured.