Short answer
Prioritize the ethical and sustainable sourcing of materials and design for circularity, actively mitigating the negative social and environmental impacts at both the beginning and end of a product's life.
- Field
- Resource Management
- Source
- Global Environmental Change (2019)
- Method
- Qualitative research combining expert interviews, community interviews, and site visits.
- Sample
- 103 participants (34 experts + 69 community members)
- Evidence
- Strong effect
The pursuit of low-carbon technologies often overlooks the significant environmental and social costs associated with resource extraction and waste management, creating a 'decarbonisation divide'. This resource management research insight is drawn from a 2019 study published in Global Environmental Change. Using Qualitative research combining expert interviews, community interviews, and site visits. with 103 participants (34 experts + 69 community members), researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: Prioritize the ethical and sustainable sourcing of materials and design for circularity, actively mitigating the negative social and environmental impacts at both the beginning and end of a product's life.
Low-carbon transitions create 'decarbonisation divides' through upstream exploitation and downstream toxicity.
The pursuit of low-carbon technologies often overlooks the significant environmental and social costs associated with resource extraction and waste management, creating a 'decarbonisation divide'.
Global Environmental Change · 2019
Key Findings
- 01Low-carbon transitions are implicated in toxic pollution and biodiversity loss at the resource extraction and waste disposal stages.
- 02These transitions can exacerbate gender inequality, child labor, and the subjugation of ethnic minorities.
- 03Current solutions like formalization or financing are insufficient to address the systemic issues of the 'decarbonisation divide'.
Application
Design takeaway
Prioritize the ethical and sustainable sourcing of materials and design for circularity, actively mitigating the negative social and environmental impacts at both the beginning and end of a product's life.
How to apply
When selecting materials for a design project, research their origin and the social/environmental conditions of their extraction. Similarly, design products with end-of-life scenarios in mind, facilitating repair, reuse, or responsible recycling.
Project actions
- 01When choosing materials, research their supply chains for ethical and environmental concerns.
- 02Consider how your product can be disassembled, repaired, or recycled at the end of its life.
Method & Evidence
Variables
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- +Provides a critical perspective on low-carbon transitions, moving beyond technological fixes.
- +Utilizes rich qualitative data from fieldwork in relevant contexts.
Limitations
It can be difficult to get complete information about the supply chains of all materials, and some impacts might be hard to measure directly.
Reliability & validity
The study's validity is strengthened by triangulating data from multiple sources (expert interviews, community interviews, site visits) and in-depth fieldwork. Reliability is enhanced through detailed descriptions of the methodology and context.
Think critically
How can designers actively mitigate the 'decarbonisation divide' in their practice, moving beyond simply choosing 'eco-friendly' materials to addressing systemic issues of exploitation and toxicity?
Design Principles
"Embrace full lifecycle responsibility in design, accounting for both upstream resource extraction and downstream waste management to ensure genuine sustainability."
Designers and engineers must consider the full lifecycle impact of their innovations, extending beyond the immediate use phase to encompass the sourcing of raw materials and the disposal or recycling of products. Ignoring these 'upstream' and 'downstream' processes can lead to unintended negative consequences, such as pollution, resource depletion, and social injustice.
What This Means for Your Design
Making green products can still cause harm if we don't think about where the materials come from and what happens to the product when it's thrown away.
How to use in your project
- 1.Use this research to justify the selection of sustainable materials and design for disassembly in your design project's development.
Add to My Project
Quick Cite
Paragraph starter
This research highlights the 'decarbonisation divide,' where the pursuit of low-carbon technologies can lead to significant environmental and social exploitation in resource extraction and waste management. This underscores the necessity for designers to critically evaluate the entire lifecycle of their products, from raw material sourcing to end-of-life, to ensure genuine sustainability and avoid unintended negative consequences.
Source
Global Environmental Change
The decarbonisation divide: Contextualizing landscapes of low-carbon exploitation and toxicity in Africa
journal · 2019
View sourceQuestions About This Research
- What does the research say about low-carbon transitions create 'decarbonisation divides' through upstream exploitation and downstream toxicity?
- Prioritize the ethical and sustainable sourcing of materials and design for circularity, actively mitigating the negative social and environmental impacts at both the beginning and end of a product's life. Evidence: Global Environmental Change (2019).
- Why does "Low-carbon transitions create 'decarbonisation divides' through upstream exploitation and downstream toxicity." matter for design?
- Designers and engineers must consider the full lifecycle impact of their innovations, extending beyond the immediate use phase to encompass the sourcing of raw materials and the disposal or recycling of products. Ignoring these 'upstream' and 'downstream' processes can lead to unintended negative consequences, such as pollution, resource depletion, and social injustice.
- How can designers apply this research?
- Prioritize the ethical and sustainable sourcing of materials and design for circularity, actively mitigating the negative social and environmental impacts at both the beginning and end of a product's life.
- What were the main findings?
- Low-carbon transitions are implicated in toxic pollution and biodiversity loss at the resource extraction and waste disposal stages.. These transitions can exacerbate gender inequality, child labor, and the subjugation of ethnic minorities.. Current solutions like formalization or financing are insufficient to address the systemic issues of the 'decarbonisation divide'.
- What research method was used?
- Qualitative research combining expert interviews, community interviews, and site visits. with 103 participants (34 experts + 69 community members).
- How strong is the evidence?
- Evidence strength is rated Strong effect, based on a 2019 journal from Global Environmental Change.
- What should I do differently in my next project?
- When selecting materials for a design project, research their origin and the social/environmental conditions of their extraction. Similarly, design products with end-of-life scenarios in mind, facilitating repair, reuse, or responsible recycling.
- What are the limitations?
- The study focuses on specific case studies in the DRC and Ghana, which may not be representative of all low-carbon transition contexts globally. The qualitative nature of the research provides depth but may limit generalizability.